News Updates
February 2024 - Integrated Care Board (ICB) Excess Treatment Cost (ETC) Payment and Accrual Dates
The CRNCC is pleased to confirm that the combined 2022/23 Q3 and Q4 accrual figures will be communicated to the LCRN Host Finance Managers by 25 March 2024. The schedules should be used by the LCRN Hosts and applicable Partner Organisations to accrue the amounts in the year-end accounts. The NIHR ODP app, “Excess Treatment Cost 2324.qvw”, will be updated with 2022/23 Q3 and Q4 accrual data by 20 March 2023. This app can be found in https://odp.nihr.ac.uk and selecting Excess Treatment Cost from the category drop-down option.
For clarity the combined Q3 and Q4 ICB ETC payment will be made to LCRN Hosts during May 2023 and we ask that payments to LCRN Partners are made by 30 June 2024. The timelines relating to the ICB ETC payments process for 2023/24 and 2023/24 can be found on the ETC Google Site.
Contact: ETC Helpdesk (etc.helpdesk@nihr.ac.uk)
December 2023 - Payments
The CRNCC is pleased to confirm the combined Q1/Q2 2023/24 payments have been made and the payment schedules sent to the LCRNs. Payments to Partner organisations will be made during December. Further information on the ODP app https://odp.nihr.ac.uk and selecting Excess Treatment Cost from the category drop-down option.
February 2023 - Integrated Care Board (ICB) Excess Treatment Cost (ETC) Payment and Accrual Dates
The CRNCC is pleased to confirm that the combined 2022/23 Q3 and Q4 accrual figures will be communicated to the LCRN Host Finance Managers by 20 March 2023. The schedules should be used by the LCRN Hosts and applicable Partner Organisations to accrue the amounts in the year-end accounts. The NIHR ODP app, “Excess Treatment Cost 2223.qvw”, will be updated with 2022/23 Q3 and Q4 accrual data by 20 March 2023. This app can be found in https://odp.nihr.ac.uk and selecting Excess Treatment Cost from the category drop-down option.
For clarity the combined Q3 and Q4 ICB ETC payment will be made to LCRN Hosts during May 2023 and we ask that payments to LCRN Partners are made by 30 June 2023. The timelines relating to the ICB ETC payments process for 2022/23 and 2023/24 can be found on the ETC Google Site.
Contact: ETC Helpdesk (etc.helpdesk@nihr.ac.uk)
January 2023 - ICB ETCs - Update on Contractual Requirements
Following extensive work and discussions with DHSC and NHSE throughout 2022 regarding the challenges in executing LCRN Partner sub-contracts for ETC only payments, the CRNCC is pleased to announce that a proposed simpler contractual framework has been reviewed and agreed.
With immediate effect this letter template, which was written by the CRNCC and approved by DHSC and NHSE, can be used by LCRN Hosts when issuing ICB ETC payments where no signed sub-contract exists. For clarity, the LCRN Partner sub-contract (Category A, B or C) does not need to be issued and signed before an ICB ETC payment can be made by the LCRN Host. However, any existing sub-contracts that have been fully executed are still valid, and there is no requirement for any variation to be issued to these.
The decision to allow use of this letter to make ICB ETC payments is very much welcomed by the CRNCC, and demonstrates the continuous improvements being made to the ICB ETC service. I am sure LCRN and Partner organisations will recognise and appreciate how much this will reduce the administrative workload involved in issuing and seeking signatures on LCRN Partner sub-contracts and contract variations, as well as simplifying the process for researchers to receive ETC payments.
In situations whereby LCRN Hosts would like to implement the letter to simplify the payment method and are aware of manual workarounds in place, you are reminded that any ICB ETC payments currently with the LCRN Hosts, awaiting onward payment, should continue to be made to the organisation named on the payment schedule produced by the CRNCC. Ahead of the 2022/23 Q4 payment run, the CRNCC ETC Finance team will review studies where workarounds have been implemented, and will discuss with the study teams whether the recipient organisation should be changed.
January 2023 - ICB ETCs - Thresholds 2023/24
The CRNCC has started to receive an increasing number of queries regarding the potential thresholds for the 2023/24 financial year. NHS England (NHSE) have confirmed that the threshold calculation agreed in 2022/23 will continue until at least 2023/24.There are no plans to return to the previous threshold percentage calculations. A further statement will be supplied by NHSE in due course.
The national ICB (formerly CCG) ETC payment system, implemented in October 2018, applied a contribution threshold to NHS secondary care sites, which sites had to surpass before any ETC payments were made. This base annual ETC threshold was typically set at 0.01% of operating budgets. After discussions with partners, a decision has been made to significantly reduce the base ETC contribution threshold from 0.01% to 0.001%, which was effective from 01 April 2022. The decision to reset thresholds significantly reduced the average threshold levels for secondary care providers from an average of £40,000 to £4,000 per annum.
December 2022 - ICB ETC Payment model flowchart
The CRNCC are pleased to confirm a new Integrated Care Board (ICB) Excess Treatment Costs (ETC) payment model flowchart which has been published on the ETC google site. This includes payment model diagrams embedded within the PDF along with some additional descriptions and narrative to help aid understanding and formulate a more informed decision.
Should you have any queries please contact the: ETC Helpdesk (etc.helpdesk@nihr.ac.uk)
August 2022 - Arrangements for non-NHS Excess Treatment Costs
From April 2022, DHSC and the NIHR are piloting interim arrangements to support non-NHS ETCs for research into public health and social care. This replaces the previous arrangements, managed by Public Health England, for supporting public health intervention costs.
Further information, including the role of the LCRNs in this process and an email address for enquiries, can be found on the NIHR website.
July 2022 - Impact of the ICS/ICBs to CCG ETC Payments
The Integrated Care Boards (Establishment) Order 2022 came into effect on 1 July 2022, and the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) ceased to exist. The NIHR CRNCC has received confirmation from NHS England that the implementation of the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) will not impact the current national ETC payment service throughout the 2022/23 financial year.
All existing contractual arrangements held by CCGs, including their bank accounts, will continue until the end of the current financial year. Therefore LCRN Host Organisations can be reassured that any existing LCRN sub-contracts (Category A, B or C) signed by CCGs are therefore still valid for this financial year. If a contract is not yet in place between the LCRN Host Organisation and the relevant CCG organisation that is due an ETC payment, we would ask that you reach out to the ICB signatory and arrange the payment through them.
May 2022 - Provider Threshold announcement FY 2022-2023
Research in the NHS is vital to improving services, care and outcomes for patients. As part of the UK’s Clinical Research Recovery, Resilience and Growth programme, which aims to deliver the Government’s research vision, NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) are committed to supporting and enabling the NHS to place research at the heart of its work.
Funding Excess Treatment Costs (ETCs) is one of the ways that NHSE/I, aided by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), supports non-commercial research in the NHS.
The national CCG ETC payment system, implemented in October 2018, applied a contribution threshold to NHS secondary care sites, which sites had to surpass before any ETC payments were made. This base annual ETC threshold was typically set at 0.01% of operating budgets. After discussions with partners, a decision has been made to significantly reduce the base ETC contribution threshold from 0.01% to 0.001%, effective from 01 April 2022.
The decision to reset thresholds will significantly reduce the average threshold levels for secondary care providers from an average of £40,000 to £4,000 per annum. This will not only create additional funding to sites incurring CCG ETCs, it will provide funding earlier in the financial year and create stability and assurances for sites during the budgeting stages.
Overall it is expected that this reduction will provide additional funding of £4m per annum to secondary care providers with an additional 120 NHS sites receiving payments.
The process for receiving CCG ETC payments through the national system remains unchanged.
A list of provider thresholds will be made available here as soon as possible.
April 2022 - CCG Excess Treatment Costs - Payments to Higher Education Institutions
NHS England/Improvement had previously advised that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) would be ineligible to receive CCG ETC payments for new studies from April 2022. The CRNCC can confirm this decision has been revoked with immediate effect. Organisations such as universities continue to be eligible to receive ETC CCG payments through the CCG ETC national payment system which is managed by the NIHR CRNCC.
March 2022 - CCG Excess Treatment Cost Thresholds for Local Authorities
The CRNCC is pleased to confirm that the previous decision made by NHSE&I to apply ETC provider thresholds to payments applicable for Local Authority sites has since been reversed and Local Authority sites will now be exempt from the CCG ETC thresholds, backdated to April 2021. This will be reflected in the combined 2021/22 Q3 & Q4 payments, meaning those sites that received a reduction in payment in the first half of the 2021/22 will be reimbursed.