News / Transformation fund to be based on performance

Access to more than a quarter of the integration funding for 2015/16 will be based on performance, according to NHS England and the Local Government Association (LGA).

Details of the pooled funding, unveiled in June’s spending review, emerged over summer. The funds, to reach £3.8bn in 2015/16, will be known as the integration transformation fund (ITF).

An extra £200m will be transferred to the fund in 2014/15, on top of almost £1bn previously announced. By 2015/16 the sum will also include £1.9bn of core clinical commissioning group funding – the performance-related funding will be drawn from this.

NHS England and the LGA say half will be paid on 1 April 2015, based on performance in 2014/15, and the rest in the second half of 2015/16, based on in-year activity.

To access the ITF, each locality must develop a plan by March 2014 that sets out how the funding will be spent in 2014/15 and 2015/16, and how national and local targets will be met to release the performance-related funds. The plans must be developed by CCGs and councils and signed off by the local health and wellbeing board.

NHS England said the average CCG will transfer £10m (3%) of its funding to the integration fund in 2015/16. National director of policy Bill McCarthy said: ‘A lot has already been done, but to succeed we need truly radical transformation. This funding is a catalyst for this change and a real opportunity.’