The NHS in England spent £1bn less on agency staff during 2024-25, according to figures obtained by the Guardian newspaper.
In November, health secretary Wes Streeting said that a lack of permanent staff had led to roles being filled by agency replacements to the tune of £3bn.
Streeting proposed banning the use of agency replacements for certain lower-level roles, such as healthcare assistants or domestic support workers.
A further proposal was stopping NHS staff from resigning and then immediately signing up for agency work, which tends to be on higher rates.
NHS staffing
Streeting and the chief executive of NHS England – which is due to be abolished – wrote a letter to NHS providers and care board executives demanding that they target a 30% reduction in agency spend.
They also urge hospitals to set bank rates at “competitive” rates, but not more than what agencies would pay directly to a worker.
Some recruitment agencies have been known to charge up to £2,000 for a single nursing shift as trusts grapple with more than 110,000 open vacancies across the health service.
Elizabeth O’Mahony, NHS England chief financial officer, told the Guardian: “The NHS is fully committed to making sure that every penny of taxpayers’ money is used wisely to the benefit of patients and the quality of care they receive.
“Our reforms towards driving down agency spend by nearly £1bn over the past year will boost frontline services and help to cut down waiting lists, while ensuring fairness for our permanent staff.”
Figures for the whole of the UK for 2023-24 showed that the combined spend of hospitals and GP surgeries on agency staff was £4.6bn, with a further £5.8bn on bank staff.
Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said: “Employers globally use agency staff to effectively manage employment costs and varying demand as an addition to their core substantive employees. Agencies help save money and improve service, while offering skilled professionals the working lives they want.
“Despite this, the Department of Health continually insists that the NHS is unlike any other employer when it comes to the impact of agency workers. It has been cutting spend for years – but never solved the problem, because agency work isn’t the problem.
“Officials have built a system that has raised bank costs higher than agency, and punished those agencies who signed up to cost controls at the expense of those that didn’t in the name of this crusade. Today’s statement is just another revision of a failed tactic – and you can tell that by the way that the Department refuses to even discuss the issue of agency cost with agencies themselves. They are afraid of the truth.”
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