CRN North Thames funding model 2023/24

Background

The NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) is directly funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

CRN North Thames, which is part of the NIHR CRN, received £32.1 million in 2023/24 as part of this funding.

Previously CRN North Thames introduced a performance element to the funding allocation model for our Partner Organisations (POs). At the same time, the POs were given more autonomy to manage their resources and CRN funding.

Since March 2020, clinical services and research at POs have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has made standard performance metrics (weighted recruitment and cost per weighted recruit) difficult to measure relative performance across our POs and therefore difficult to apply.

In 2022/23, the DHSC provided £500,000 of one-off additional funding to alleviate cost pressures from the additional pay increase awarded to the NHS. CRN North Thames received additional funding of £900,000 in 2023/24.

2023/24 approach

DHSC has directed all Clinical Research Networks  to ring-fence a minimum of 2% of their budget for delivering initiatives to help increase access of research to the underserved communities in their local regions. The increase to pensions for NHS employees will be funded centrally by the government.

After cost pressures, CRN North Thames received the same funding as last year. Due to this and the unique situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the CRN North Thames Executive Group recognised that implementing a performance measure would be extremely difficult, even though this group recognises the importance of promoting and rewarding efficient use of public funds. The proposal for this year is to keep the PO allocations unchanged from 2022/23.

Cap and collar: These are in place to protect the amount of funding allocated to our POs by ensuring any change in year-on-year funding is limited. They will remain unchanged at +10% (cap/increase) and -20% (collar/decrease).

2023/24 Budget

This year's allocation for CRN North Thames of £32.1 million from the DHSC is £500,000 above last year. The increase is made up of £400,000 to support the increased pay award and £100,000 for Proton Beam Therapy support at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We are expecting the final pay increase will be higher than the £400,000 provided to support this and we will manage this when we know the actual risk.

How the Annual Financial Plan (AFP) is split

Annual Financial Plan 2023/24

Annual Financial Plan 2022/23 allocations by NHS trust/site

Primary Care allocations

How primary care funding is split, by region

Other allocations

How funding is split across other areas not covered above

The total allocation across NHS trusts/sites, primary care and other services is £32,052,518. This is in line with the figure presented in our 'How our Annual Financial Plan (AFP) is split' table.