To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was spent on NHS agency staff in the last ten years for which records are available.
Answered on
26 March 2019
Due to the way that agency expenditure was measured across legacy organisations prior to the creation of NHS Improvement, comparable figures are only available from 2012-13 onwards.
The following table shows that after a 40% increase in total agency expenditure between 2012-13 and 2015-16, new measures introduced to reduce agency spend across the National Health Service have been successful. Since their introduction, agency spend has fallen from a peak of £3.6 billion in 2015-16 to £2.4 billion in 2017-18 – a £1.2 billion reduction.
We recognise that there is still more to be done in this area, and we are committed to reducing trusts’ reliance on expensive agency workers, whilst ensuring they can meet their temporary staffing needs. One of the ways we are achieving this is by working with NHS Improvement to support trusts to develop tech-enabled, sustainable and effective in-house staff banks that cover all staff groups and therefore provide a viable alternative to agency.
Year Total Agency Expenditure
2012-13 £2,113 million
2013-14 £2,589 million
2014-15 £3,190 million
2015-16 £3,635 million
2016-17 £2,935 million
2017-18 £2,407 million
2018-19 (year to date, month 10) £1,999 million