ICBs ordered to cut costs by 50%

Integrated care boards have been told to cut their running costs in half by December.

ICBs had already been ordered to cut running costs by 20% over the past two years.

Sir Jim told the ICB CEOs the Treasury would cover the cost of redundancies, which are likely to be necessary, and that cuts must be made by the third quarter of 2025-26. HSJ understands they were also informed that trusts would be required to cut managerial costs.

The measures are part of a “financial reset” package due to be outlined by Sir Jim to NHS CEOs in London on Thursday. 

The cuts to integrated care board budgets will make it next to impossible for some individual ICBs to operate as a standalone organisations, or to carry out the full range of responsibilities originally given to them by the 2022 Health and Care Act.

One leader told HSJ the size and speed of the cut was “terrifying” and would throw management of the NHS “into chaos”. Another director briefed on the plan said it felt “like full panic mode and blunt cost cutting without clarity on purpose”.

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Source: HSJ, 12 March 2025