The must-read stories and debate in health policy and leadership.

Some senior NHS staff on Agenda for Change will see a reduction in their take-home pay, thanks to the government’s latest pay award and its impact on pension contribution thresholds.

The settlement for this year, announced in July, has seen individuals who are at the bottom of bands 3, 5 and 8a tipped automatically into a higher pension contributions tier.

This has increased from 9.3 per cent to 12.5 per cent for those in band 8a and affects them particularly as their back pay, covering 1 April to 30 September, will sadly not be enough to offset the resulting arrears.

NHS England warned staff about the situation in a staff message this week, saying some staff would see their salary push them above a pension threshold and therefore increase their contributions.

Em Wilkinson-Brice, NHSE’s national director of people, said: “Employers are encouraged to identify those impacted by this issue to make them aware, and to offer the option of paying any outstanding arrears in instalments rather than in one lump sum, where appropriate.”

This all comes as changes to the NHS pension scheme’s contribution tiers are set to come into effect from October.

Talk about a double whammy.

Webster says wake up

A top NHS chief executive has said talk of cutting management in the NHS is getting in the way of more important conversations about the operating model of the health service.

The remarks by Rob Webster, chief executive of West Yorkshire integrated care system, come after new prime Minister Liz Truss pledged “fewer levels of management” in the NHS during her leadership campaign. Steve Barclay has also said “too much management” has burdened the NHS frontline.

Mr Webster, who had also held national leadership roles in the Department of Health and was chief executive of NHS Confederation, told HSJ that managers had a good record of delivery – and research has shown the NHS is not ‘over-managed’.

He also said efforts to tackle health inequalities are “not woke, [but] fact”. Ministers have been criticised recently for using the “culture wars” to distract from the government’s failings on the NHS.  

Also on hsj.co.uk today

In this week’s tech briefing The Download, Nick Carding examines the “federated data platform”, the NHS’s latest attempt to exploits its data store, and in a comment piece, Paul Farmer says an informed and ambitious plan could positively change the way Britain’s mental health system works from top to bottom.