County of Herefordshire District Council and NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Commissioning Board (HWICB) form part of a Framework Partnership Agreement relating to the commissioning of health and social care services in exercise of the powers referred to in Section 75 of the 2006 Act and/or Section 13Z(2) and 14Z(3) of the 2006 Act as applicable (the “Partnership Agreement”).
As part of the annual review of budgets and commissioning plans the partners have agreed a revised financial plan for the financial year 2023/24.
The Partners acknowledge agree and confirm that they waive the requirements of clause 33 (Variation) in respect of the variations set out in this Deed and further acknowledge, agree and confirm that the Partnership Agreement shall be amended as follows:
1) The Partnership Agreement shall be varied in accordance with Schedule 1 (Amendments to the Partnership Agreement).
2) The Partners have agreed to vary Schedule 1 (Financial Contributions and Financial Governance) to the Partnership Agreement as set out in Schedule 4 (Other Amendments).
3) The Partners have agreed to amend Schedule 3 (Scheme Template & Schedules) to the Partnership Agreement to reflect the revised financial plan as set out in Schedule 4 (Other Amendments).
4) The Partners have reviewed the financial arrangements contained in the Partnership Agreement and have agreed to revise Schedule 4 (Risk Share and Overspends) to the Partnership Agreement to reflect the revised financial plan as set out in Schedule 4 (Other Amendments).
5) The Partners have reviewed the performance managements contained in the Partnership Agreement and have agreed to revise Schedule 6 (Performance Arrangements) to reflect the revised governance structures for joint commissioning as set out in Schedule 4 (Other Amendments).
6) The partners have reviewed the detailed financial plan and have agreed to Schedule 11 (Financial Plan) to reflect the revised schemes, services and contributions to each pooled fund.
7) The Partnership Agreement shall be varied as set out in Schedule 4 (Other Amendments).
A partnership arrangement under section 75 (s75) of the NHS Act 2006 enables partners to commission integrated health and social care services to better meet the needs of service users than if the partners were operating independently. Section 75 agreements provide a contractual framework for the use of pooled funds between the council and the ICB, to enable services to be delivered and commissioned co-dependently.
The s75 agreement is a national requirement of the Better Care Fund, set by NHS England under the NHS Act 2006.
The s75 covers the current financial year 2023/24. The national deadline for approval of the s75 was 31 October 2023; at this point negotiations were still ongoing between partners, the Regional BCF Manager was kept appraised of negotiations and an agreement between partners for final approval was subsequently reached.