The 2018/19 planning guidance is a refresh of plans already prepared under the two year NHS Operational Planning and Contract Guidance 2017-2019. It sets out detail of how the additional funding from the November 2017 budget will be allocated and the developments in national policy with regards to system level collaboration.

This briefing focuses on the announcements that will be of most relevance for mental health and community trusts.

Key headlines include:

• NHS England’s revenue budget will grow by £2.14bn in 2018/19. This is greater than the £1.6bn announced in the Autumn 2017 Budget. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed it is making a further £540m available thought the Mandate during the next financial year. The guidance states this extra money has been given ‘for other core frontline services such as mental health and primary care’
• The Sustainability and Transformation Fund is to become the Provider Sustainability Fund (PSF), with total funding of £2.4bn (up from £1.8bn currently). A new £400m commissioner sustainability fund (CSF) will be introduced to enable CCGs to return to in year financial balance.
• An additional £1.4bn will be made available to CCGs next year; one of the explicit uses of this fund is to ensure ‘universal adherence’ to the Mental Health Investment Standard.
• The recovery trajectories for NHS constitutional performance standards have been pushed back. Trusts are now expected to meet the 90% A&E standard by September 2018, whilst the RTT 18 week waiting list should not be any higher in March 2019 than in March 2018.
• The eight shadow Accountable Care System sites and two devolved health and care systems are now to be known as Integrated Care Systems (ICS).
• The guidance states that there will be no additional winter funding in 2018/19. Systems are required to produce a winter demand and capacity plan with actions and proposed outcomes. Guidance on submit these winter plans will be available by March 2018.
• There is no new detail on how funding for the lifting of the pay cap will be administered. Trusts are urged, however, to ensure their workforce plans are robust as they will be used to inform pay modelling nationally.