NHS care boards made redundancy payments of £34m

A freedom of information (FOI) request seen by the BBC has revealed that £34m was paid out in "exit packages" after three NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) merged.

The FOI request made by Liberal Democrats on Central Bedfordshire Council revealed that the money was paid out during 2025/26 before a new Central East ICB came into being on 1 April.

In April, the new ICB replaced those serving Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK), Herts and West Essex, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

A spokesperson for the ICB said: "All ICBs were instructed in March 2025 to reduce their running costs by 50%. These redundancy costs are the result of Central East ICB complying with this requirement."

ICBs get budget from NHS England for planning and paying for most NHS services in their areas, including hospitals, community services and GP services.

The amount they get is based on a formula that factors in things such as population size, age and deprivation.

The new ICB was formed as part of the government's NHS reorganisation plans. It is hoped that merging the organisations will make it easier to share resources and avoid duplication.

Central Bedfordshire councillor Emma Holland-Lindsay, a Liberal Democrat, said: "It was quite shocking to see the sheer scale of it because £34m is a huge sum of money."

She added: "My concern is it just feels like another complicated reshuffling without any clear end goal that will improve services in our community.

"My town, Leighton Buzzard, has been promised additional health facilities like a health hub because we hear all the time residents are having to travel long distances to access minor injuries or scans.

"They're still finding it incredibly hard to get a GP appointment at their local surgery, they're still struggling to get registered with an NHS dentist. So what I'm not clear on is if they are reducing running costs, where is the impact on our local services?"

According to the FOI, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough paid out more than £14m in redundancy packages, BLMK more than £11m and Herts and West Essex more than £8m.

In a separate move, the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire ICB was merged with Frimley ICB to become Thames Valley ICB.

The Department for Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.

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