NHS Employers, the BMA and HCSA, have sought and received ministerial acknowledgement of the exceptional circumstances created by the pandemic, and the significant operational pressures that services are under.

An agreement has been made to halt the forthcoming LCEA round and related work to enable clinicians and managers to focus on immediate priorities.

The existing funding for this awards round will be redistributed equally among eligible consultants as a one-off, non-consolidated payment.

The existing funding will include any money rolled over from the last two years, including money from award rounds that may not yet have been run or completed.

Details will need to be worked out locally, and amounts will vary among trusts, but the negotiating group says the eligibility criteria set out in Schedule 30 of the 2003 Terms and Conditions of Service should be used.

In addition to ‘normal’ consultants this will include clinical academics holding honorary contracts and those consultants who are not at work due to sickness or self-isolation relating to Covid-19.

Plus, consultants on maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave will also be included.

The Department of Health and Social Care will shortly confirm to trusts the investment ratio for 2020/21. An announcement has already been made confirming that National Clinical Excellence Awards will not be run this year.