To: All NHS trust and NHS foundation trust finance directors and finance teams

Transcription

1 Wellington House Waterloo Road London SE1 8UG 1 December 2017 T: E: nhsi.enquiries@nhs.net W: improvement.nhs.uk To: All NHS trust and NHS foundation trust finance directors and finance teams Dear Colleague Accounts and reporting timetable 2017/18 We have worked with the Department of Health and NHS England to develop the accounts timetable for 2017/18 and we are now in a position to publish this. The key submissions are on similar dates to 2016/17, but adjustments have been made to allow for the timing of Easter and bank holidays to preserve the number of working days and/or calendar days between key dates as much as possible. For NHS trusts, 2017/18 brings the first year where trusts will take responsibility for the finalisation and submission of audited accounts, and will make submissions to NHS Improvement rather than the Department of Health. This is an important responsibility and NHS trust finance directors must ensure they have plans in place in discussion with auditors to meet the deadlines set out in this letter. For NHS foundation trusts, 2017/18 is the first time that accounts and monitoring collections are contained in the same form, removing the need to reconcile between two collections. We wrote to you on 23 August 1 explaining some of the planned reporting changes at month 9. Recognising that this brings important changes for NHS providers, the month 9 reporting date is slightly later than in the past two years. This letter also sets out the dates that we will issue forms to you. The instructions accompanying the month 9 form will explain changes in reporting compared to previous years in detail. As in 2016/17, there will also be a key data return at months 9 and 12: this will allow us to meet our deadlines for reporting to the Department of Health. At month 12 the key data return will be used as part of calculating indicative Sustainability and Transformation Fund (STF) allocations, which will be communicated back to providers before the submission of draft accounts. We ll communicate more details about this process nearer the time August letter available at NHS Improvement is the operational name for the organisation that brings together Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, Patient Safety, the National Reporting and Learning System, the Advancing Change team and the Intensive Support Teams.

2 The annex to this letter sets out the detailed reporting timetable for 2017/18. If there are any changes required to this timetable we will communicate these to you as soon as possible and updates will also be posted at We intend that the changes we are making to financial reporting for NHS trusts and foundation trusts this year will bring benefits to the sector going forward. As set out in the annex, we plan to issue a dummy month 9 form on 5 December together with detailed instructions. We hope that the information communicated in this letter and early sight of the month 9 form will help provide certainty and aid your preparations. Thank you for your continued cooperation in providing financial information to us which enables us to meet our obligations. Yours sincerely Elizabeth O Mahony Chief Financial Officer

3 Annex 1: Full accounts and reporting timetable for 2017/18 Organisations should note the following definitions: Receivable organisation - this is the organisation sending the invoice/is carrying the trade receivable/is receiving the income i.e. the supplier or provider Payable organisation this is the organisation receiving the invoice/carrying the trade payable/recording expenditure i.e. the purchaser or commissioner. We have colour-coded rows in this table as follows: White row Yellow row Blue row Green row Red row Grey row Agreement of balances process Monthly monitoring submission Key data submission TAC / accounts / agreement of balances submission to NHS Improvement Other process Month 9 and month 12 form release by NHS Improvement Date Tuesday 5 th December 2017 Friday 15 th December 2017 Thursday 21 st Friday 22 nd December 2017 Friday 29 th December 2017 Thursday 4 th NHS Improvement issues dummy month 9 TAC standalone file Later in December NHS Improvement will issue the month 9 Provider Financial Return (PFR) form including the Trust Accounts Consolidation (TAC) schedules. To help your preparations for month 9, on 5 December we will issue a dummy standalone file containing the TAC schedules. This is for information only and cannot be submitted. Submission of month 8 monitoring return to NHS Improvement Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. Any financial commentary or other documents that accompany the template should be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox with activity type In Year Returns, template type Finance Commentary and period M08. NHS Improvement issues month 9 PFR form (including TAC schedules) Month 9 forms will be issued to providers together with completion instructions. Due to the volume of data being processed, your individual trust s form could be issued on either day. The form will be issued via the Portal inbox and accompanied by an from Provider.Accounts@improvement.nhs.uk. Final date for ing invoices dated up to 31 st December These invoices relate to activity and services up to and including November and can include December activity and services. Date for Receivable organisations to Payable organisations a receivables statement detailing outstanding invoices as at 31 st December Please note: Only one statement must be sent to each Payable organisation A statement must be sent to each Payable organisation even if the balance is under 100,000 but need not be sent if the balance is less than 2,500. Agreement is not required where the total balance is below 100,000 Refer to DH agreement of balances guidance 2 for further details 2

4 Friday 5 th Tuesday 9 th Monday 15 th Tuesday 16 th Wednesday 17 th Thursday 18 th Monday 22 nd Tuesday 23 rd If a receivables statement has not been received the Payable organisation is to inform the Receivable organisation. In such cases, the Receivable organisation must a statement immediately. Final date for agreement of outstanding Receivables/Payables dated up to 31st December 2017 and above 100,000. Submission of month 9 key data return to NHS Improvement Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. Please note Key Data submissions are to allow early view of high level figures. We would not expect any material changes to these key figures unless this has been agreed with your NHS improvement regional contact first. Final date for Receivable organisations to Payable organisations an income statement detailing income received to 31 st December The statement will include income that has been invoiced and income received without an invoice. Only one statement must be sent to each Payable organisation. A statement must be sent to each Payable organisation even if the balance is under 100,000 but need not be sent if the balance is less than 10,000. Agreement is not required where the total balance is below 100,000. If an income statement has not been received the Payable organisation is to inform the Receivable organisation. In such cases, the Receivable organisation must a statement immediately. NHS providers submit month 9 Provider Financial Return (PFR) to NHS Improvement (incorporating Trust Accounts Consolidation (TAC) schedules), with first submission of month 9 receivables and payables AoB data These TACs should be prepared using the agreed receivables/payables position, but the provider s own information on income and expenditure. This submission will be used for consolidating the TACs, and for receivables and payables AoB information. The income and expenditure columns in the WGA tabs (TAC60- TAC64) will not be used in this submission, but the provider should ensure there are no validation errors in the form 3. The month 9 TAC Completion Instructions document will give further guidance about this form. Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. NEW: Please ensure that Month 9 main submission is selected on the cover of the PFR file before uploading. Any financial commentary or other documents that accompany the template should be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox with activity type In Year Returns, template type Finance Commentary and period M09. 3 The income and expenditure columns on the WGA sheets (TAC60-TAC64) are not used by NHS Improvement in this first submission. However the WGA balances columns on TAC60-TAC64 and all the counterparty columns on the accounts tabs must be properly completed. It is therefore a matter for the trust whether the income and expenditure columns on TAC60-TAC64 are completed with the provider s own information, or balancing figures are entered to clear the I&E WGA validations: the counterparty columns on the other TAC tabs must be fully completed. The month 9 TAC completion instructions will give guidance on which specific notes and tables in the accounts tabs can be omitted.

5 Monday 29 th January to Friday 9 th February Tuesday 30 th Friday 2 nd February 2018 Tuesday 6 th February 2018 Tuesday 13 th February 2018 Thursday 15 th February 2018 Friday 23 rd February 2018 Friday 2 nd Submit NHS Pensions requests for senior managers remuneration ( Greenbury ) Please note that all requests for disclosure information must be received by NHS Pensions between these dates to enable the necessary information to be provided in time for the submission of draft accounts. NHS Pensions is unable to guarantee that requests or queries received after 9 th February will be dealt with by 1 st April. NHS BSA will formally publish these arrangements in December. NHS Improvement distributes DH group mismatch schedules to NHS providers (receivables and payables only) Variances should be cleared and organisations must ensure they do not use the Accrued, Adjusted or Disputed columns inappropriately in resolving variances. Final date for agreement of income and expenditure above 100,000 NHS providers submit first submission of month 9 income and expenditure AoB to NHS Improvement This submission is made by resubmitting the month 9 PFR file. You should submit the whole form, but only the WGA information will be utilised from this submission (a first submission of income and expenditure). The accounts and in-year monitoring information will not be used and need not be updated. Validation errors can be ignored in this submission, except for the specific agreement of balances validations referred to on the Cover sheet of the form. Receivables and payables AoB information can also be included but this is not a formal receivables and payables resubmission. Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. NEW: Please ensure that Agreement of balances resubmission is selected on the cover of the PFR file before uploading. NHS Improvement distributes DH group mismatch schedules to NHS providers Variances should be cleared and organisations must ensure they do not use the Accrued, Adjusted or Disputed columns inappropriately in resolving variances. Submission of month 10 monitoring return to NHS Improvement Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. Any financial commentary or other documents that accompany the template should be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox with activity type In Year Returns, template type Finance Commentary and period M10. NHS providers submit second submission of month 9 income/expenditure and receivables/payables AoB to NHS Improvement This submission is made by resubmitting the month 9 PFR file. You should submit the whole form, but only the WGA information will be utilised from this submission. The accounts and in-year monitoring information will not be used and need not be updated. Validation errors can be ignored in this submission, except for the specific agreement of balances validations referred to on the Cover sheet of the form. Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. NEW: Please ensure that Agreement of balances resubmission is selected on the cover of the PFR file before uploading. NHS Improvement distributes DH group mismatch schedules to NHS providers Providers should use these reports to manage the resolution of any remaining variances before the year end agreement of balances process.

6 Thursday 15 th Wednesday 21 st Thursday 22 nd Friday 23 rd Tuesday 27 th Wednesday 28 th March Tuesday 3 rd April 2018 Monday 9 th April 2018 Monday 9 th April 2018 Monday 9 th April 2018 Monday 16 th April 2018 Submission of month 11 monitoring return to NHS Improvement Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. Any financial commentary or other documents that accompany the template should be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox with activity type In Year Returns, template type Finance Commentary and period M11. Final date for sending March dated invoices ( where possible). These invoices relate to activity and services up to and including February and should include estimates for March activity and services where possible. Please note statements are not to be sent until Wednesday 28 th. Final date for despatch of payments to DH group bodies for 2017/18. This means that there should be no payments made after 22 nd without prior agreement. NHS Improvement issues month 12 PFR form (including TAC schedules) Month 12 forms will be issued to providers together with completion instructions. The form will be issued via the Portal inbox and accompanied by an from Provider Accounts (Provider.Accounts@improvement.nhs.uk). Date for Receivable organisations to Payable organisations a receivables statement detailing outstanding invoices dated and invoiced by 21 st. Payments received up to and including 21 st must also be included. Please note: Only one statement must be sent to each Payable organisation A statement must be sent to each Payable organisation even if the balance is under 100,000 but need not be sent if the balance is less than 2,500. Agreement is not required where the total balance is below 100,000. If a receivables statement has not been received the Payable organisation is to inform the Receivable organisation. In such cases, the Receivable organisation must a statement immediately. Final date for agreement of outstanding Receivables/Payables dated up to 21 st and above 100,000. Final date for Receivables organisations to a statement of Accruals to the Payable organisations, listing all 2017/18 liabilities not invoiced by 21 st March Final date for Receivable organisations to Payable organisations an income statement detailing income received to 21 st The statement will include income that has been invoiced and income received without an invoice e.g. Grants, R&D payments etc. Only one statement must be sent to each Payable organisation. An income statement must be sent to each Payable organisation for balances over 2m and agreement reached. Receivable organisations may issue statements below this level if they wish. Deadline for agreement of income/expenditure above 2m balance. Complete discussions regarding accruals for inclusion in 2017/18 accounts.

7 Tuesday 17 th April 2018 Tuesday 24 th April 2018 Monday 30 th April 2018 Tuesday 8 th May 2018 Tuesday 15 th May 2018 Submission of month 12 key data return to NHS Improvement Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. Please note Key Data submissions are to allow early view of high level figures. We would not expect any material changes to these key figures unless this has been agreed with your NHS improvement regional contact first. NHS providers submit month 12 PFR form (including unaudited TACs) and draft accounts to NHS Improvement This submission is of: Month 12 PFR form (including unaudited TACs) Draft accounts The TACs will include income/expenditure and receivables/payables WGA data. PFR form uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal (outbox). NEW: Please ensure that Draft accounts is selected on the cover of the PFR file before uploading. There should be no validation errors in this submission. Draft accounts uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox and submitted as: Financial year: FY Activity: In Year Returns Template Type: Accounts submissions Period: M12 Please note the above: we are aware that submitting draft accounts is a new process for NHS trusts. Any financial commentary that accompanies the template should be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox with activity type In Year Returns, template type Finance Commentary and period M12. NHS Improvement distributes DH group mismatch schedules to NHS providers Variances should be cleared and organisations must ensure they do not use the Accrued, Adjusted or Disputed lines inappropriately in resolving variances. NHS providers re-submit TACs to provide updated agreement of balances information to NHS Improvement This submission is made by resubmitting the month 12 PFR file. You should submit the whole form, but only the WGA information will be utilised from this submission. The accounts and in-year monitoring information will not be used and need not be updated. Validation errors can be ignored in this submission, except for the specific agreement of balances validations referred to on the Cover sheet of the form. Template to be uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox. NEW: Please ensure that Agreement of balances resubmission is selected on the cover of the PFR file before uploading. Any changes to the accounts must be agreed with your auditors and should form part of the audited submission of the accounts and PFR form on 29 th May. NHS Improvement distributes DH group mismatch schedules to NHS providers Remaining variances should be cleared and organisations must ensure they do not use the Accrued, Adjusted or Disputed lines inappropriately in resolving variances.

8 Tuesday 29 th May 2018 NHS providers submit month 12 PFR form (including audited TACs) and audited accounts to NHS Improvement Electronic (Portal) Electronic (Portal) scan (pdf) of a signed document Hard copy in the post 1 Audited accounts (Any reasonable file type) 2 Audited accounts: signed Statement of Financial Position (balance sheet) 3 Audited accounts: signed Statement of Accounting / Accountable Officer s Responsibilities (included in (1) ) 4 Audited TAC schedules (submission of PFR form) 5 Audited TAC schedules: Print off the Confirmations tab and signed at the bottom by the Chief Executive as confirmation that the final audited TAC schedules have been submitted. Please ensure answer to question 3 has been updated. 6 Full final text of audited annual report (this does not need to have final formatting for printing, but should be the final text) 7 Annual report: signed pages For FTs: these are listed in the annual report decision direction in annex 1 to chapter 1 of the FT ARM For NHS trusts: see DH GAM paragraphs 3.7 and 3.8) (No need to upload separately if the file in (6) is a pdf containing scanned signatures) 8 Auditor ISA 260 report 9 Original signed audit report (audit opinion) on the accounts 10 Original signed chief executive and finance director certificate on the summarisation schedules (TAC schedules) Will be available here 11 Auditor report on the summarisation schedules (TAC schedules) NHS foundation trusts: See row 12 below for extra hard copy item This row is continued overleaf.

9 The TACs will include income/expenditure and receivables/payables WGA data. PFR form uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal (outbox). NEW: Please ensure that Audited accounts is selected on the cover of the PFR file before uploading. There should be no validation errors in this submission. All other electronic submissions in table above uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox and submitted as: Financial year: FY Activity: In Year Returns Template Type: Accounts submissions Period: M12 Hard copy submissions in table above posted on Tuesday 29 May to: Provider Accounts, NHS Improvement, Wellington House, Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8UG Please clearly write your organisation s MARS ID (found on the cover of the PFR form) on the envelope of the package. We recognise that NHS trusts did not have to make hard copy submissions in the prior year. These are required as a result of NHS trusts making their own submissions at the audited stage, and NHS Improvement needing to assess the consistency of summarisation schedules with accounts. Tuesday 29 th May 2018 (5pm) FOR NHS FOUNDATION TRUSTS ONLY: NHS foundation trusts submit quality report assurance documents to NHS Improvement 12 NHS foundation trusts only: original signed limited assurance audit opinion on quality report 13 NHS foundation trusts only: auditor long form governors report on quality report assurance Electronic (Portal) Electronic (Portal) scan (pdf) of a signed document Hard copy in the post Electronic submissions in table above uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox and submitted as: Same instructions as accounts row above Hard copy submission in table above posted on Tuesday 29 May to: Same address as accounts row above You may wish to include this with the accounts submissions above. Please clearly write your organisation s MARS ID (found on the cover of the PFR form) on the envelope of the package.

10 Thursday 21 st June 2018 Monday 25 th June 2018 Monday 25 th June 2018, noon Monday 16 th July 2018 FOR NHS FOUNDATION TRUSTS ONLY Parliament step 1: Preparation for laying before Parliament You must check that the format of your annual report and accounts is acceptable before printing the final copies of the report. The format should be checked with the DH Parliamentary Office to ensure it can be laid before Parliament. Refer to the Department of Health Group Accounting Manual (DH GAM) for full details. FOR NHS FOUNDATION TRUSTS ONLY Parliament step 2: NHS foundation trusts submit accounts to DH Parliamentary Office to be laid before Parliament (refer to DH GAM for detailed guidance around this process). Hard copies must arrive at the Parliamentary Clerk s office for lying before parliament no later than this date. NHS foundation trusts should pay careful attention to the format published alongside in the DH GAM and note the requirement to send the draft document to the Parliamentary Clerk for approval prior to printing (see DH GAM for more details). This should be the full annual report and full statutory accounts (as one document) Four hard copies [Now 4 not 5] should be posted to the Parliamentary Clerk s office to arrive on or before Monday 25 June. PDF of the annual report and accounts document to be sent to MB- SI@dh.gsi.gov.uk. Postal address: The Parliamentary Clerk, Department of Health, Parliamentary Unit, 8 th Floor, 39 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0EU [Note new address] Please clearly state your organisation name (not MARS ID) on the package label. FOR ALL NHS PROVIDERS NHS providers reply to NHS Improvement s letter regarding events after the reporting date. We expect to issue this letter to NHS providers on 15 th June. FOR ALL NHS PROVIDERS NHS providers submit final full annual report including full statutory accounts to NHS Improvement This should be a single PDF document containing both the annual report (including quality report and quality report limited assurance opinion for NHS foundation trusts) and full statutory accounts including audit report (opinion). Uploaded to the NHS Improvement Portal outbox: Financial year: FY Activity: In Year Returns Template Type: Accounts submissions Period: M12

11 Annex 2: Summarised timetable for 2017/18 Collection period Information collected Issue forms to NHS Improvement portals ) Submission deadline for providers (midday unless otherwise stated) Month 8 PFR form: monthly monitoring Friday 1 December 2017 Friday 15 December 2017 Month 9: Key Data Key data Wednesday 3 Tuesday 16 Month 9: Main submission Month 9: AoB submission Month 9: AoB resubmission PFR form: TAC schedules and monthly monitoring PFR form: TAC schedules (WGA sheets updated only) PFR form: TAC schedules (WGA sheets updated only) Thursday 21 - Friday 22 December 2017 Tuesday 23 n/a Tuesday 6 February 2018 n/a Friday 23 February 2018 Month 10 PFR form: monthly monitoring Monday 5 February 2018 Thursday 15 February 2018 Month 11 PFR form: monthly monitoring Friday 2 Thursday 15 Month 12: Key Data Key data Tuesday 3 April 2018 Tuesday 17 April 2018 Month 12: Draft Accounts Month 12: AoB resubmission Month 12: Final Accounts PFR form: TAC schedules and monthly monitoring PFR form: TAC schedules (WGA sheets updated only) PFR form: TAC schedules and monthly monitoring Friday 23 Tuesday 24 April 2018 n/a Tuesday 8 May 2018 n/a Tuesday 29 May 2018