Changes to the Integrated Care Board landscape
The Board will receive a verbal update on the ongoing changes to the Integrated Care Board (ICB) landscape.
Contact: Vicky Dutchburn, Accountable Officer, NHS, West Yorkshire ICB, Kirklees Place
Minutes:
Vicky Dutchburn, Interim Accountable Officer for the Kirklees Integrated Care Board (ICB), updated the Board on recent developments within the Integrated Care Board landscape. In summary, it was reported that there had been significant changes since the previous briefing and that work was now progressing at pace.
The Board was reminded that, at the last update, the process had been paused until the new financial year. However, in November 2025, the ICB was notified that the pause had been lifted and that the government expected the work to move forward.
The update will outline that the intention is not only to outline the changes taking place within the ICB but also to report on progress with ongoing work, alongside the continuation of business?as?usual activity. It was highlighted that although the organisation is undergoing significant change, work continues.
The Board was advised that the update would cover four key areas:
1) Organisational change
In relation to organisational change, this forms part of a much wider programme of change across the NHS, including NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. Although these wider changes will take place in due course, the ICB was required to go live and progress at pace.
As previously reported, across West Yorkshire, the organisation currently employs approximately 1,200 staff. The forthcoming changes will reduce this to around 600 posts, illustrating the scale of the organisational change required for the new structure.
Following the instruction in November that plans were to proceed, West Yorkshire took the decision to offer a voluntary redundancy scheme to all staff. This enabled the organisation to support colleagues while finalising the consultation documents for the proposed new structure. The voluntary redundancy scheme opened in November and closed at the beginning of December. In response, there has been a significant number of staff who have applied for voluntary redundancy and there are a significant number of staff who have been recommended for approval for voluntary redundancy. If those people take redundancy they will start exiting the organisation from next month.
Major organisational changes are expected to begin from next month. Some staff are still finalising their decisions regarding voluntary redundancy, and there are currently no firm figures available on the final impact. There remains however, a significant gap between the organisation’s current staffing position and the level required for the new structure.
On 14 January 2026, the organisation opened the formal consultation on the proposed new structure for staff. A dedicated webpage has been created to support this process, providing access to the full consultation documentation, including the proposed organisational structures and draft job descriptions.
A wide range of support and information has been provided to staff through the dedicated consultation webpage. The organisation is now partway through a 45?day consultation period. In parallel with this, any staff who were not successful in the first round of voluntary redundancy have the opportunity to appeal.
The ICB will have three core functions. It will be the Strategic Commissioner ... view the full minutes text for item 32