About us
The SPF brings together NHS Employers, NHS trade unions, NHS England (NHSE), and the Department of Health and Social Care, to contribute to the development and implementation of policy that impacts on the health workforce.
Primary aims
The primary aims of the SPF are to:
- contribute staff side and employer perspectives to emerging policy at a formative stage
- improve policy development and implementation by feeding in ideas on workforce implications
- promote good practice in relation to partnership working and effective communication between partners.
The SPF Partnership Agreement, updated in July 2022, sets out the framework through which SPF partners commit to work collectively to tackle healthcare system priorities and challenges.
Another key aim is to encourage employers and trade unions to work together to ensure a positive working environment where staff can provide high quality care and services. To support this, the national SPF highlights tools and resources to promote and support partnership working in the NHS.
Case studies are also developed by partners and published on the SPF website, to evidence positive outcomes through partnership working and to share learning.
The SPF does not discuss the contractual arrangements for NHS staff as this is carried out in the NHS Staff Council which has overall responsibility for the Agenda for Change pay system.
Priority areas
In June 2024, national and regional SPF co-chairs met to discuss priorities for 2024/25. The following areas of focus were identified. These will be reviewed after the launch of the 10 Year Health Plan.
- Supporting the Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) through planning for the future workforce, education expansion and widening supply.
- Focusing on achieving the LTWP’s ambition on staff retention through building positive staff experience and wellbeing, delivering the NHS People Promise, and a clear intent and focus on equality, diversity, safety and inclusion.
- Encouraging and facilitating the adoption and embedding of the updated Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard and Sexual Safety Charter across the NHS.
- Enabling improvement, transformation and better workforce policy and practice.
Regional SPF priority areas
Information on the regional SPF's priorities are available on the regional web pages.
Reviews and key achievements
We periodically undertake or commission a review of how the national SPF is performing. These reviews take the form of heat checks or more a in-depth stocktake. We also periodically identify and showcase our key achievements. See below our reviews and key achievements since 2019.
