Your ESR News

Reflecting on 2025: A Year of Partnership, Progress and Promise

As I look back on 2025, I continue to be immensely proud of what we have achieved together across the NHS. Delivering meaningful change in an environment of competing pressures and sustained operational challenge is never easy. However, NHS colleagues across England and Wales have once again demonstrated remarkable commitment, professionalism, and resilience to deliver effective workforce services and change.

A personal stand out is how teams, both national and local, have continued to work together to progress the important journey of supporting our NHS people and the care they provide – with some great innovation deployed as referenced within this edition of ESR News.

Your partnership with the NHSBSA ESR team is central to our continued success – thank you!

We have continued to work closely with DHSC, NHS England and NHS Wales in order to strengthen the ESR service, expand its usage and enhance its functionality. Such ongoing collaboration remains critical to the success of the ESR service.

I would also like to extend my thanks to our technology and service partner IBM, and to colleagues across the NHSBSA ESR team, for their commitment to delivering a stable, secure and high-quality service during another busy and challenging year for ESR.

Strengthening ESR to meet developing service user needs

Supporting workforce policy in England and Wales has remained a core focus this year, including the successful and timely delivery of national pay awards.

We have continued to enhance ESR to meet the growing needs of the workforce. Key developments this year included:

• Enhancements to the Leavers Dashboard, providing digital access to pay information and improving the experience for staff moving on from the NHS.
• A new Socio-economic Background portlet, rapidly increasing data collection and helping organisations better understand and tackle barriers to opportunity.
• Updates to Total Reward Statements, aligned with the McCloud remedy, giving eligible pension scheme members clearer information about their options.

These developments reflect our ongoing commitment to deliver a modern, responsive ESR service for the NHS.

The Future NHS Workforce Solution – A Landmark Step Forward

One of the most significant milestones for ESR Services, and for the wider NHS, arrived in October with the completion of the procurement for a Future NHS Workforce Solution. A contract has been awarded to Infosys, who will both run the existing ESR service from September 2026 and deliver the future solution.

Work is now underway, with teams mobilising to initiate design activities, plan transition arrangements and build the foundation of a modern, integrated, future-ready workforce platform.

Early engagement remains critical. We have recently invited a number of NHS organisations to be early adopters of the new solution and in January 2026, the Readiness and Implementation team will be engaging with those organisations to secure commitment to an early adopter phase. Their insight will help validate the design and implementation approach and ensure the solution will reflect the needs of NHS organisations and their workforce.

Chris Price, Programme Director - Future NHS Workforce Solution Transformation Programme, comments:

This has been a monumental year for the programme with many significant achievements over the last 12 months. This includes the huge milestone in October of receiving Full Business Case approvals and announcing Infosys as the supplier for the Future NHS Workforce Solution. 

The future solution is a core enabler of the NHS 10 Year Plan, NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, and people service transformation, transforming how the NHS trains, recruits, retains, and reforms its workforce.

As we head into 2026, we are continuing to work in partnership with the Infosys consortium with key focus on the design activities for the future solution, developing our implementation approach, as well preparatory activities for the running of the existing ESR Service from September 2026.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to all our NHS colleagues in England and Wales who have helped us reach this point – this really has been a team effort.

Thank You - and Looking Ahead

I hope you find this edition of ESR News both informative and inspiring. The articles featured highlight how organisations continue to innovate with ESR, supporting local priorities while advancing national workforce goals.

On behalf of the NHSBSA and the ESR Service team, thank you for your ongoing support, engagement, and partnership. As we enter another pivotal year – including a continued focus on ESR services and preparing for the Future NHS Workforce Solution, we look forward to continuing this exciting journey with you.

May I offer best wishes for the Christmas period and a healthy, happy and successful 2026.

Strengthening Support for the Future NHS Workforce Solution: Introducing the evolved Readiness & Implementation Team

To strengthen our strategic engagement and elevate the positioning of both ESR and the Future NHS Workforce Solution Transformation Programme, we have introduced new Senior Implementation Leads. These roles will help deepen relationships with senior stakeholders, support organisational readiness, and ensure that ESR and the future solution are understood as critical enablers of workforce transformation.

As part of the evolution of our national NHS ESR regional teams, during 2025 the teams have entered a new phase of development, forming the Readiness & Implementation (R&I) Team. This strengthened and strategically focused function has been designed to offer enhanced support to NHS organisations across England and Wales through a period of significant transformation.

This transition reflects the growing scale and complexity of the Future NHS Workforce Solution Transformation Programme and the evolving needs of User Organisations operating within an environment of increasing demand, diverse operating models, and rapidly changing shared service arrangements.

To meet this challenge, the team has expanded with the creation of two new specialist teams:

• A Shared Services Team, with a national remit to build and strengthen relationships with shared service providers and support the development of readiness and implementation strategies in this complex and evolving landscape.
• A dedicated NHS Wales Team, ensuring tailored, high-quality support for organisations across Wales in recognition of their specific structures, requirements, and pathways.

Together with our new Senior Implementation Leads, these additions significantly enhance our ability to coordinate, guide and empower User Organisations as they prepare for the transition to the future solution.

Empowering Organisations for the Future NHS Workforce Solution

The Readiness & Implementation Team plays a pivotal role in ensuring NHS organisations are informed, confident and well-prepared for the future solution.

We work alongside User Organisations to ensure they have:

• the right support
• the right tools
• and the right assurance

to deliver their responsibilities at every stage of readiness and implementation.

By working collaboratively with Infosys, the team will help organisations fully understand and maximise the capabilities of the new solution, driving adoption (including local transformation), improving user experience and ensuring long-term benefits for both staff and services.

Importantly, this work continues alongside our support for the existing ESR solution. The team continues to provide functional SME expertise, targeted guidance and educational materials to help organisations optimise ESR today while preparing for the transition to the Future NHS Workforce Solution.

Strengthening Engagement and Collaboration Across the NHS

The Readiness & Implementation team plays a key role in building connections and ensuring collaboration across the wider NHS community. We bring organisations, partners, and stakeholders together through governance and engagement forums that promote shared learning, transparency, and alignment with the goals of both the ESR Service and the Future NHS Workforce Solution Transformation Programme.

We also work closely with Infosys and its partners to raise awareness of the future solution’s vision, ensuring clear and consistent communication across the system and fostering collaborative relationships that support successful implementation.

The team additionally helps the programme manage external dependencies—ensuring they are understood, planned for and embedded into readiness and implementation activity. This joined-up approach supports both local and national success.

Your Readiness & Implementation Team: here to support you

Every NHS organisation has access to a dedicated NHSBSA Readiness & Implementation team, providing hands-on support tailored to local needs.

Whether you are looking to:

• optimise your current use of ESR,
• understand your responsibilities for the future solution, or
• prepare your organisation for the transition and transformation ahead,

your Readiness & Implementation team are here to help.

You can find contact information about your NHSBSA Readiness & Implementation team here, making it easy to connect with the team who can best support your organisation’s readiness and implementation journey.

 

Enhancing the ESR Experience

This year we have continued our focus on improving usability for NHS employees, managers and professional users, while continuing to collaborate with strategic partners to support national workforce priorities. Highlights include:

January: Improved Support for Leavers

The Leavers Dashboard was enhanced with a new P11D portlet, enabling leavers to access all pay-related data electronically. This upgrade improves the user experience and supports the NHS ambition to reduce reliance on paper.

June: Accelerating Socio-economic Background (SEB) Data Collection

We launched a new SEB portlet to make the declaration process more visible and efficient. Before launch, only 900 employees recorded their data over three months; since implementation, more than 18,500 declarations have been made in just five months. Faster and more comprehensive data will help organisations identify and remove barriers to opportunity, improving the experience for current and future NHS staff.

September: Strengthening Data Quality and Security

We amended the Applicant Purge process to increase its effectiveness. The change enables organisations to remove outdated records that can cause duplication and reporting errors, while also strengthening security by closing inactive accounts. Since the change, 170,000 additional applicant records have been purged.

Pay Awards and Pension Updates Delivered on Time

Throughout the year, multiple pay awards were delivered successfully across the NHS. Updates were also made to Total Reward Statements in line with the McCloud remedy, helping eligible pension scheme members to make informed retirement choices.

Improving Workforce Intelligence

We delivered a wide range of enhancements across the ESR Business Intelligence dashboards to reflect user needs, improve data quality and enable more informed workforce decision-making.

Behind the Scenes: Technical Improvements

Not all improvements are immediately visible to users, but technical changes are critical to ensure ESR remains reliable, secure and ready for future development.

Streamlining ESR Content Management

In June we introduced a streamlined approach to updating content on the ESR Hub and Portal by removing the Liferay content staging servers. This has simplified the system architecture, reduced complexity and improved deployment efficiency for content updates.

These enhancements demonstrate our continued commitment to supporting the NHS workforce through a modern, secure and responsive national ESR service. We look forward to building on this progress in 2026.

 

ESR & Job Planning Software Interface

Background

Research undertaken by NHS England (NHSE) has identified significant misalignment -typically 5-15% - between consultant and SAS doctor job plans and the pay they receive. For a single NHS organisation, this represents an estimated £100k of over- or under-payments. Trusts also report persistent challenges reconciling job planning outputs with ESR employee records, including applying the correct inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Following consultation with a supplier reference group and the national provider job planning forum, NHSE engaged with NHSBSA ESR team and asked for a solution that would address these two main factors:

1. ESR job planning forms required updates to reflect previously agreed data changes.
2. There was no mechanism to transfer job plan data from external job planning systems into ESR.

Purpose of the Interface

Many NHS organisations use third-party software to record job plans. Currently, this information must be re-entered into ESR manually - an approach that increases workload, can introduce errors and limits visibility of system-wide clinical capacity.

To address this, NHSE, NHSBSA ESR and third-party suppliers have co-designed a new Application Programming Interface (API) that automatically transfers job planning data from external systems into ESR.

The interface:

• Eliminates manual transcription
• Improves data completeness and accuracy
• Populates the updated ESR job planning form
• Enables reporting in ESR BI

While the API does not automate the pay process, it will flag discrepancies between job plan data and pay information, allowing timely correction.

 An image of the updated form and data fields is included below.

 

What Problems Does the Interface Solve?

Engagement with NHS Trusts highlighted widespread demand for automated data transfer. The absence of integration has led to:

• Increased administrative burden
• Localised job planning data
• Avoidable pay errors
• Limited visibility of clinical capacity across systems

Different suppliers use varied data structures and job planning terminology. The API provides a standardised data format, enabling:

• System-level demand and capacity planning
• More effective deployment of clinical workforce
• Benchmarking across organisations and services
• Consistent, reliable reporting

This supports a more strategic approach to workforce deployment and strengthens the alignment between job planning, activity and capacity.

Anticipated Benefits

• Reduction in pay errors caused by misaligned or incomplete job plan data
• Lower administrative workload associated with reconciliation processes
• Improved visibility of workforce capacity across ICS boundaries
• Enhanced benchmarking through the Model Health System
• Automated national reporting, driving improvements in data quality

Availability

The API became available for implementation in September 2025. A phased roll out is supporting organisations to adopt the interface, with:

• NHSE support where required
• Supplier engagement
• A trust feedback forum to share learning and inform future updates

Resource Requirements

NHS England is funding the pilot phase until 31 March 2026. No ongoing commitment is required during this phase.

Longer-term, organisations should anticipate an annual maintenance fee, in line with other integration services that incur a charge.

Implementation is likely to highlight both over- and under-payments and may prompt a review of local job planning processes and budgetary controls. Many organisations may wish to combine interface adoption with a quality review of job plans and strengthened payroll reconciliation processes.

How to Apply

Once your organisation has secured the necessary internal approval (potentially, Medical Director, HR, Finance) and agreed with your chosen job planning system supplier, please raise an ESR Service Request to begin implementation.

Further information is available on the ESR Hub, including:

• Guide to raising an SR
• Job Planning API Interface FAQ

These resources provide a detailed overview of the interface, data fields and implementation workflow.

ESR Portal Helping NHS Employees To Steer Clear Of Tax Avoidance

Since October 2023, the ESR service team has been working with HMRC to raise awareness and educate NHS employees about tax avoidance.

You may have noticed that the ESR portal dashboard has hosted a portal announcement for HMRC, targeted at temporary workers, bank staff, contractors, agency workers and anyone working through an umbrella company. The announcement generated a significant boost in the number of views to HMRC’s campaign page - a staggering 82,000.

Employees clicking the portal announcement were taken through to the HMRC campaign page where they found information to help them steer clear of tax avoidance schemes. The campaign had helpful information from guidance, online tools, and even some personal stories of people who have unfortunately been caught out. HMRC advises the following:

What is tax avoidance? Tax avoidance are arrangements where people pay less tax than they should. While some arrangements are presented as compliant, many are later found not to achieve the tax outcomes promised. Individuals who enter into tax avoidance schemes may ultimately be required to pay the tax that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) determines is due, along with interest and, in some cases, penalties. This can be in addition to any fees paid to participate in the scheme. How do tax avoidance schemes work? Tax avoidance schemes often involve third parties, such as umbrella companies, structuring a worker’s pay in unconventional ways. This may include receiving part of their income as a loan, salary advance, grant, annuity, or similar payment that is described as non-repayable and presented as non-taxable. These arrangements are typically promoted on the basis that they increase take-home pay, sometimes with limited explanation of how this is achieved. In many cases, such schemes have been challenged by HMRC and found not to deliver the intended tax treatment when tested in the courts and tribunals.

The impact of tax avoidance is real and could be serious, so it’s important not to ignore the problem. People are often taken in by the financial benefits on offer, including Tanya, a nurse who was encouraged to get into a tax avoidance scheme, which left her with a large and unexpected tax bill. Tanya and Duncan have shared their stories which you can access on the HMRC campaign page. 

HMRC are clear that if an umbrella company makes you an offer that sounds too good to be true, you should take time to consider it carefully and ask for full details. 

HMRC wants to stop people being drawn into such schemes as well as help them leave tax avoidance schemes if they believe they might be caught up in one. One of the best ways to do this is to educate employees about the risks of tax avoidance schemes operated by non-compliant umbrella companies and the warning signs that HMRC advises to watch out for include:

if you get a separate payment which you are told is not taxable; if you get more money paid into you bank account than is shown on your payslip; if you get a payment from someone other than your umbrella company, which has not been taxed; if you get asked to sign another agreement in addition to your employment contract.

If you become aware of a tax avoidance scheme or an agency or umbrella company that is not following the tax rules, you should take action to report this to HMRC.  

How can you help? 

NHS managers, colleagues and stakeholders can help direct staff to the campaign at any time, and HMRC is encouraging organisations to share this important information. This will help staff understand their pay arrangements, so they can learn how to identify, leave and report a tax avoidance scheme.

There is also a helpful HMRC list of named tax avoidance scheme promoters. The list is not exhaustive so if an umbrella company is not shown, this does not mean that they are not operating a tax avoidance scheme, or the scheme is in any way approved by HMRC. HMRC does not approve tax avoidance schemes for use. A short You tube video called ‘Umbrella companies: what are the risks to contractors?’ highlights the risks to contractors using umbrella companies and the possible warning signs that indicate they may be operating a tax avoidance scheme.  

 

How Organisations in the North of England Are Enhancing Their ESR Dashboards with Web Content Portlets

Every ESR user has access to the My ESR Dashboard, and—depending on their system permissions—may also access dashboards such as Manager, HR, Payroll, Learning, Professional, and Applicant. Portlets within these dashboards provide quick, intuitive access to personal, team and organisational information. While every organisation can configure national portlets, many are now going further by developing Web Content Portlets to create a more bespoke, engaging experience for their workforce.

Web Content Portlets allow organisations to display tailored messages, embed guidance and ‘how to’ resources, promote key services, and combine rich content and imagery in a single accessible space. This flexibility makes them particularly valuable for improving user experience, supporting onboarding, promoting wellbeing, and strengthening local workforce processes.

Across the North of England, organisations have begun to design and launch their own portlets to support employees and managers in new and innovative ways. This article highlights a selection of these developments—from management reporting tools and onboarding hubs to wellbeing and learning resources.

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust – Applicant Dashboard: My Applicant Knowledge Hub

Following the launch of the Applicant Dashboard, Mid Yorkshire introduced the My Applicant Knowledge Hub, providing new starters with essential onboarding information to support their first days in employment. The hub continues to grow and now forms a central component of their digital onboarding approach.

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust – MyESR & Manager Dashboards 

The Northern Care Alliance has developed a dynamic Management Report Portlet to help managers quickly locate the most relevant Business Intelligence (BI) reports to support effective team management.

The useful management reports portlet is continually evolving as we create more bespoke custom reports for managers. For instance, we’ve developed a staff list report for budget managers showing   establishment information, designed to support our establishment control project.

Kevin Mahon, Technical Systems Manager, Northern Care Alliance NHS FT

Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust – Health & Wellbeing Hub

Liverpool Women’s NHS FT created a Health and Wellbeing Hub Portlet to provide staff with easy access to vital wellbeing resources in one central location. The aim was to address the lack of a single, accessible repository for key information.

The Hub includes resources covering:

• Carers
• Addiction
• Finances
• Food and Nutrition
• Menopause
• Mental Health
• Men’s Health and Wellbeing

The organisation selected the ESR portal as the sole home for these resources to ensure staff—both on-site and remote—could access support at any time, including applicants.

Development of the hub included:

• Stakeholder engagement with HR, Occupational Health, managers and staff to understand needs.
• Regular updates to keep content current and relevant.
• Targeted promotion via internal communication channels to maximise awareness and usage.
• Feedback gathering to refine the hub and improve the experience.

The Wellbeing Hub has now become a valued support mechanism within the Trust, offering a continuously evolving space shaped by staff needs.

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust – MyESR Dashboard: Learning & Development Hub

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust developed the Leeds Community Learning and Development Hub Portlet to help employees and managers understand role-specific learning requirements, access guides and view upcoming Statutory & Mandatory (Stat & Man) and non-Stat classroom sessions.

The portlet is a useful resource as it allows staff to view information about training requirements, access guides for new starters or those unfamiliar with ESR, and review class times for training we provide. It also supports managers to understand the learning needs of their staff and estimate time needed for completion.

Ewa Getka, Organisational Development and Improvement Support Lead, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust – MyESR & Manager Dashboard

RDaSH has launched a comprehensive Line Manager Resource Hub, accessible via a Web Content Portlet. The hub opens as a microsite containing information and resources to support managers in their roles and support their personal and professional development.

It brings together:

• Guidance on managing people
• Systems and process information
• Leadership and culture resources
• Training and development opportunities
• Links aligned with Trust strategies and values

This portlet provides managers with a central, structured and easy-to-navigate tool to support their day-to-day responsibilities.

NHS Business Services Authority – Veterans Portlet

To support and promote its Veterans Network, NHSBSA developed a Veterans Portlet to provide clear signposting to the services and resources available for veterans and service leavers within the organisation.

Working with the ESR team on the new Veteran ESR portal was truly exceptional. The portal provides veterans and service leavers in the organisation with direct access to information about the Armed Forces Network and other guidance they may find beneficial.

Neil Emery, Optimisation Implementation Lead & Chair of the NHSBSA Armed Forces Network

Want to Develop Your Own Web Content Portlets?

Guidance on configuring and maintaining the ESR Dashboard is available on the ESR Hub.

If your organisation would like to explore how Web Content Portlets could support your local priorities, please contact your NHSBSA Regional Readiness & Implementation team who can provide advice and examples and help you get started.

Frimley Health’s Journey, Transferring Learning Data to ESR with Strategic Insight

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, a major provider of acute and specialist healthcare services in the South East of England, supports a workforce of over 13500 staff through its integrated use of the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) system. As part of its strategic workforce planning and digital transformation efforts, the Trust has been actively optimising ESR to enhance employee self-service, streamline onboarding, and improve data quality across the employee lifecycle. Recent developments include the rollout of supervisor self-service, enhancements to learning management, and the introduction of appraisal date recording - all aligned with national NHS People Digital Strategy goals.

Background and Challenge

At Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, the transition from the legacy MAST (Mandatory and Statutory Training) system to the national ESR Learning Management System was a major undertaking. With over one million data records, 13,500 employees, and more than 800 courses in scope, the challenge was not just technical - it was strategic.

The goal was to ensure that learning records were transferred accurately and sustainably, while also reducing duplication and preparing the Trust for a more streamlined, ESR-led future.

Lessons Learned

Lesson 1: Seek Support Early
One of the most valuable steps we took was reaching out for help early in the process. By reviewing what others had done before us and actively engaging with our ESR implementation advisers, we were able to draw on their experience and insight. Nelson’s guidance, in particular, was instrumental—helping us navigate challenges, resolve issues efficiently, and build confidence in our approach. He was also able to use his network of trusts he had supported in the past to connect us with key stakeholders at other organisations, giving us the opportunity to learn from their experiences and apply those insights to our own implementation.

Lesson 2: Know What You’re Moving
The first step was to define the scope of the transfer. We focused on CSTF-aligned training and made sure we had a validated list of what we wanted to move. This meant working closely with stakeholders to confirm course mappings, expiry rules, and equivalencies. Having a clear, validated list up front saved significant time and rework later.

Lesson 3: Be Specific About What You’re Asking
It’s not just about what you want to upload—it’s about how you ask for it. We had to repeat an upload because we hadn’t included end dates on some local competencies. In another case, we matched records to the wrong version of a safeguarding course. These issues arose from unclear or overly technical questions. The takeaway? Think about how to phrase your questions in a way that non-experts can understand and respond to accurately.

Lesson 4: Make It Repeatable
The transfer was completed over 18 separate uploads, each capped at 25,000 records. This taught us the importance of designing a repeatable process. Whether it was data formatting, validation, or upload sequencing, we built templates and checks that could be reused - because when you’re doing something 18 times, consistency is everything.

Lesson 5: Decide Early on Competency Application
One of the most critical decisions was how to apply training competencies. We chose to apply them at the position level, rather than the individual level and those that applied to the whole trust at Business Group. This approach aligned with our long-term sustainability goals and allowed for easier maintenance and reporting. It also ensured that new starters in the same role would automatically inherit the correct training requirements.

Lesson 6: Use the Resources You’ve Got
We uploaded ESR data in two ways:

1. Using the Data Loader tool internally - this allowed us to make updates to any errors or changes needed for smaller numbers of records, and we used it for most of the competence requirements uploads.
2. With support from the ESR Central Team, who helped us process larger volumes - particularly for the competency uploads, where the scale was greater.
   Because we were working to a fixed timeline, we planned each upload based on how many people were targeted, ensuring we maximised the number of records per load.

Lesson 7: Have a Plan and a Timeline
It was only once we mapped out how long the uploads would take - and why this needed to be a priority—that we really gained momentum. That clarity helped us align other elements like communications and training, and it kept expectations realistic. We also factored in unavoidable downtime—not just for the system, but for people too. In our case, this included the Christmas period, when availability naturally dipped. Avoid overpromising; instead, focus on delivering what’s achievable within your timeframe.

Lesson 8: Plan for Things to Go Wrong
No matter how good your analysis is, you’ll still need to repeat steps - and things will go wrong. We built time into our plan for rework, corrections, and unexpected issues. That buffer proved essential. For example, one of our uploads failed because a local competency had only been created in ESR earlier that year, but staff had held that competency for several years. The system couldn’t reconcile the dates, and we had to rework the data. Planning for these kinds of edge cases made all the difference.

Outcomes

The result was a clean, accurate, and future-proofed learning record system. We successfully moved just over 250,000 records from our old MAST system into ESR. Post-migration, our training compliance was within 0.4% of the figures reported in the legacy system - well within the tolerance we had set for ourselves. By focusing on current compliance and holding historic data externally, we avoided the pitfalls of error-prone bulk uploads and dual-system complexity. ESR is now positioned as the single source of truth for training compliance at Frimley Health.

Hampshire Hospitals Self Service Journey

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) serves a population of approximately 600,000 people across Hampshire and parts of west Berkshire.

HHFT launched Employee Self Service (ESS) during the Covid pandemic to initially provide online access to payslips for staff, and this meant the benefits of extending the use of Manager Self Service (MSS) could also be realised.

It was recognised that moving to an agile workforce and the greater need for detailed workforce planning and having the right people in the right place, it was important to empower our managers and our financial teams to be able to access data in the moment. Through the importance of this and the benefits it would realise, we were able gain key stakeholder buy in from the senior executive leadership team to be able to implement Manager and Employee Self Service, and a business case was put forward.

The project was established within the Education Team, led by the CPO which was unique compared to how other trusts who have previously implemented this.

An ESR Self Service Standards and Levels of Attainment assessment identified the current use of Employee Self Service and the efficiencies that could be gained by further manager Self Service optimisation.

At that time, all employment changes were made via an online ‘Change of Details’ form which was issued to relevant approvers (HR Business Partner, Finance and Budget Manager) before being submitted to the Payroll Team for the change to be made in ESR. This was a duplication of effort i.e. Manager enters details on a form, then Payroll enter the same details into ESR.

The Project & Pilot

A business case was submitted to implement MSS and ESS to realise the full benefits this could bring, not only to the trust but also to the wider workforce having better access to their personal information. The following outcomes were detailed in the business case:

• Implement ESR as the primary source/system for workforce data
• Move away from a reliance on manual process
• Reduce administrative burden to all staff having one entry point for changes – estimating a 61% reduction in time to complete assignment changes
• Ensure high quality and accuracy of data and reduce errors, queries and delays
• Ensure HHFT is fit for the Future NHS Workforce Solution and accurate workforce planning
• Recruiting a project team or using NHS Business Services Authority Workforce Optimisation Team (WOT)

The project work began in November 2023 with the key stakeholders from HHFT (Recruitment, BI, Payroll and Finance), ESR and the NHSBSA’s Workforce Optimisation Team (WOT), who can be commissioned to provide additional support for organisations who are implementing ESR functionality or undertaking ESR data cleanse and data quality projects.

As part of our initial scoping works with the BAU team, we identified roles and responsibilities for both parties and within this, the NHSBSA WOT provided project management and data entry services. This involved managing the weekly project meetings, project governance and risk register; in addition to identifying stakeholders and their roles and the data collection, analysis and entry (Supervisor fields and URPs).

To help us understand what ‘good’ looked like we needed to ascertain the starting point of our processes used within the trust, and to enable this to happen the ESR team and key stakeholders undertook some process mapping work. The South ESR Regional Team provided support by delivering early training to managers, Payroll and Adhoc Approvers. Once we stabilised our approach, we then created training that was more detailed and relevant to our workforce, creating training for our people by our people. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were also updated by the relevant teams/stakeholders.

For the launch of any new change management initiative, education and communication is fundamentally the primary route of success. At HHFT we concentrated our efforts on creating a trust wide communication strategy that drip fed the message that change was coming. We developed project specific branding for all our communications to help deliver our messages throughout the trust. We started with Education and then our CPO to help us cascade our messaging.

We chose our corporate division for our initial go live (starting in January 2024), as this was an area where it would have least impact on clinical delivery. Most areas of corporate functions were represented within the project board as key stakeholders and there was a reduced element of risk, where we could realise lessons learnt before applying to the more complex areas.

Further online training was delivered to Manager Self Service users in the run up to go live and continuing afterwards.

The Roll Out

Towards the end of a 10-week pilot, the internal HHFT BAU Team were also appointed and joined all stakeholders to discuss the successes and lessons learned to refine and repeat with the next 3 divisions. Training and user guides were adapted for Self Service users to reflect HHFT’s processes and online training for managers continued. In addition to the online classes, eLearning content was also created for managers to refer to at any time. These weren’t developed during the pilot as processes were still organic at that point.

The last division was launched at the end of November 2024, meaning all divisions were now live using Manager Self Service.

HHFT now have approximately 900 MSS users, with 70% logging into ESR per month successfully making changes to their team details.

Next steps

HHFT have implemented the recording of Apprenticeships in ESR during the MSS roll out and the Organisational Development Team are now piloting the use of the MSS/ESS appraisal function.

Now that we’ve completed the project phase of the MSS ESR rollout, we are entering a period of evaluation and review. This will allow us to reflect on the success of our self-service implementation, while also identifying areas for improvement. Once this review is complete, we will consider the next steps, including whether to proceed with Establishment Control. Implementing Establishment Control within HHFT will require a different approach and clear ownership to move forward effectively.

Quantifying success

With any project the measuring of success or change comes in many forms. We have adopted a varied approach as no one option fits all and some of these successes are below:

• Feedback from staff and stakeholders - surveys/QR codes.
• Measuring the usage of self service using BI dashboards (can skew figures as we use payroll approvers).
• Requests completed on the old system are returned asking for completion in Manager Self Service. There is also a monthly report run and education material sent to those managers to ensure they are completing requests correctly. This has enabled us to see reductions in requests going through the old system and move to Manager Self Service.
• During the project we have completed the following across the 4 main divisions that have gone live:
  • 3,346 Supervisor Changes
  • 963 Manager Self Service Access Allocations
  • 7,282 Employee Self Service Access Allocations
• Reduction in time/resource to complete - it is believed that we will see a 61% reduction in time to complete assignment changes in MSS vs forms - once project is fully live, this will be quantifiable / financial saving applied.
• Reporting on the old request system vs Manager Self Service - seeing the number of requests on the old system fall and Manager Self Service increase.
• Reflection sessions before moving to next division, what went well / do differently.

Lessons learned

• Ideally, if the HHFT BAU team were in place at the start of the project, the learning curve would be less steep.
• Having key stakeholder champions at executive level to cascade this directive within their own portfolios.
• Longer period for communications would have supported the drip feed affect.
• Not all Trusts were able to share feedback for lessons learnt as they were balancing their own organisational pressures.
• TOR’s (Terms of Reference) for each of the working groups that clearly outlined and enforced the need for departmental representation to keep momentum going.
• Better understanding of our medical workforce and the impact Manager Self Service would have.
• Self Service Champion volunteers were given separate training from MSS users, but their role was never utilised by the Self-Service community.

Benefits

• Employee Self Service - Enables staff to take responsibility for their data, in turn resulting in more accurate workforce data.
• Processes would be completely standardised across the Trust.
• Improved data quality – the data entered on the legacy forms wasn’t always correct (i.e. cost code, organisation, position number). As this data is now already available to the manager, and often pre-populated, the manager now just selects the relevant choice from the options available in ESR. Also, the reduction or removal of paper-based forms improves the trusts carbon footprint and reducing information governance risk.
• Reduction in duplication – the Payroll Team no longer have to re-enter data that managers have already entered.
• Allows managers to view, report and manage key performance indicators such as absence and turnover.
• All sickness, special leave and unpaid absence are recorded in ESR in real time.
• Supports career development and staff pathways by recording qualifications and registrations and see talent profiles.
• Reports allow managers access to staff requirements such as DBS checks, Right to Work, Appraisals date and revalidation dates.
• Reports provide audit trails of transactions undertaken, providing confidence that data is accessed and used appropriately.

Managers can view a wider range of employee data through national dashboards with no additional reporting resource. This is only a summary of some of the benefits to adopting Manager and Employee Self Service, there are more and we will be happy to share these if other organisations are interested.