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.