Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting this week told the NHS to now proceed with job cuts and redundancies, following months of uncertainty since plans were first announced in March.

In a conference speech on Wednesday, he said: “From today I’m giving ICBs the go ahead and the funding for the voluntary redundancy programs that staff have been waiting for. This will see overall head count cut by 50 percent which, not exclusively, but particularly, affect roles in corporate services, communications and administration.”

In a statement to the Commons he also said he expected the abolition of NHS England to be completed by March 2027, while the 50% headcount reduction at ICBs, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, would be achieved by March 2028.

In a press release, the Department of Health and Social Care said it had agreed with the Treasury that redundancies would be covered from the existing NHS funding settlement. Official confirmation is expected at the Budget on 26 November, but media reported government sources saying that the NHS would be allowed to overspend in the short-term to fund the £1bn needed for 18,000 redundancies and recover this from future savings on staff costs.