1. Local clinical excellence awards
Who is eligible to apply for an award and how to calculate the minimum investment ratio ( )

2. Overview
Between 2018 and 2021, trusts are required to invest the value of an additional 0.3 points per eligible consultant each year.
This means that by 2020/21, the value of awards will be equivalent to 0.9 points per eligible consultant.
This build up in the level of investment in local clinical excellent awards over the three-year period reflects previous investment levels, as awards were paid on a consolidated basis until retirement.

3. Overview
Under the new arrangements, awards are time limited and non-consolidated allowing for reinvestment of the released funds when the award ends.
The funds are then added to the new awards investment for the following year up to 2020/21.
From 2021/22, the investment baseline will change. The minimum amount invested and paid annually in future awards per eligible full time equivalent (FTE) consultant within each employing organisation will be circa £7900.

4. Overview
The terms ‘eligibility’ or ‘eligible consultant’ can be defined in two ways depending on the purpose:
eligibility or eligible consultant for the purposes of determining who can apply for an award and the criteria that they must meet
eligibility or eligible consultant for the purposes of calculating the investment ratio.
   
The latter definition must be applied as per schedule 30 and cannot be varied, but there is a degree of local discretion when applying the former.

5. Who can apply for an award?
Consultants employed under the Terms and Conditions – Consultants (England) 2003 (as amended) have a contractual right to be considered for an award subject to the terms of the schedule.
Consultants on other employment contracts, for example, clinical academics holding an honorary contract and pre contract holders, can apply for an award subject to agreement with the employer who is running the award round.
If included previously, it is expected that they will continue to be considered as eligible.

6. Additional eligibility requirements
The guidance also states that applicants will not be eligible to apply for an award unless the employer confirms that the applicant has:
participated satisfactorily in the appraisal process
has fully participated in job planning processes
met contractual obligations
complied with the Private Practice Code of Conduct.

7. Who is excluded from applying for an award?
Consultants are also excluded from applying if they are:
a locum consultant
working exclusively in a general management position without a specific clinical role
within their first year of appointment to the consultant grade
in receipt of a local level 9 CEA or a national CEA.
Additionally, the guidance states that there must be no adverse outcomes for the consultant following disciplinary action by the employer, the GMC or the GDC in order to be considered eligible for an award.

8. Local eligibility variations
The terms of the schedule allow for local variations to the eligibility criteria for the purposes of who can apply for an award, where these were introduced prior to 1 April 2018. 
No such local variation is allowed when determining the eligibility criteria for the purposes of the calculation of the minimum investment ratio.
If any further eligibility restrictions are to be applied after 1 April 2018, then these will need to be agreed with the JLNC, or any other appropriate consultant representative group where no JLNC exists.

9. Eligibility criteria used to determine the investment ratio 2018 - 2021
Eligible consultants should:
be employed under the Terms and Conditions - Consultants (England) 2003*
have at least one year’s service at consultant level and not hold an employer-based level 9, a national clinical excellence award or a distinction award.
* Should employers continue to provide access to their local clinical excellence awards scheme to consultants employed on terms other than the 2003 contract, additional investment will be necessary. The calculation of this additional investment should be as per the arrangements for 2003 contract holders.

10. 2018 award round
* As set out in the Pay and Conditions Circular (M&D) 1/2017

11. 2018 award round calculation formula
Minimum investment pot for new awards =
Number of eligible consultants x investment ratio (0.3) x unit value of an award (£3,016)*
*As set out in the latest pay and conditions circular, published on the NHS Employers webpages here.
The funding for reversions from existing national clinical excellence awards to existing local clinical excellence awards will be funded from outside the 0.3 funding ratio for new awards.

12. 2019 award round
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* As set out in the Pay and Conditions Circular (M&D) 1/2017

13. 2019 award round calculation formula
Minimum investment pot for new awards =
Number of eligible consultants x investment ratio (0.3) x unit value of an award* + total minimum investment value from the 2018 round - the cost of any time limited awards that remain in payment from the 2018 round.
* Check the latest pay and conditions circular, which will be published on the NHS Employers webpages here.
The funding for reversions from existing national clinical excellence awards to existing local clinical excellence awards will be funded from outside the 0.3 funding ratio for new awards.

14. 2020 award round
* As set out in the Pay and Conditions Circular (M&D) 1/2017

15. 2020 award round calculation formula
Minimum investment pot for new awards =
Number of eligible consultants x investment ratio (0.3) x unit value of an award* + total minimum investment value from the 2018 and 2019 award rounds - the cost of any time limited awards that remain in payment from the 2018 and award rounds.
* Check the latest pay and conditions circular, which will be published on the NHS Employers webpages here.
The funding for reversions from existing national clinical excellence awards to existing local clinical excellence awards will be funded from outside the 0.3 funding ratio for new awards.

16. Eligibility criteria from 2021
Eligible consultants should:
be employed under the Terms and Conditions – Consultants (England) 2003*
have at least one year’s service at consultant level and not hold a national clinical excellence award or a distinction award.
Consultants with L9 awards are considered eligible.
Eligibility is considered on an full time equivalent (FTE) rather than headcount basis.
*Consultants employed on terms other than the 2003 contract do not have a contractual entitlement to be considered for an award. Should employers continue to provide access to their local clinical excellence awards scheme to such staff additional investment is necessary. Such staff could include clinical academics, consultants on pre 2003 consultant contract terms and medical managers.

17. 2021 award round
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* As set out in the Pay and Conditions Circular (M&D) 1/2017

18. 2021 award round calculation formula
Minimum investment pot for new awards =
Number of eligible FTE consultants x national per FTE minimum investment (circa £7.9k*) - the cost of consolidated LCEA awards in payment - the cost of any time limited awards that remain in payment from the 2019 and 2020 award rounds.
* Check the latest pay and conditions circular, which will be published on the NHS Employers webpages here.
The funding for reversions from existing national clinical excellence awards to existing local clinical excellence awards will be funded from outside the 0.3 funding ratio for new awards.

19. 2022 award round
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* From 2022 the cost of NCEA reversions are deducted from the minimum investment calculation.

20. 2022 award round calculation formula
Minimum investment pot for new awards =
Number of eligible FTE consultants x national per FTE minimum investment (circa £7.9k)* - the cost of consolidated LCEA awards in payment** - the cost of any time limited awards that remain in payment from the 2020 and 2021 award rounds.
* Check the latest pay and conditions circular, which will be published on the NHS Employers webpages here.
** Including the cost of NCEA reversions granted after 1 April 2019.

21. Length of awards
Awards can be payable for a period of up to three years.
The expected norm is that awards should be for one year only but employers have the discretion to allocate awards for one, two or three year periods or a combination of awards of varying length.

22. Determining the value of awards
Previously, awards were allocated on the basis of points, with points awarded for levels 1-6 being of single value (£3,016) and points awarded for levels 7-9 being of double value (£6,032).
Under the new arrangements, the value of an award can be determined locally in that employers can choose to move away from a points based approach and allocate awards of different value, for example, £5k/£10k.

23. Illustrative examples: purpose and assumptions
The following examples illustrate employer calculations for the minimum in-year investment in new local CEA and (from 2021) performance pay. The examples assume 100 consultants are eligible each year.
They use the award unit value (£3016) which is subject to DDRB recommendations that are accepted by the government.
As noted on the previous slide (19), employers can determine the value of awards locally. The examples use ‘points’ simply to illustrate how the investment formula works.
The only on-costs should be employer’s national insurance which is not included in these illustrative costings.

24. Trust offers awards of one year
New Awards (1 year award)
New Awards (2 year award)
New Awards (3 year award)
Total New Awards
Existing Awards (2nd year of 2 year award)
Existing Awards (2nd year of 3 year award)
Existing Awards (3rd year of 3 year award)
Total Existing Awards
Total All Awards
2018 Round
£90,480
2019 Round
£180,960
2020 Round
£271,440
Number of awards
30 awards
30 new awards in total
30 awards in total
60 awards
60 new awards in total
60 awards in total
90 awards
90 new awards in total
90 awards in total

26. Trust offers awards of two years
New Awards (1 year award)
New Awards (2 year award)
New Awards (3 year award)
Total New Awards
Existing Awards (2nd year of 2 year award)
Existing Awards (2nd year of 3 year award)
Existing Awards (3rd year of 3 year award)
Total Existing Awards
Total All Awards
2018 Round
£90,480
2019 Round
£180,960
2020 Round
£271,440
Number of awards
30 awards
30 new awards in total
30 awards in total
Total Existing Awards, £90,480
60 awards in total
60 awards
60 new awards in total
90 awards in total

28. Trust offers awards of three years
New Awards (1 year award)
New Awards (2 year award)
New Awards (3 year award)
Total New Awards
Existing Awards (2nd year of 2 year award)
Existing Awards (2nd year of 3 year award)
Existing Awards (3rd year of 3 year award)
Total Existing Awards
Total All Awards
2018 Round
£90,480
2019 Round
£180,960
2020 Round
£271,440
Number of awards
30 awards
30 new awards in total
30 awards in total
Total Existing Awards, £90,480
60 awards in total
Total Existing Awards, £180,960
90 awards in total

30. Trust offers awards of varying duration (1)
Year
New Awards (1 year award)
New Awards (2 year award)
New Awards (3 year award)
Total New Awards
Existing Awards (2nd year of 2 year award)
Existing Awards (2nd year of 3 year award)
Existing Awards (3rd year of 3 year award)
Total Existing Awards
Total All Awards
2018 Round
£90,480
2019 Round
£180,960
2020 Round
£271,440
Number of awards
30 awards
30 new awards in total
30 awards in total
Total Existing Awards, £90,480
60 awards in total
Total Existing Awards, £180,960
90 awards in total

32. Trust offers awards of varying duration (2)
Year
New Awards (1 year award)
New Awards (2 year award)
New Awards (3 year award)
Total New Awards
Existing Awards (2nd year of 2 year award)
Existing Awards (2nd year of 3 year award)
Existing Awards (3rd year of 3 year award)
Total Existing Awards
Total All Awards
2018 Round
£45,240
£27,144
£18,096
£90,480
2019 Round
£67,860
£40,716
£135,720
£180,960
2020 Round
£92,742
£55,645
£37,097
£185,484
£85,956
£271,440
Number of awards
15 awards
9 awards
6 awards
30 new awards in total
30 awards in total
22.5 awards
13.5 awards
45 new awards in total
Total Existing Awards, £45,240
60 awards in total
30.75 awards
18.45 awards
12.3 awards
61.5 new awards in total
Total Existing Awards, £85,956
90 awards in total