Appointment details

Non-Executive Directors of the NHS Business Services Authority

Summary

• Organisation: NHS Business Services Authority
• Sponsor department: Department of Health and Social Care
• Location: Various
• Sectors: Health and Social Care
• Skills: Audit and Risk
• Number of vacancies: 3
• Time commitment: 3 day(s) per month
• Remuneration: £7,883 per annum
• Length of term: Ministers will determine the length of the appointment, which will be up to 3 years.
• Application deadline: Midday on 1 September 2026

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Timeline for this appointment

1. Opening date

   13 July 2026

2. Application deadline

   Midday on 1 September 2026

3. Sifting date

   16 September 2026

4. Interviews expected to end on

   8 October 2026

Timeline dates are only an estimate and can change

About the appointment

Introduction

Dear Applicant,

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is an innovative and forward-thinking Arm’s Length Body of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), providing national platforms and services that support the priorities of the NHS, government and local health economies.

NHSBSA has a clear and ambitious strategy, focused on its people, its customers, delivering value and efficiency and acting as a responsible corporate citizen. These priorities guide the organisation in delivering business service excellence to the NHS and helping people live longer, healthier lives.

The organisation continues to transition complex services at pace, recognising and mitigating risks. By digitising, automating and transforming its services and harnessing the power of data and insight, NHSBSA is improving patient outcomes, enhancing safety and delivering better value for money. This work positions the organisation to support the NHS 10 Year Health Plan and advance the government’s three key shifts, from hospital to community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.

There is a strong and empowered executive leadership team, driven by a positive organisational culture, operational excellence and people-centred delivery. The Board is highly engaged and plays a central role in the organisation’s governance, with Non-Executive Directors providing challenge, support and assurance.

NHSBSA is committed to creating a workplace where every colleague feels respected, valued and able to thrive, a commitment recognised externally through a range of awards and accolades, such as the Gold Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) Award and recognition in the Social Mobility Employer Index, where the organisation climbed from 134th to 30th this year.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the NHSBSA Board and contribute to the delivery of national services that make a real difference.

Sue Douthwaite   

Chair of NHSBSA                                                                                                          

Appointment description

Ministers are seeking appoint up to 3 Non-executive Directors (NEDs) to the board of NHSBSA, including an Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) Chair.

NEDs are remunerated at a standard rate of £7,883 per annum, with the ARC Chair receiving £13,137 per annum. 

NHSBSA’s purpose is to deliver business service excellence to the NHS to help people live longer, healthier lives and its vision is to be the provider of national, at-scale business services for the health and social care system, transforming and delivering these services to maximise efficiency and meet customer expectations.

NHSBSA facilitates the flow of around £100billion in NHS funds annually, a responsibility that extends beyond financial management to delivering services at a national scale. By harnessing digital technology, automation and data-driven insight, the organisation improves efficiency, enhances patient outcomes and provides value for taxpayers.

As a NED on the NHSBSA Board, you will play a key role in shaping the organisation’s strategic direction. Driving continuous improvement, supporting high-quality service delivery and providing strong governance and accountability through scrutiny, challenge, fairness and effective corporate governance.

This is an opportunity to operate at a national level and support the delivery of a wide range of critical business services to the NHS and citizens that have a tangible impact on people’s lives. The core responsibilities of the role are as follows: 

• Provide an independent view and creative contribution at Board meetings and sub committees in the pursuit of delivering the NHSBSA’s strategic vision (to be the provider of national, at-scale business services for the health and social care system, transforming and delivering these services to maximise efficiency and meet customer expectations) and underpinning business plans to support delivery of the DHSC’s priorities.  

• Monitor and challenge the performance of the NHSBSA’s executive management, holding it to account for the delivery of the strategic vision, organisational priorities and business plan objectives, and other central government requirements.   

• Build and maintain influential relationships with key partners, building strategic alliances across the health and social care system to improve efficiency and develop value add services ensuring the needs of service users are met.  

• Role model the NHSBSA’s CARE (collaborative, adventurous, reliable and energetic) values creating the best place colleagues have worked, being a truly inclusive employer where colleagues feel they belong.

In addition, for the ARC Chair:

• You will ensure the effective functioning of the ARC which, as an important sub-committee of the Board, is responsible for providing assurance that the NHSBSA manages its financial resources effectively and efficiently; has appropriate financial controls in place; oversees management’s procedure for the identification and management of risk and achieves a high quality of financial reporting. 

• You will review and analyse the financial statements of the NHSBSA (including the NHSBSA Accounts and the NHS Pension Scheme Accounts) and any complex financial transactions of the organisation.

• You will ensure that the Board and Accounting Officer of the organisation gain the assurance they need on governance, risk management, the control environment and on the integrity of the financial statements, as well as other elements of the annual report and accounts.

Organisation description

NHSBSA is a Special Health Authority and Arms-Length Body of DHSC. NHSBSA employs around 5000 people, with sites in Newcastle, Wakefield, Blackpool and Bolton. Around £100billion of NHS spend is managed through its systems annually. Michael Brodie has been Chief Executive Officer of NHSBSA since September 2019 and has developed an ambitious strategy for the business, expanding NHSBSA’s focus across the wider health sector to ensure its strategy aligns with the NHS 10-Year Health Plan and the future direction of travel.

NHSBSA delivers high volume, predominantly transactional business services on behalf of the NHS and DHSC and, since it was formed, has progressively taken on more functions. NHSBSA has supported work relating to EU Exit and has led nationally on other important services such as the Healthy Food Scheme, NHS Student Support and Vaccine Damage Payments. In response to the COVID pandemic, NHSBSA led over fifty national projects – working closely with its NHS partners to support UK citizens and front-line staff. In 2024 NHSBSA started delivering the Baby Loss Certificate service, which issued over 96,000 certificates in its first year.

NHSBSA’s services are broadly split into 3 areas: Primary Care Services, Citizen Services and Workforce Services.

• Primary Care Services include processing around 1 billion prescription items per year for pharmacists who have dispensed prescriptions in England and managing payments to dentists for NHS work in England and Wales, processing around 44 million forms a year. Since 2015 NHSBSA has provided a scanning service, digitising medical records to release space for frontline patient care. It also provides a Provider Assurance service on behalf of NHS England and administers the vaccine damage payment scheme on behalf of the DHSC.

• Citizen services include Health exemption checking services, providing medical and maternity exemption cards, pre-payment certificates and providing services to those who require help with health costs, Overseas Health care services including administering Global Health Insurance Cards and the immigration health surcharge reimbursement scheme and health and community services including NHS Healthy Start and administering the England Infected Blood Service.

• Workforce Services cover the whole hire to retire NHS workforce journey, from administering NHS student bursary payments to support people through their training, to helping over 1.5m people to find work with the NHS through the NHS Jobs platform and administering the Electronic Staff Record system - the platform on which NHS organisations record essential workforce, skills and training information and make payments to their staff. NHSBSA also deliver the NHS Pension Scheme - the largest centrally administrated pension scheme in Europe. NHSBSA also provides HR Shared Services to its client base.

Over the last five years NHSBSA has developed its data analytics and digital capability to save money for taxpayers and improve how patients can use its services through apps and other on-line services. Identifying health system-wide savings is now embedded in the culture of NHSBSA and it has set itself an ambitious target of delivering £1bn in wider system efficiencies by 2029 which it is on track to achieve.

NHSBSA’s purpose is to deliver business service excellence to the NHS to help people lead longer and healthier lives. Its vision is to be the provider of national, at scale business services for the health and social care system, transforming and delivering these services to maximise efficiency and meet customer expectations. Its strategic goals are:

• Customer – providing a great experience and meeting needs first time
• Our People – creating the best place any of us have worked
• Value and Efficiency – creating an efficiency mindset, delivering services that represent best value to the taxpayer
• Environmental Social and Governance – minimising environmental impact, maximising social impact and being well governed.

NHSBSAs 2024-2029 strategy can be found here and 2025-2026 annual business plan here

Board composition

Board meetings are usually held in Newcastle upon Tyne. There are 8 board meetings per year.

Regulation of appointment

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website 

Person specification

Essential criteria

The Department of Health and Social Care values and promotes diversity. We encourage applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of the United Kingdom. Boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve.

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment.

• A strong career track record of significant delivery at a senior level within the private, public or voluntary sectors.

• Ability to operate effectively as part of a team on the board of a national public body, where you provide support, challenge, and assurance.

• Sound judgement, with an ability to critically analyse a wide range of information and make evidence-based, strategic decisions.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to gain the confidence of colleagues within your organisation and of its stakeholders.

In addition, for the ARC Chair:

• Senior finance experience, preferably with an accountancy qualification, and with experience of working on an audit and risk committee.

Desirable criteria

We would also welcome candidates with skills and experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Risk management

• Pension scheme administration 

• Large scale transformation programmes in the public sector

• Technology operations in large organisations

Application and selection process

How to apply

Thank you for your interest in the appointment of NED of NHSBSA.

DHSC’s Public Appointments Team is managing this recruitment campaign.

In order to apply you will need to create an account or sign in.

Once you are logged into your account, click on 'apply for this role' and follow the on-screen instructions To apply, all candidates are required to provide:

• equality information
• information relating to any outside interests or reputational issues
• a Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• a supporting statement
• a short professional biography (150 words)

Guidance on what to include in your CV/supporting statement and tips for applying can be found in the corresponding sections below and on the public appointment website: Public appointments - GOV.UK.

We will ask you to check and confirm your personal details to ensure your application is accurate.

In line with Cabinet Office guidance, AI must not be used to provide misleading information. While technology can be used in your application, for example to assist with structure, we value authenticity, and your statement setting out your suitability for the role should be made personally by you. If you are offered an interview, you should be prepared for the advisory assessment panel to discuss your statement and career history with you in detail.

You will also have the opportunity to make a reasonable adjustment request or apply under the Disability Confident scheme before you submit your application.

You will also be required to make any declarations related to standards in public life and ensuring public confidence in your supporting statement. Further information on this can be found in the relevant section below.

If you are unable to create an account and apply online, or if you have any problems submitting your application online, please contact Jessie Rourke on 0113 254 5321 or Rachael Gingell on 0207 484 9424.

Applications must be received by midday on Tuesday, 01 September 2026

The Advisory Assessment Panel reserves the right to only consider applications that contain all of the elements you have been asked to provide, and which are listed above, and that the applications are received before the published deadline.

Overview of the application process

Public appointments are made on merit following a fair and open competition process which is conducted in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments. We will deal with your application as quickly as possible and will keep you informed at key stages. We aim to conclude the appointment process within three months of the deadline for applications – this is in accordance with the Governance Code.

The assessment process

1. Ministers are responsible and accountable to Parliament for the public appointments made within their department. As a result, they must be consulted at every stage of the appointments process.

2. An Advisory Assessment Panel (“Panel”) is appointed by Ministers to assist them in their decision making. The role of the Panel is to decide, objectively, which candidates meet the eligibility criteria for the role.

3. At the shortlisting meeting the Panel will assess applications against the eligibility criteria and decide which candidates have best met the criteria, who should be recommended for interview. Ministers will then be consulted on the Panel’s recommended shortlist. If you have applied under the Disability Confident Scheme and you meet all the essential criteria, then you will also be invited for an interview.

4. Once the shortlist has been agreed by Ministers, you will be advised (by e-mail) whether you have been shortlisted. Those shortlisted will be invited to an interview.

5. The Panel will meet again to interview candidates and determine who is appointable to the role. The Panel may invite you to make a brief presentation at the start of the interview and will go on to question you about your skills and experience, including asking specific questions to assess whether you meet the criteria set out for the post. The Panel will also explore with you any potential conflicts of interest or any other issues arising from your personal and professional history which may impact on an appointment decision.

6. Details of the panel’s assessment of interviewed candidates are provided to Ministers, including whether they have judged a candidate to be appointable to the role. It is then for Ministers to determine merit and decide who should be appointed. In some circumstances, Ministers may choose not to appoint any candidates and re-run the competition.

7. Ministers may choose to meet with candidates before deciding the outcome. Candidates should therefore be prepared for a short time gap between interview and a final appointment decision being made. Candidates who have been interviewed will be kept informed of progress.

8. Once the decision on the appointment has been made, interviewed candidates will be advised of the outcome of their application, including whom they may approach for feedback. Successful candidates will be issued with their Terms & Conditions and a letter of appointment should they agree to take up the position.

Further information about appointments, including tips on applying, can be found on our guidance pages on gov.uk.

Advisory Assessment Panel (AAP)

Stuart Nelson – Departmental Official

DHSC senior sponsor for NHSBSA

Stuart Nelson has no political activity to declare.

Sue Douthwaite – Public Body Representative

Chair of NHSBSA

Sue Douthwaite has no political activity to declare.

Jon Hayes – Independent Panel Member

NED and Chair of the ARC with the NHS Counter Fraud Authority

Jon Hayes has no political activity to declare.

Advisory Assessment Panels (AAP) are chosen by ministers to assist them in their decision-making. These include a departmental official and an independent member. For competitions recruiting non-executive members of a board (apart from the Chair), the panel will usually include a representative from the public body concerned.

AAP’s perform a number of functions, including agreeing an assessment strategy with ministers, undertaking sifting, carrying out interviews in line with the advertised criteria and deciding objectively who meets the published selection criteria for the role before recommending to ministers which candidates they find appointable. It is then for the minister to decide who to appoint to the role.

Eligibility criteria

In general, you should have the right to work in the UK to be eligible to apply for a public appointment.

There are a small number of specialist roles that are not open to non-British citizens. Any nationality requirements will be specified in the vacancy details.

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. 

You cannot be considered for a public appointment if:

• you are disqualified from acting as a company director  (under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986);

• have an unspent conviction on your criminal record;

• your estate has been sequestrated in Scotland or you enter into a debt arrangement programme under Part 1 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 17) as the debtor or have, under Scots law, granted a trust deed for creditors.

When you apply, you should declare if:

• you are, or have been, bankrupt or you have made an arrangement with a creditor at any point, including the dates of this. 

• you are subject to a current police investigation.

You must inform the sponsor department if, during the application process, your circumstances change in respect of any of the above points. 

When you apply you should also declare any relevant interests, highlighting any that you think may call into question your ability to properly discharge the responsibilities of the role you are applying for. You should also declare any other matters which may mean you may not be able to meet the requirements of the Code of Conduct of Board Members (see Outside interests and reputational issues section below)

For further advice, please contact Rachael Gingell on rachael.gingell@dhsc.gov.uk.

Security clearance

The successful candidate will be required to undertake Baseline Personnel Security Standard checks in line with the Civil Service guidelines. Additional Security Clearance may also be required for certain roles. However, where this applies, candidates will be notified during the appointment process. Further information on National Security Vetting can be found on the Gov.uk website here.

The Department of Health and Social Care also requires all those appointed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to public appointments, to be a fit and proper person, comparable with the requirements placed on board members in the NHS. As such, the successful candidate will be required to undertake security checks to ensure that you meet these requirements. For more information see the Candidate information pack

Additional information for candidates

Equality and diversity

We encourage applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of the United Kingdom. Boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve.

We collect data about applicants’ characteristics and backgrounds, including information about people’s educational and professional backgrounds, so that we can make sure we are attracting a broad range of people to these roles and that our selection processes are fair for everyone. Without this information, it makes it difficult to see if our outreach is working, if the application process is having an unfair impact on certain groups and whether changes are making a positive difference.

When you submit your application, your responses are collected by the Cabinet Office and the government department(s) managing your application. The data is used to produce management information about the diversity of applicants. You can select “prefer not to say” to any question you do not wish to answer. The information you provide will not be seen by the Advisory Assessment Panel who review applications against the advertised criteria and conduct interviews.

Disability confident

We are a member of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. We use the Disability Confident scheme symbol, along with other like-minded employers, to show our commitment to good practice in employing people with a disability. The scheme helps recruit and retain disabled people. As part of implementing the scheme, we guarantee an interview for anyone with a disability whose application meets the essential criteria for the role, set out in the advert, and who has asked that their application is considered under the scheme. Indicating that you wish your application to be considered under the scheme will in no way prejudice your application. By ‘essential criteria', we mean that you must provide evidence which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria, as set out in the job-advert. When you apply you will have the opportunity to select if you would like your application considered under this scheme.

Reasonable adjustments

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to make sure applicants with disabilities and/or, long term conditions, covered under both the Equality Act 2010 (England, Scotland & Wales) and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Northern Ireland) are not substantially disadvantaged when applying for public appointments. This can include changing the recruitment process to enable people who wish to apply to do so.

Some examples of adjustments are:

• ensuring that application forms are available in different or accessible formats, for example large print

• making adaptations to interview locations including hybrid arrangements

• allowing candidates to present their skills and experience in a different way

• giving additional detailed information on the assessment process to allow candidates time to prepare themselves

• allowing support workers to attend interviews, for example British Sign Language interpreters

• making provision for support animals to attend interviews.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments to the application process.

Principles of public life

The Seven Principles of Public Life (also known as the Nolan Principles) apply to anyone who works as a public office-holder.

1. Selflessness

Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.

2. Integrity

Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

3. Objectivity

Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

4. Accountability

Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

5. Openness

Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.

6. Honesty

Holders of public office should be truthful.

7. Leadership

Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Code of conduct for board members

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. In support of this, all non-executive board members of UK public bodies must abide by the principles set out in the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. The Code sets out the standards expected from those who serve on the boards of UK public bodies and will form part of your terms and conditions of appointment.

Management of outside interests and consideration of reputational issues

Holders of public office are expected to adhere and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. Before you apply you should consider carefully: 

• any outside interests that you may have, such as shares you may hold in a company providing services to government; 
• any possible reputational issues arising from your past actions or public statements that you have made; 
• and/or - any political roles you hold or political campaigns you have supported; 

which may call into question your ability to do the role you are applying for.

You will need to answer relevant questions in relation to these points when making an application. Many conflicts of interest can be satisfactorily resolved and declaring a potential conflict does not prevent you from being interviewed. If you are shortlisted for an interview, the panel will discuss any potential conflicts with you during that interview, including any proposals you may have to mitigate them and record that in their advice to ministers. Alongside your own declaration, we will conduct appropriate checks, as part of which we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This may include searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. The successful candidate(s) may be required to give up any conflicting interests and their other business and financial interests may be published in line with organisational policies. 

Details of declared political activity will be published when the appointment is announced, as required by the Governance Code (political activity is not a bar to appointment, but must be declared).

Status of appointment

As this is an office holder appointment, you will not become a member of the Civil Service. You will not be subject to the provisions of employment law.

Appointment and tenure of office

Appointments are for the term set out in this advert, with the possibility of re-appointment for a further term, at the discretion of Ministers.  Any re-appointment is subject to satisfactory annual appraisals of performance during the first term in the post. There is no automatic presumption of reappointment; each case should be considered on its own merits, taking into account a number of factors including, but not restricted to, the diversity of the current board and its balance of skills and experience. In most cases, the total time served in post will not exceed more than two terms or ten years in any one post. 

Remuneration, allowances and abatement

Remuneration for this role is treated as employment income and will be subject to tax and National Insurance contributions, both of which will be deducted at source under PAYE before you are paid.

You can claim reimbursement for reasonable travel and subsistence costs which are properly and necessarily incurred on official business, in line with the travel and subsistence policy and rates for the organisation to which you are applying. However these payments are taxable as earnings and will be subject to tax and national insurance, both of which will be deducted at source under PAYE before you are paid. 

Pension and redundancy

This is an office holder appointment and does not attract any benefits under any Civil Service Pension Scheme. You will not be eligible for redundancy pay as you are not an employee. No other arrangements have been made for compensation upon the end of your term of appointment because an office holder who is appointed for a limited duration would have no expectation of serving beyond that period.

Application feedback

We will notify you of the status of your application. We regret that we are only able to offer detailed feedback to candidates who have been unsuccessful at the interview stage.

How to complain

We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and to treat all applicants with courtesy.

Please contact the public appointments team in the first instance if you would like to make a complaint regarding your application at rachael.gingell@dhsc.gov.uk. They will acknowledge your complaint upon receipt and respond within 15 working days.

How to complain to Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA)

If you are not content with the appointing department’s response you may wish to further complain to the Commissioner at publicappointments@csc.gov.uk.Further information on how the Commissioner handles complaints can be found on the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ website https://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/regulating-appointments/investigating-complaints/

Data protection

The Cabinet Office will use your data in line with our privacy policy.

The DHSC privacy notice can be found at DHSC privacy notice - GOV.UK.

Attachments

• Candidate information pack

Contact details

For further information regarding the role of the BSA and the role of NED please contact:

Name: Sue Douthwaite

Tel: 07826 162367

Email: sue.douthwaite@nhs.net