The frequency and depth of in-year monitoring which we carry out is determined by the NHS foundation trust’s risk rating, although for most NHS foundation trusts, in-year reporting will take the form of a quarterly submission and other exception and ad hoc reports. Where an NHS foundation trust is performing well, it may be required to report on a six-monthly basis, rather than the usual quarterly reporting.
All foundation trusts are required to submit their audited annual report and accounts to Monitor and also lay them before Parliament before the summer recess each year.
NHS foundation trusts must submit quarterly reports to Monitor. For further information about what to include, please see Appendix D of the Compliance Framework.
Monitor will review actual quarterly performance against the annual plan together with the board’s assessment of ongoing and future compliance with the terms of authorisation. In cases where there is any material variance between the in-year financial submissions and the relevant quarter of the annual plan, NHS foundation trusts are required to provide a commentary explaining the reasons for the variance and the actions which they propose to take to address it.
Each quarter, Monitor publishes a report which is based on the data submitted by the NHS foundation trusts in these reports. The report provides an overview of the performance of the sector. Our Quarterly reports section contains all of Monitor's quarterly reports on NHS foundation trusts performance.
NHS foundation trusts must report to Monitor in-year any material, actual or prospective changes which may affect their ability to comply with any aspect of their terms of authorisation, and which have not been previously communicated to Monitor. This could include changes to mandatory services; performance against healthcare targets and indicators; applications to vary the terms of authorisation; serious incidents or other patient safety issues.
Monitor may request ad hoc reports at any time throughout the year which may be following up on specific issues relating to the terms of authorisation identified either in the annual plan or through in-year monitoring.
Further information on the reporting requirements can be found in Section 2 of the Compliance Framework.
We are now aware of one minor issue in the Q2 reporting template.
To address and correct this issue we have developed a fixer which can be downloaded here.