FOI 2025/1460

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I would be grateful if you could provide the following information:
1. What Agenda for Change Pay Scales are counsellors employed on within the ICB?
2. What Agenda for Change Pay Scales are psychotherapists employed on within the ICB?
3. What is the total number and Whole Time Equivalent number of counsellors and psychotherapists employed within the ICB?
4. What Agenda for Change Pay Scales are high intensity therapists within NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression, including both trainees and qualified high intensity therapists, employed on within the ICB?
5. Does the ICB categorise counsellors and psychotherapists working at Step 3 within NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression and delivering one of the approved intervention modalities as High Intensity Therapists, as outlined within the NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression Manual published by NHS England?
6. What Agenda for Change Pay Scales are counsellors employed on within services commissioned by the ICB?
7. What Agenda for Change Pay Scales are psychotherapists employed on within services commissioned by the ICB?
8. What is the total number and Whole Time Equivalent number of counsellors and psychotherapists employed within services commissioned by the ICB?
9. What Agenda for Change Pay Scales are high intensity therapists within NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression, including both trainees and qualified high intensity therapists, employed on within services commissioned by the ICB?
10. Does the ICB contract out to a third party the employment of any counsellors, psychotherapists or high intensity therapists?
11. If the ICB contracts out the employment of any counsellors, psychotherapists or high intensity therapists to a third party, does the ICB make any requirements that Agenda for Change pay scales are adhered to by that provider?
12. Can you please detail the commissioned providers of NHS Talking Therapies with the ICB?
13. Can you please detail the budget spent for each commissioned mental health service within the ICB, as well as detailing the budget allocated to each provider of each service?

1. 1. 1. 1. NHS Greater Manchester (GM) does not directly employ counsellors. The requestor is advised to contact Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) Home | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT, The Big Life Group Home – The Big Life group, Tameside Oldham & Glossop (TOG) Mind Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind, Beacon Counselling Beacon Counselling | Counselling and Mental Health Charity, 1Point Home – 1Point and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust (PCFT) Home :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust for this information.
         2. NHS GM does not directly employ psychotherapists. The requestor is advised to contact GMMH Home | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT, and PCFT Home :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust for this information.
         3. As per the responses in Q1 and Q2, NHS GM do not directly employ Counsellors or Psychotherapists, and the requestor is advised to contact the providers direct.
         4. NHS GM does not directly employ High Intensity Therapists (trainees or qualified high intensity therapists). The requestor is advised to contact GMMH Home | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT, The Big Life Group Home – The Big Life group, Tameside Oldham & Glossop (TOG) Mind Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind, Beacon Counselling Beacon Counselling | Counselling and Mental Health Charity, 1Point Home – 1Point and PCFT Home :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust for this information.
         5. Yes
         6. As per the responses in Q1, NHS GM do not directly employ Counsellors, and the requestor is advised to contact the providers direct.
         7. As per the responses in Q2, NHS GM do not directly employ Psychotherapists, and the requestor is advised to contact the providers direct.
         8. NHS GM do not hold this information, The requestor is advised to contact the providers detailed in the response to Q1 and Q2.
         9. As per the responses in Q4, NHS GM do not directly employ High Intensity Therapists (trainees or qualified high intensity therapists), and the requestor is advised to contact the providers direct.
         10. NHS GM commissions providers to employ these staff groups, but does not use any third parties to deliver the commissioning function.
         11. NHS GM does not require the Agenda for Change (AfC) scales that are used within the commissioned provider organisations.
         12. (GMMH) Home | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT, The Big Life Group Home – The Big Life group, Tameside Oldham & Glossop (TOG) Mind Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind, Beacon Counselling Beacon Counselling | Counselling and Mental Health Charity, 1Point Home – 1Point and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust (PCFT) Home :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, We Are Survivors Manchester About Us – We Are Survivors, Pure Innovations Home – Pure Innovations, African Caribbean Mental Health Services acmh-services.co.uk | Working for the community, in the community, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and other (LGBT+) Foundation LGBT Foundation – A national charity with LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing at the heart of everything we do., Gaddum Gaddum – Gaddum, and Making Space Making Space
         13. The ICB’s ledger system is based upon budgets allocated to providers and not to specific services. Budgets are broken down into subjective codes/descriptions but this does not correspond with a commissioned service. To analyse MH expenditure by service, there is a national MH investment system (MHIS) which maps expenditure from the ledger into a smaller number of service lines. This analysis is not available on ledger and therefore is not aligned in respect of individual services with individual providers. For 25/26 the ICB has an annual mental health budget of £975.5m. Not all providers (particularly smaller local ones) have a separate budget identified on the ledger as the system is a national one. Of the total budget, approximately £140m is not identified to specific providers but to a “default” code description. The ICB has approximately 220 named providers with specific budgets. It is not possible to provide the total budget and spend for each provider by service line due to the constraints above and the time/effort required to meet this request. The MHIS analysis by service analyses the total forecast MH spend as at M8. It should also be noted that of the total spend, not all spend counts towards the ICB’s MHIS target. Expenditure for dementia, learning disability and autism is excluded from the measure. For completeness therefore, of the total spend, only £830.6m counts towards the MHIS target. The balance c£0.15m is excluded.

**An excel sheet was sent to the requester with this response.  If you require a copy of the full response, together with the excel sheet, please contact NHS GM’s FOI team –

nhsgm.foi@nhs.net **

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