CRN Yorkshire and Humber: Funding Model 2023/24

Contents

Introduction

The CRN Coordinating Centre (CRNCC) has confirmed that funding allocations for 2023/24 to all Local Clinical Research Networks (LCRNs) will remain at the same levels as 2022/23, with CRN Yorkshire and Humber (CRN Y&H) receiving a total of £29,505,397.

CRN Y&H uses its funding allocation to support a central team to administer and deliver a range of research engagement and support activities at a regional level, makes a provision for funding infrastructure & staff costs within NHS Trust Partners and non-NHS providers that support and deliver research, as well as support strategic initiatives relevant to the population health needs of Yorkshire and Humber. 

Annual Financial Plan 2023/24

Each year CRN Y&H develops a financial plan to distribute the annual funding allocation. Of the overall total of £29.5m:

£20.5m is distributed directly to NHS Partners who support and deliver research. 

£985k is distributed to Primary Care and other non-NHS providers who support and deliver research. 

£3m is used to fund a range of strategic initiatives and health priorities, e.g. engaging with a broader range of communities to take part in research, such as people from the 0-19 years age group or from ethnic minority communities. Disease specific initiatives include support for increasing mental health and care studies, public health initiatives. 

The remainder is allocated to support costs of hosting CRN Y&H, the core leadership and management teams, a central research delivery workforce and associated costs. 

Category A Partner Funding Model

The local funding distribution model to the 22 NHS Trust Partners in the CRN Y&H region is based on a number of key principles: 

• A top sliced funding amount of 2% is taken from the budget and is aimed at targeting regional health needs & clinical priorities
• Performance data for three full years (2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22) is utilised
• Inclusion of a 10% performance related element based on participant recruitment to studies and efficient study delivery with a 25%/75% split respectively 
• A top slice of 1.25% (£223.2k) has been removed from all Partners and re-distributed to the Mental Health and Community Trusts, to address inequalities in funding levels, pump prime and reflect broader range of services. 
• The CRN Y&H funding model has no Cap & Collar limits applied. 

A breakdown of the funding distribution to Category A Partner Organisations is listed in table 1.

Table 1: 2023/24 Category A Partners Funding Allocations

* Yorkshire Ambulance Service

Category B/C Partner Funding Model

Infrastructure funding for Primary Care Partners is allocated to 45-50 Research Clusters. In addition, funding is provided to Service Support Costs and strategic initiatives. 

A simplified funding structure has been implemented in 2023/24 as outlined below: