FOI request
I am requesting the following under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, relating to employment-related claims and settlements.
This FOI mainly centres around HSSIB, but I am also interested in figures for HSIB before it was taken over by HSSIB in October 2023.
If you have the figures for HSIB then please include (and highlight them) in this response.
Please provide the data for the financial years 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and during 2025-26 (up to the time this FOI has been acknowledged).
Questions:
- The number of employment-related claims or grievances raised by current or former staff which resulted in a financial settlement or payment made by the organisation.
- The total amount paid in respect to said settlements, broken down by each financial year.
- If the organisation records the nature of these claims, please provide any available breakdown by the following categories: bullying and harassment, discrimination (age, disability, race, sex, sexual orientation or gender reassignment, religion or belief), equal pay, redundancy, unfair or constructive dismissal, whistleblowing or public interest disclosures.
- Where separately recorded, the legal or external advisory costs incurred in relation to those claims (e.g., including but not limited to legal fees), for each year.
Decision
Response Part One
HSSIB does not hold the information for part of your request. An explanation for this can be found below, as well as a contact email address for NHS England who will be able to assist further.
Part of the timeframe for the request (2022/2023 and April-September 2023) was a time when HSSIB was not in existence. HSSIB can only provide data from 1 October 2023 onwards as HSSIB is an independent arm's length body that came into existence on 1 October 2023.
The former body Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) was in place during 2022/2023 and between April-September 2023 and was hosted by NHS England. Therefore, data for this timeframe will be held by NHS England.
Further details can be found on the HSIB legacy page, which explains the difference between HSIB and HSSIB.
NHS England can be reached on: england.contactus@nhs.net.
Response Part Two
HSSIB can respond to your request for the timeframe 1 October 2023 onwards. Our response can be found below:
1) The number of employment-related claims or grievances raised by current or former staff which resulted in a financial settlement or payment made by the organisation.
Response: HSSIB has not made any financial settlements or payments in respect of employment-related claims or grievances raised by current or former staff.
2) The total amount paid in respect to said settlements, broken down by each financial year.
Response: HSSIB has not made any financial settlements or payments in respect of employment-related claims or grievances raised by current or former staff.
3) If the organisation records the nature of these claims, please provide any available breakdown by the following categories: bullying and harassment, discrimination (age, disability, race, sex, sexual orientation or gender reassignment, religion or belief), equal pay, redundancy, unfair or constructive dismissal, whistleblowing or public interest disclosures.
Response: HSSIB has not made any financial settlements or payments in respect of employment-related claims or grievances raised by current or former staff.
4) Where separately recorded, the legal or external advisory costs incurred in relation to those claims (e.g., including but not limited to legal fees), for each year.
Response: HSSIB has not incurred any legal or external advisory costs in relation to claims as HSSIB has not made any financial settlements or payments in respect of employment-related claims or grievances raised by current or former staff.