24th June 2025
The NHS Transformation Unit (TU) supported Greater Manchester (GM) People Services to develop a Project Initiation Document (PID) to explore the potential for a collaborative model for transactional People Services across GM.
The Challenge
Collaboration in corporate services, particularly People Services, is being actively encouraged by NHS England (NHSE). Nationally, collaboration is delivering many benefits including increased resilience, improved talent management and greater efficiencies. As a result, the Greater Manchester (GM) HR Directors Group commissioned the TU to develop a project initiation document (PID) to explore the potential for a collaborative model for transactional HR functions. The GM HR Directors network includes Chief People Officers and HR Directors from all nine Greater Manchester NHS Trusts and from the ICB.
Our Approach
We delivered the project through a structured, multistage process which enabled meaningful engagement which yielded valuable insights to inform the PID and recommendations. The stages were as follows:
- Stage 1 – Mobilisation – we briefed all HR Directors on the project scope and objectives.
- Stage 2a – Stakeholder interviews – we conducted 43 interviews across all 10 organisations to understand current service operations and identify potential challenges, risks and opportunities for collaboration.
- Stage 2b – Data Collection and Comparison – we analysed organisational structures, budgets, activities and KPIs to inform our understanding.
- Stage 3 – Findings Overview Documents – we developed a summary document for each organisation, capturing key insights from interviews and data analysis.
- Stage 4 – GM-wide Workshop – we ran a face-to-face workshop attended by 28 representatives from all 10 organisations. In this workshop we developed a common understanding of the current service provision, identified and prioritised opportunities and associated benefits, and agreed the priorities for delivery and commitments aligned to local, cluster and GM Level requirements.
- Stage 5 – HRD Gateway Review – we presented a high-level summary of the PID and our recommendations to HR Directors.
- Stage 6 – Final PID and Governance – we finalised the PID following feedback from stage 5 and took this through the appropriate governance.
The Outcome
The final PID outlined a set of recommendations for enabling collaboration across People Services, highlighting the potential benefits, highlighting the potential benefits. The proposed delivery approach contained four workstreams that brought together the elements in the scope of the PID along with the GM SPS Vanguard workstreams, those being:
- Recruitment
- Occupational Health Services
- Payroll
- HR Administration (including ESR and HR Portal/Chat Bot)
Each workstream had an ambition and associated objectives. The TU recommended that these should be managed through a formalised programme with the appropriate levels of resource and governance. We also recommended that the HR Directors engage in further discussions to agree a delivery model based on the finding and recommendations within the PID.