Our audit process

NHS Workforce Alliance is committed to ensuring suppliers appointed to our frameworks are delivering the very best service possible to our customers. We have established a committed supplier relationship management process with dedicated points of contact and regular communication to ensure our suppliers understand what is expected of them and identify and resolve any issues quickly. Our robust worker compliance audit regime ensures all NHS Workforce Alliance suppliers are compliant with NHS Employers Check Standards and allows our supplier relationship managers to provide post audit support if issues are identified. Six NHS Workforce Alliance frameworks are covered by this audit process:

Non-Medical, Non-Clinical
Non-Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff
CPP National Clinical Staffing
Multi-Disciplinary Temporary Healthcare Personnel
Flexible Resource Pool Staff Bank
Clinical and Healthcare Staffing

James Moreton, Commercial Agreements Lead for Health Workforce at Crown Commercial Service said: “The purpose of the audit is to ensure that agencies on our frameworks are fulfilling the NHS and frameworks needs for workers to be compliant in accordance with NHS Check Standards.

“We audit agencies from across the whole portfolio of agreements with a focus on driving the most effective processes for managing worker vetting across the industry, it is about driving improvements for assurance processes across the supply chain.”

When a supplier is appointed to an NHS Workforce Alliance framework, they are required to meet the obligations set out in the agreement. These include ensuring relevant policies and processes are in place to manage compliance of subcontractors, making all files available for inspection on the day of the audit and comply with remedial timelines.

TIAA Ltd are our delivery partners for the audit process, and they are responsible for notifying suppliers of their audit date, conducting onsite or desktop audit depending on government guidance and restrictions, informing suppliers of their result, and publishing the audit report.

Suppliers will be marked as pass, pass with conditions, or fail, with timescales for remedial action. NHS Workforce Alliance work with suppliers to identify issues highlighted at audit to ensure they are fully compliant and avoid any disruption to our customers. However, if a supplier demonstrates repeated failures and does not engage with remedial steps, they may be permanently removed from the framework.

If you have any questions relating to our audit process, please get in touch.