Last year, Stotles revealed exclusive insights into how £7.4b in NHS funding was distributed across Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) for 2023/2024. Now, with the publication of 2024/2025 fiscal year budgets from 32 of 42 ICSs, there's fresh data for suppliers to leverage and uncover new opportunities. 

In this report, we spotlight the top budget changes, both increases and decreases, so you can quickly identify where the most potential lies for your business. We’ll also guide you on how to use Stotles’ documents module to surface relevant business cases across this changing NHS procurement landscape.

Here’s what you’ll find in this update:

• ICSs ranked by 2024/2025 budget
• Regions with the largest budget growth
• Regions with the largest budget cuts
• Tactics to surface IT, Construction & FM opportunities across the NHS

Ready to unlock NHS procurement opportunities? Get started with Stotles today and dive into the full budget plans available on our documents module.

Each year, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) publish their Capital Resource Plans, which outline the "Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit" (CDEL) for the trusts across their ICS.

This CDEL represents the total capital budget allocated for the fiscal year, covering investment in infrastructure, equipment, and major projects within the NHS. Understanding these capital budgets is essential for suppliers looking to identify concrete, funded opportunities within the NHS.

Valued at a combined £6.2b, the table below ranks ICSs by their 2024/2025 CDEL budget, providing a clear comparison to last year's figures in the final column.

Despite an overall contraction in capital budgets by 1.14% (pre-inflation) compared to 2023/2024, 40% of regions have reported increased budgets, opening new opportunities for supplier engagement. The remaining 60% have suffered varying cuts, signalling a potential need for suppliers to consider focusing elsewhere.

In the sections below, we dive deeper into the fastest growing and shrinking budgets to help you understand where to surface opportunities.

For suppliers, targeting ICSs with growing budgets can unlock significant new opportunities. When capital funding increases, ICBs typically invest in infrastructure, technology, and services — areas ripe for procurement activity.

In 2024/2025, 13 of the 31 ICBs have seen their CDEL increase compared to last year. To help you focus on these growing regions, below is a bar chart visualising the ICSs with the largest net budget growth in 2024/2025.

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For these ICSs, we recommend diving deeper into the specific budget allocations to surface potential opportunities.

To illustrate how you can do this, below we provide a full breakdown of how North Central London have allocated their budget on a project and regional level.

The North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB) has the largest and highest growth capital budget in 2024/2025, with a total Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) of £482.5 million.

This budget table below outlines the key trusts and projects that NCL ICB is allocating its capital resources in 2024/2025.

The focus on new builds (£218m), IT (£64m), and equipment (£52m) reveals specific signals for suppliers, who can further engage with the suppliers receiving the largest allocations.

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While this budget table instantly provides helpful signals towards identifying potential opportunities, the source budget document provides further detail into the precise projects behind each of these funding rows. 

Below, we highlight specific opportunities that are revealed in NCL ICB's Capital Plan for IT, Construction and Facilities Management suppliers.

For IT suppliers:

• With £63.6 million allocated to IT projects across multiple Trusts, there are significant opportunities for suppliers specialising in digital transformation, including EPR systems, diagnostics, and digital infrastructure.
• Key Trusts with substantial IT budgets include University College London Hospitals (£13.7m), Moorfields Eye Hospital (£13.4m), and Royal Free London (£12.6m).
• Projects like the Frontline Digitisation Program and Digital Diagnostics initiative have a combined £20 million budget and focus on enhancing system interoperability, improving patient data management, and advancing remote care capabilities.

For construction and infrastructure suppliers:

• With over £218 million allocated for new builds, there are significant opportunities for construction and infrastructure suppliers, especially those with healthcare expertise. Major projects include
  • Moorfields Eye Institute Relocation
  • St Pancras Redevelopment
  • University College London Hospitals expansion
• These projects present multi-year contracts for infrastructure development, upgrades, and refurbishment.

For facilities management suppliers:

• NCL ICB has earmarked £44.8 million for critical backlog maintenance and an additional £12.8 million for routine upkeep, creating substantial opportunities for suppliers in facilities management, maintenance services, and compliance.
• This funding focuses on addressing high-risk infrastructure needs across Trusts like Royal Free London and Whittington Health, including fire safety upgrades, HVAC systems, and emergency power systems.

For suppliers, understanding which ICSs are experiencing budget reductions is as critical as identifying growth areas.

In 2024/2025, 18 of the 31 ICBs saw their Capital Departmental Expenditure Limits (CDEL) shrink compared to last year. Below is a bar chart and table highlighting the ICBs with the largest budget cuts.

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These budget reductions indicate that ICSs are prioritising critical needs, maintaining services, and focusing on areas that still require essential upgrades or digital improvements. For these regions, speculative business cases are unlikely to be entertained and suppliers should focus entirely on confirmed projects and requirements.

Below, we spotlight South East London ICB, which has experienced the largest budget cut but still presents key procurement opportunities in critical areas.

The South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) has seen the most significant budget reduction in 2024/2025, with its Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) decreasing by £119.7 million since last year.

Despite this cut, SEL ICB continues to focus on critical infrastructure projects, digital transformation, and urgent care capacity, providing important procurement opportunities for suppliers. The precise budget allocation is revealed in the table below.

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Compared to 2023/2024, SEL ICB's budget has been reduced primarily due to three key factors:

• Underperformance in 2023/2024: SEL ICB failed to meet some of its revenue and urgent and emergency care (UEC) performance targets, leading to a reduction of £9.75 million in capital funding for 2024/2025​.
• Revenue Deficit Exceeding NHS England’s Fair Share Calculation: SEL ICB's planned revenue deficit was higher than the fair share allocation, resulting in an additional £4.25 million reduction in capital​.
• Completion of key projects: Projects initiated in 2023/24 have been completed or significantly advanced, which means no additional capital allocation is required for them, including:
  • Pediatric Capacity at Evelina London Children’s Hospital by Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
  • Mental Health Centre (Pears Maudsley Centre) for Children and Young People at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
  • Douglas Bennett House for modern adult inpatient services.

These factors, combined with broader system financial pressures, have required SEL ICB to focus on essential projects rather than expanding its infrastructure, thus maintaining its operational capability.

Despite budget reductions, South East London ICB is still investing in several critical areas, and there are clear procurement opportunities for suppliers across IT, infrastructure, and facilities management. Here are the key opportunities based on the current budget breakdown:

For IT suppliers:

• £1.8 million has been allocated to King’s College Hospital for the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, which presents opportunities for IT suppliers specialising in healthcare data integration, digital records management, and system interoperability.

For construction & infrastructure suppliers:

• The board is still investing in urgent and emergency care capacity, with funding directed toward endoscopy services at King’s College Hospital and maintaining elective capacity with a High Volume Surgery Hub at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. These projects provide multi-year opportunities for suppliers with expertise in healthcare infrastructure and refurbishment.

For facilities management suppliers:

• The allocation of resources toward backlog maintenance, particularly at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital, focuses on essential refurbishments, fire safety, and routine maintenance. Facilities management suppliers can capitalize on these contracts by providing cost-effective solutions for ongoing maintenance and compliance.

Stotles' Documents Module offers a powerful tool for suppliers to efficiently navigate NHS budget & strategy plans and uncover actionable procurement opportunities across the UK.

Below are two key tactics to help you surface the most relevant opportunities for your business:

If you already know your target account (e.g., a specific Integrated Care Board or Trust), you can leverage Stotles to go deeper into their capital plans. Here’s how:

• Search for specific buyer plans: Use Stotles’ search functionality to locate the capital resource plans of your target ICB or NHS Trust.
• Use keywords to filter opportunities: Once you have their plan, search for keywords related to your products or services (e.g., "digital transformation," "infrastructure upgrade," or "EPR systems"). This will help you identify specific projects or tenders that align with your business offerings.
• Surface actionable insights: Drilling down into specific buyers enables you to tailor your approach and develop targeted strategies that speak directly to the procurement needs of the region you're focusing on.

In the tutorial video below, we demonstrate how you would take this journey in our platform. In this video, we take the journey of an EPR supplier looking for opportunities in Hampshire & Isle of Wight ICS.

If you're casting a wider net, you can use the Documents Module to identify mentions of your relevant keywords across all NHS regions:

• Filter for budget documents across the NHS: Stotles allows you to search all ICB and Trust budget documents for key terms related to upcoming projects (e.g., "urgent care," "medical devices," or "backlog maintenance").
• Apply your key business signals: Enter your keywords & CPVs into the filter to identify cross regional opportunities that are not restricted to a single region, allowing you to identify patterns and projects that could lead to potential contracts across multiple ICBs or Trusts.
• Stay proactive: By surfacing keyword mentions in documents across the NHS, you can proactively engage with decision makers about upcoming projects before they are fully tendered, positioning yourself as a valuable partner in the procurement process.

In the tutorial video below, we demonstrate how an EPR supplier would take this journey to identify upcoming business cases across the NHS.

The 2024/2025 NHS budgets reflect a shifting landscape, offering both challenges and opportunities for suppliers. By focusing on regions with the most relevant procurement potential—whether in growing or contracting areas—suppliers can align their strategies for maximum impact.

To take the next steps, Stotles' Documents module simplifies this process by giving you direct access to capital plans and strategic documents. Whether targeting specific buyers or identifying broader trends, Stotles enables you to surface the right opportunities quickly and efficiently.

Request a demo to start exploring today and turn these insights into actionable opportunities with Stotles.