Last updated: January 2026
The NHS Standard Contract requires relevant providers of NHS services to participate in the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP). NHS Trusts are responsible for funding a proportion of the NCAPOP costs through a process known as Subscription Funding.
Financial year 2026-27 subscription
NHS England has indicated that the standard subscription fee of £10,000 p.a. will apply for the financial year 2026-27.
HQIP will contact Trusts in early April 2026 to request a purchase order for the 2026-27 subscription charge. We would be grateful if purchase orders could be provided as soon as possible, by 30 June 2026 at the latest. Following receipt of the purchase order, an invoice will be raised, to which our standard 30-day payment terms apply.
Further information about the subscription funding charge is available in the frequently asked questions below. Further information on Trust requirements in relation to the NCAPOP is available on the HQIP Quality Accounts webpage. For any queries relating to the subscription charge, please contact HQIP at finance@hqip.org.uk.
FAQs for subscription funding of national clinical audits
The subscription funding charge is outlined annually on confirmation by NHS England. Since the 2016/17 financial year, the subscription funding charge has been set at £10,000 + VAT for all NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts.
NCAPOP projects provide a valuable quality assurance function, as well as information to support local and national quality improvement and quality planning. A range of outputs such as national benchmarked reports, case studies and other quality improvement tools are published.
All NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts pay a subscription funding charge in line with the NHS standard contract requirement to participate in the NCAPOP programme.
HQIP contacts Trust medical and finance directors annually to alert them to the charge and to request that a purchase order is raised. If your Trust would like an additional contact to receive this correspondence and the contact has not been advised to us previously, please notify helen.baron@hqip.org.uk with further information. HQIP suggests that queries regarding the subscription funding requirements for the Trust be directed to the local clinical audit team in the first instance.
Trusts that plan to merge during a financial year will be invoiced separately for the subscription charge. Trusts which have merged prior to the financial year will only receive one subscription charge.
At the end of each financial year HQIP reports Trusts who have not paid their subscription funding charge to NHS England and the Care Quality Commission.
NHS England agreed in 2016 that a standard charge would be set for all NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts. The charge set represented a cost saving for the majority of Trusts. The total funds received by HQIP from subscription funding have not increased as a result of this change.
