Newsflash: PCN agreements – is yours up to scratch?

So you made the deadline for confirming to the commissioner that your network agreement is in place, but was it all rather rushed? If so, you are not alone!

Many PCNs are realising that the agreements they hurried to put in place for the 30 June deadline are not sufficiently comprehensive or robust to help them navigate the path ahead.

This is the ideal time to review your PCN agreement to ensure that it includes the provisions necessary for proper governance of the network and is legally binding on the member practices.

In particular, you should check that your agreement:

• sets out a clear decision making structure, with clarity as to who is responsible for different types of decision, the majority required for different types of decision and how deadlocks and disputes will be resolved;
• allocates responsibility for different network activities and mechanisms for allocating future activities;
• has provisions dealing with employment of network staff, including who will employ the staff, who has responsibility for managing staff and who will be responsible for employment liabilities;
• deals with apportionment of risk and liability between the member practices, as well as how PCN funds will be allocated.

Even well prepared agreements can fall short on apparently minor but technically significant details, such as the legal identity of the parties and authorised signatories – these are important details that if not correctly dealt with could result in difficulties enforcing the agreement.

Where your network will subcontract delivery of Network DES services to a federation or other third party, a subcontracting agreement will also be needed and provisions relating to this included in the network agreement.

If you would like to find out more about PCN agreements and how we can assist generally, please contact our specialist team.

We have also developed a training programme on this, and other topical themes, which we would be happy to discuss with you. Download the training programme HERE.