Staff Report

As of 31 March 2026, there were 14 members of the Board, of which five were Executive Directors, three Directors and five Independent Members including DHCW Interim Chair and Vice Chair.

Staff Numbers and Composition as of 31 March 2026

Table 1 Breakdown of staff by Group (Figures are an average across the year, supplied by Finance and includes contractors)

Table 2 Gender Breakdown of the Board and Directors- Updated as of 31st March 2026

* Interim Chair
** Interim Vice Chair (male)

Table 3 Gender Breakdown by Executive Team and Other Employees as of 31st March 2026

The People and Organisation Development Directorate (POD) collaborates with each Directorate to safeguard the wellbeing of our staff and responsibly manage sickness absence. Monthly performance reports are provided on sickness absence rates to ensure rigorous monitoring by Directorates and Executive colleagues. Additionally, all staff have access to both the Occupational Health Service and the Employee Assistance Programme, which extends complimentary support to family members as well.

During 2025-26, most individual absences were due to cold and flu (416) whilst the highest number of lost working days were stress and anxiety (5209).

The table 5 below shows the sickness absence levels during 2025/26. The average rate of sickness was 3.21%, while current rate as of 31st March 2026 is 2.7%.

Table 5 Percentage Sickness Absence 2025/26

Table 6 Number of Working Days Lost to Sickness

Staff Policies applied during the financial year

All DHCW policies and procedures applied during the financial year are subject to Equality Impact Assessment against the nine protected characteristics. This ensures that they do not discriminate against individuals who apply to work for, or are employed by, DHCW and supports our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

All policies are reviewed on a regular basis and updated where appropriate through the formal ratification process, which is managed and recorded within the iPassport Quality Management System. This process includes defined review cycles, version control and quality assurance to ensure policies remain current, compliant and fit for purpose.

Where applicable, DHCW adopts All Wales policies, which are developed nationally to ensure consistency across NHS Wales. These policies are available to access via the DHCW website.

Health & Wellbeing

At DHCW, we are dedicated to creating a healthy, engaged, and resilient workforce. Over the past year, we have taken a proactive approach to employee wellbeing by introducing various initiatives aimed at improving physical, mental, and social health. More information on this can be found in the performance report.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

At DHCW, we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace. Our Strategic Equality Plan (SEP), approved in March 2023 and published in April 2023, highlights our commitment to anti-bullying and anti-racism. This plan was developed in partnership with staff and key stakeholders, and its implementation has continued in the same way.

The EDI Network was established in May 2023 and meets every two months to raise awareness, lead events, and support SEP objectives. EDI Network Champions play a vital role in advocating for diversity and inclusion. In Quarter 4 (2024-25), the EDI Network will be refreshed, allowing new members to join, with the updated network announced in Quarter 1 (2025-26).

Our Key Commitments and Progress

We are making good progress in delivering our Strategic Equality Plan (2023–27), which sets out how we promote fairness, inclusion and equality across DHCW.

• 1. Supporting Our People: We support an inclusive workplace through an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Network that represents all protected characteristics under equality law. The network continues to grow and is helping drive positive changes in policy and culture. We also celebrate the diversity of our workforce through national events and campaigns, including Windrush, South Asian Heritage Month and Pride.
• 2. Education and Accountability: We provide regular awareness raising sessions to help staff understand equality and inclusion, with around 100 people attending each event. Training remains a priority, with high completion rates for anti racism training. We have also invested in neurodiversity training for leaders. Equality Impact Assessments are carried out regularly to make sure new policies and projects consider their impact on different groups.
• 3. Using Data to Drive Change: We use data to monitor fairness and support national reporting requirements. Recruitment dashboards help us track diversity throughout the recruitment process, while pay gap reporting allows us to understand trends over time and take action where needed.
• 4. Understanding Barriers and Challenges: We are improving awareness of invisible and non physical disabilities and working with staff to put appropriate support and adjustments in place. Feedback from exit interviews and national support schemes helps us identify where further improvements are needed. As a Disability Confident Employer, we continue to support staff who declare a disability.
• 5. Leadership and Sponsorship: Senior leaders actively promote equality and inclusion by supporting staff engagement, participating in awareness events and encouraging staff to take part in national surveys. The Board and Executive team also engage directly with staff networks to listen to lived experiences and oversee progress against the Equality Plan.

Further information on our EDI and Wellbeing activities and key achievements for 2025 – 2026 can be found in our performance report.

Reporting of other compensation schemes – exit packages

During 2025/26 there were two exit packages paid or approved.

Expenditure on consultancy services

During 2025/2026 the SHA spent £0.227m of its revenue funding on external consultancy services, this is a decrease of 30% from the same spend in 2024/25.

For the purpose of the statutory accounts, consultancy is defined as time limited/ad-hoc assignments related to the provision of professional and strategic advice and not directly attributable to activities delivering digital products.

Examples include:

• Accountancy & Commercial fees
• Legal fees
• Design fees
• IT consultancy and advice

EXPENDITURE ON TEMPORARY STAFF

During 2025/2026 the SHA spent £1.286m of its revenue funding on temporary staff. This includes Temporary (agency) workers, Interim managers and Specialist Contractors. The spend is reflective of use of temporary workers in the PC refresh and migration work, the cloud and in Immunisation support in 2025/26.

Tax assurance for off-payroll engagements

Following the Review of Tax Arrangements of Public Sector Appointees published by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 23 May 2012, departments must publish information on their highly paid and/or senior off-payroll engagements. The information, contained in the three tables below, includes all off-payroll engagements as at 31 March 2026 for those earning more than £245 per day for the core SHA and any hosted organisations.

Table 1: Highly paid off-payroll worker engagements as at 31 March 2026, earning £245 per day or greater.

All the off-payroll engagements, outlined above, have at some point been subject to a risk-based assessment as to whether assurance is required that the individual is paying the right amount of tax, and where necessary, that assurance has been sought.

Table 2: All highly paid off-payroll workers engaged at any point during the year ended 31 March 2026, earning £245 per day or greater

Table 3: For any off-payroll engagements of board members, and/or, senior officials with significant financial responsibility, between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026

I confirm that there is no relevant audit information in the Annual Report of which the Audit Wales is unaware. As Chief Executive, I have taken all the steps in order to make myself aware of any relevant information and ensure the Audit Wales is aware of that information.