DHSC awards £8m IT contract to support NHS England abolition

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has awarded a contract worth up to £8 million to support its IT infrastructure as NHS England merges into the department.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced plans in March 2025 to bring NHSE back into the DHSC with the goal of ending the duplication resulting from two organisations doing the same job.

An award notice, published on 15 October 2025, states that a contract has been won by Cognizant Worldwide to help bolster the organisation’s IT infrastructure in preparation for the transition, which will see the majority of NHSE’s operations moved into the DHSC.

A spokesperson for DHSC told Digital Health News: “We inherited two head offices for the NHS – NHSE and DHSC – causing duplication and waste rather than delivery.

 “Abolishing NHSE will reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, bring management of the NHS back into democratic control and divert hundreds of millions of pounds to the frontline for doctors, nurses, operations and GP appointments.

“All government contracts are robustly assessed to ensure they deliver value for the taxpayer.

“This contract will maximise efficiency and boost productivity by designing and integrating the DHSC’s and NHSE’s corporate IT systems to create one digital system following the merger.”

Under the contract, which runs for three years from 1 October 2025 until 30 September 2028, Cognizant will “support the Buyer [DHSC] with its transformation programme, which ultimately entails the abolishment of NHS England and the transfer of much of its functions to the DHSC”.

The aim is “to support the design and implementation of the new department’s corporate IT infrastructure”.

The contract, awarded through the £500m Technology Services 3 framework, says that the programme to merge the two organisations “is a strategic collaborative to create a future-ready DHSC by integrating functions and personnel from NHS England”.

It adds: “The programme aims to build a more agile, mission-focused organisation capable of leading the health and care system more effectively.”

Cognizant is also included on the Digital Capability for Health framework 2, published in January 2025.

London-based technology and strategy consultancy Mozaic Sevices Ltd will serve as a sub-contractor delivering professional services on behalf of Cognizant, according to the contract.

DHSC told Digital Health News that the appointment of independent experts to support the integration is normal for two IT systems of this size and will ensure the best outcome for the merger.

The news of NHSE’s abolition earlier this year followed announcements from several senior leaders that they were leaving NHSE, including Amanda Pritchard, chief executive, and Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director.

Digital Health News contacted Cognizant for comment.