IPS Workforce Calculator
The IPS Workforce Calculator is designed to provide commissioners with an indicative view of workforce costs for an IPS service. It should be used as a guide, with the option to input exact figures where these are known.
Enter a target for each year and select any London weighting, if applicable. Estimated workforce figures and costs will update immediately below.
Estimate the recommended staffing requirement (employment specialists, team leaders and service managers) and delivery cost for an IPS service based on annual access targets you have entered.
Service planning tool
IPS Workforce Calculator
This tool is based on a mature service operating to high fidelity.
Editable cost assumptions
Assumptions have been made across all data fields; however, cells shaded in light green are available for inputting exact figures where these are known. This data is used within the calculations.
Calculated results
Showing estimates without London weighting.
View calculation assumptions
Workforce
40 annual unemployed clients per employment specialist
6 employment specialists per team leader
5 team leaders per service manager
Annual salaries
The workforce calculator assumes that employment specialists are paid at the mid-point of Agenda for Change Band 5, team leaders are mid-point Agenda for Change Band 6 and service managers are midpoint Agenda for Change band 7. The salaries used to populate costs are outlined below, based on 2026/27 salary figures.
£33,437 employment specialist
£40,823 team leader
£50,723 service manager
Rest of the costs
The calculator assumes that employers pay 15% national insurance contributions for salaries above £417 per month, and a 14.3% pension (this is based on NHS pension estimates) and 20% for non-staff and overhead costs.
The assumption does not include the cost of local senior leadership to support IPS implementation. We would recommend that each ICS has an appropriate level of strategic oversight to support IPS implementation at Band 8 level.
To support planning and commissioning decisions, the calculator applies standard assumptions for employer on-costs. These include National Insurance, pension contributions, and an allowance for organisational overheads such as supervision, infrastructure and service delivery costs. These assumptions are based on typical NHS and provider benchmarks and are intended to provide a consistent starting point for estimating investment required. Users can update these values where local cost data is available.