NHS boards are reporting unusually healthy finances in the current financial year, new figures show, following huge injections of extra money to deal with the covid-19 pandemic.

For the first time in recent years, no board is set to receive ‘brokerage’ payments – or bailouts – after an additional £2.5bn in covid-19 support was spent in the health and sport portfolio.

No regional board is predicted to overspend in 2020-21 by more than 0.2% of their budget.

In contrast more than £40m in additional support was required in 2019-20, and £66m the year before.

Despite the additional cash provided for the virus, NHS boards were obliged by the government to find around £430m in savings in core services over the course of the year.

Scotland’s 14 NHS regional boards have a total budget of £13.05bn and, as of February, were predicting a small overspend of £2.4m. National boards, providing Scotland-wide services, have a total budget of £2.09bn and again are predicting a very small overspend of less than £1m.

Funding for the NHS is set to rise, with the SNP promising a 20% boost spread out over the next five years.

The party’s manifesto included a commitment to review the existing funding formula, which has prompted criticism from some areas that say they are under-funded, so that support would be distributed “equitably”.

Implementing the social care review, which recommended an enhanced role for Integration Joint Boards, could also see further changes for the NHS, with the manifesto pledging to look again at the “number, structure and regulation” of health boards.

The government’s figures also reveal that the bodies responsible for community health and care services, Integration Joint Boards, will be in unprecedented good financial health.

The position from the previous year, when Audit Scotland warned that 22 of 30 IJBs were struggling to balance their books, has reversed and most are now forecasting underspends or balanced budgets.

This is mainly due to lower levels of spending on social care packages, other covid-related delays and slower recruitment to vacancies.

However, cash reserves continue to be well below the recommended level of 2% of overall budgets, with an average of just 0.3%.

Around half of the 30 IJBs do not have any cash held in reserves to draw down as a contingency.

Read more: Manifesto health check: the SNP; Health Secretary signals health funding review; ‘No end in sight’ for IJBs covid-19 cash pressures

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