ACCIA Sub-Committees and Their Role in Scoring NCIA Applications

Guidance

ACCIA sub-committees and their role in scoring NCIA applications

The role of regional groups in assessing national Clinical Impact Award (NCIA) applications in England.

From: Advisory Committee on Clinical Impact Awards Published 31 March 2026 Get emails about this page

Applies to England

Print this page Wales has its own sub-committees that consider N0 to N3 awards. Contact accia@wales.nhs.uk for details.

The Advisory Committee on Clinical Impact Awards (ACCIA) sub-committees are regional groups that assess applications for national awards for applicants in their area.

Based on application workload, and to balance diversity and provide a degree of external scrutiny across these committees, we re-allocate some sub-committee members to score in other regions.

A list of current subcommittee members is available on the ACCIA governance page.

Regional sub-committees

There are 13 regional ACCIA sub-committees in England:

• Cheshire and Mersey
• East of England
• East Midlands
• London North East
• London North West
• London South
• North East
• North West
• South
• South East
• South West
• West Midlands
• Yorkshire and Humber

Other sub-committees

There are separate sub-committees for:

• the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and arm’s length bodies (ALBs)
• assessing the highest-scoring regional applicants for National 3 (N3) awards
• assessing applications for which the initial scores are tied at cut-off points or where governance queries arise - the national reserve sub-committee (NRES) The N3 and NRES committees are made up of the most experienced assessors, with equal representation from every regional sub-committee.

Background of sub-committee members

Sub-committee members come from a range of backgrounds, with experience and expertise in many different areas. Each sub-committee is typically made up of:

• 50% medical and dental professionals
• 25% non-medical professionals or lay members
• 25% employers

Role of the sub-committees

The sub-committees consider all applications in their area, except for those from public health consultants and academic GPs contracted by NHS England. These are assessed by the DHSC and ALB sub-committee, where they can be more easily benchmarked.

Each regional sub-committee is allocated an indicative number of awards at each level. This is based on the number of national awards available, equitably and proportionately distributed based on the number of applications received in each region that year. This means there is an equal chance of achieving an NCIA in all regions and through the ALB sub-committee.

Sub-committees may be divided into scoring groups to manage the workload. If this is the case, then a normalisation process will be applied to mean total scores to address any difference in scoring patterns between groups. We ensure there is broadly equivalent diversity of assessors across these groups to minimise any unconscious bias affecting the scoring.

Scoring process

Each group scores applications consistently against the assessors’ guidance, after which the following process is followed:

1. Individual scores for each application are collated and a mean total score derived.
2. Applications in each region are ranked according to their mean total score, and the indicative number of awards applied.
3. The top ranked applications in each region are referred to the N3 sub-committee for national re-scoring.
4. Applications tied at the cut-off point between N1 and N2, or N1 and no award, are automatically referred to NRES for national re-scoring.
5. All other applications at N1 and N2 are reviewed by the ACCIA chair and medical director who will raise any issues or questions with the relevant regional sub-committee. If questions raised about specific applications cannot be resolved by the relevant regional sub-committee, those applications will be referred to NRES for national re-scoring.
6. The ACCIA main committee then meets to agree the outcomes of N3 and NRES re-scoring, and to approve recommendations for awards to be made to ministers. Published 31 March 2026 Get emails about this page Print this page Contents