Written statement: Local Authority Public Health Grant allocations - Feb 9

Minister for Public Health and Prevention (Ashley Dalton): Today the Government has published multi-year Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities in England.

This is the first three-year public health settlement in a decade – giving local government far greater certainty over their future funding and supporting their ability to plan ahead. These allocations comprise one year of confirmed allocations for 2026/27 and two years of indicative allocations until 2028/29.

This Government increased the Public Health Grant by £224 million in 2025/26 to help local authorities deliver public health services. We will continue to invest in local authorities' vital public health work going forward. The consolidated Public Health Grant will be higher in real terms every year of this Parliament than it was in 2024/25, providing more than £13.4 billion over the next three years through a consolidated ring-fenced Public Health Grant and funding for public health included in business rate retention arrangements for the 10 Greater Manchester authorities.

Funding for local government's public health responsibilities is an essential element of our commitment to invest in preventing ill health, promoting healthier lives and addressing health disparities as part of the 10 Year Health Plan. This investment will support local authority commissioned public health services such as smoking cessation, drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery, health visiting, sexual health clinics and supervised toothbrushing.

We are ending a fragmented and short-term funding situation created by multiple different public health funding arrangements for local authorities by consolidating separate funding streams into the Public Health Grant from April 2026. The consolidated Public Health Grant will remain ring-fenced to be spent exclusively on public health, supported by service-specific ringfences for smoking cessation and drug and alcohol services. Overall, there will be a reduction in the number of grant conditions, and in the reporting requirements, relative to the previous grant arrangements.

Full details of the Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities for 2026/27 can be found on gov.uk. This information has been communicated to local authorities in a Local Authority Circular.