Gambling harm prevention: local council funding 2026 to 2027
Published 7 April 2026
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2026
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Introduction
The local council gambling harms prevention grant is funded entirely through the statutory gambling levy and totals £24 million over 2 years.
In 2026 to 2027, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) in the Department of Health and Social Care will distribute £12 million to upper-tier local councils. An anticipated £12 million will also be available in 2027 to 2028.
Conditions for receiving funding
Local councils will receive their indicative funding allocation if they meet the grant conditions. The conditions are to:
- complete a maturity assessment survey (which provides a baseline assessment of their activity on gambling harms prevention, and helps them to monitor progress over time, and identify and share innovative practice)
- complete a declaration of interest, including formal confirmation from the director of public health that the governance, decision‑making and use of levy funds are fully independent of gambling industry influence
Once a council has met these conditions, OHID will send a memorandum of understanding (MOU). An MOU outlines an agreement, common goals and mutual intentions between 2 or more parties. The director of public health must sign the MOU, confirming that they will use the funding for gambling harm prevention activity.
Methodology for allocations
The funding allocations are based on a two-part formula where half of the funding is allocated according to each council’s population size, and the other half is allocated by adjusting the area’s population using its average index of multiple deprivation (IMD) score. For more information on IMD, see English indices of deprivation 2025.
This gives a greater amount of funding per person to areas with higher deprivation, to reflect that these areas are expected to have higher average levels of gambling-related harm. For example, a person living in Blackpool (average IMD score of 43.5) counts 7.1 times more than a person living in Wokingham (average IMD score of 6.1) for this proportion of the allocation.
Although deprivation is not the only indicator of need for gambling-related harm, there is currently not enough evidence to create a formula that accurately captures the variations in gambling-related harm across different local areas. As the gambling harms prevention programme develops, we will work to improve the allocation formula.
Funding allocations by upper tier local council
The table below shows indicative funding allocations for upper tier local councils for the financial year 2026 to 2027.
| Upper tier local council | Indicative allocation for 2026 to 2027 |
|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | £56,866 |
| Barnet | £78,507 |
| Barnsley | £61,267 |
| Bath and North East Somerset | £31,997 |
| Bedford | £38,017 |
| Bexley | £44,654 |
| Birmingham | £332,769 |
| Blackburn with Darwen | £44,770 |
| Blackpool | £44,159 |
| Bolton | £77,426 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | £75,456 |
| Bracknell Forest | £19,576 |
| Bradford | £154,748 |
| Brent | £85,877 |
| Brighton and Hove | £56,041 |
| Bristol | £102,775 |
| Bromley | £54,255 |
| Buckinghamshire | £91,604 |
| Bury | £42,762 |
| Calderdale | £48,880 |
| Cambridgeshire | £117,112 |
| Camden | £46,318 |
| Central Bedfordshire | £51,745 |
| Cheshire East | £71,123 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | £68,960 |
| City of London | £2,270 |
| Cornwall | £120,775 |
| County Durham | £127,771 |
| Coventry | £85,423 |
| Croydon | £85,220 |
| Cumberland | £60,034 |
| Darlington | £25,082 |
| Derby | £64,267 |
| Derbyshire | £158,958 |
| Devon | £156,236 |
| Doncaster | £78,513 |
| Dorset | £69,670 |
| Dudley | £70,057 |
| Ealing | £86,487 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | £62,727 |
| East Sussex | £113,265 |
| Enfield | £79,420 |
| Essex | £289,842 |
| Gateshead | £47,506 |
| Gloucestershire | £116,071 |
| Greenwich | £63,731 |
| Hackney | £67,089 |
| Halton | £32,665 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £38,079 |
| Hampshire | £234,867 |
| Haringey | £65,196 |
| Harrow | £49,968 |
| Hartlepool | £27,356 |
| Havering | £49,992 |
| Herefordshire | £36,368 |
| Hertfordshire | £201,954 |
| Hillingdon | £65,585 |
| Hounslow | £65,563 |
| Isle of Wight | £30,846 |
| Isles of Scilly | £383 |
| Islington | £50,709 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £28,580 |
| Kent | £326,912 |
| Kingston upon Hull | £76,253 |
| Kingston upon Thames | £26,638 |
| Kirklees | £100,050 |
| Knowsley | £44,211 |
| Lambeth | £66,691 |
| Lancashire | £275,649 |
| Leeds | £182,116 |
| Leicester | £102,504 |
| Leicestershire | £121,110 |
| Lewisham | £66,830 |
| Lincolnshire | £163,169 |
| Liverpool | £140,693 |
| Luton | £57,611 |
| Manchester | £167,338 |
| Medway | £63,388 |
| Merton | £37,114 |
| Middlesbrough | £45,312 |
| Milton Keynes | £57,858 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £76,179 |
| Newham | £93,820 |
| Norfolk | £189,672 |
| North East Lincolnshire | £39,031 |
| North Lincolnshire | £36,402 |
| North Northamptonshire | £70,663 |
| North Somerset | £39,269 |
| North Tyneside | £43,122 |
| North Yorkshire | £112,103 |
| Northumberland | £68,067 |
| Nottingham | £86,297 |
| Nottinghamshire | £162,489 |
| Oldham | £69,209 |
| Oxfordshire | £118,144 |
| Peterborough | £52,057 |
| Plymouth | £58,588 |
| Portsmouth | £48,456 |
| Reading | £34,644 |
| Redbridge | £62,796 |
| Redcar and Cleveland | £34,063 |
| Richmond upon Thames | £28,925 |
| Rochdale | £62,046 |
| Rotherham | £67,022 |
| Rutland | £6,157 |
| Salford | £74,788 |
| Sandwell | £92,277 |
| Sefton | £63,076 |
| Sheffield | £134,963 |
| Shropshire | £61,481 |
| Slough | £35,160 |
| Solihull | £40,329 |
| Somerset | £113,031 |
| South Gloucestershire | £48,043 |
| South Tyneside | £37,554 |
| Southampton | £57,720 |
| Southend-on-Sea | £39,841 |
| Southwark | £66,666 |
| St Helens | £44,981 |
| Staffordshire | £163,119 |
| Stockport | £57,347 |
| Stockton-on-Tees | £46,224 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £70,319 |
| Suffolk | £149,991 |
| Sunderland | £73,891 |
| Surrey | £187,149 |
| Sutton | £35,895 |
| Swindon | £45,043 |
| Tameside | £58,068 |
| Telford and Wrekin | £42,506 |
| Thurrock | £36,381 |
| Torbay | £32,035 |
| Tower Hamlets | £81,537 |
| Trafford | £41,597 |
| Wakefield | £84,624 |
| Walsall | £74,275 |
| Waltham Forest | £59,407 |
| Wandsworth | £58,567 |
| Warrington | £39,056 |
| Warwickshire | £110,939 |
| West Berkshire | £25,457 |
| West Northamptonshire | £79,358 |
| West Sussex | £157,184 |
| Westminster | £45,067 |
| Westmorland and Furness | £42,819 |
| Wigan | £76,087 |
| Wiltshire | £87,032 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | £22,890 |
| Wirral | £76,044 |
| Wokingham | £24,519 |
| Wolverhampton | £71,733 |
| Worcestershire | £114,055 |
| York | £33,022 |