Guidance

Public health ring-fenced grant financial year 2026 to 2027: local authority circular

Published 9 February 2026

Applies to England

This circular sets out:

• allocations of the local government public health grant for financial year 2026 to 2027
• the conditions that will apply to that grant
• guidance intended to assist local authorities

Background

In the 2026 to 2027 financial year, the total public health grant to upper tier and unitary local authorities in England will be £4.404 billion. This includes funding for the:

• local stop smoking services and support grant
• swap to stop programme
• drug and alcohol treatment and recovery improvement grant
• individual placement and support grant

This includes ring-fenced funding totals for smoking cessation (£152.8 million) and drug and alcohol (£1.1 billion).

The total funding includes:

• the notional amounts for the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities under the business rate retention arrangement for a portion of their consolidated public health grant allocations
• a ring-fenced section 31 grant to those 10 authorities for the supplementary ‘drug and alcohol’ and ‘smoking cessation’ funding that have been consolidated into the public health grant for other local authorities (see annex B for more details)

The grant is ring-fenced for use on public health functions.

The Secretary of State has determined, pursuant to section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, to pay grants to relevant local authorities in the amounts indicated for financial year 2026 to 2027.

This circular is accompanied by 5 annexes:

• annex A: ring-fenced grant determination and conditions 2026 to 2027
• annex B: public health allocations for 2026 to 2027
• annex C: reporting categories
• annex D: statement of assurance and grant usage letter
• annex E: public health grant allocations: 2026 to 2027 and indicative allocations for 2027 to 2028 and 2028 to 2029

Annex E is available on the Public health grants to local authorities: 2026 to 2027 page.

Grant payment and reporting

The 2026 to 2027 public health grant will be paid in quarterly instalments:

• quarter 1: 10 April 2026
• quarter 2: 3 July 2026
• quarter 3: 9 October 2026
• quarter 4: 8 January 2027

Pursuant to section 31(4) of the Local Government Act 2003 the Secretary of State has attached conditions to the payment of the grant, which are set out at annex A. The grant is ring-fenced for use on local authorities’ public health functions, with specific ring-fenced funding totals for smoking cessation and drug and alcohol. There are additional conditions, mainly relating to funding that has been consolidated, to those in the 2025 to 2026 grant circular. When assessing whether local authorities have complied with these conditions, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will continue to look at the primary purpose of local authorities’ spending.

DHSC will presume that local authorities will spend the grant within the financial year. If underspend exists at the end of the financial year, local authorities can carry these over, as part of a public health reserve, into the next financial year. In using these funds the following year, local authorities will still need to comply with the grant conditions. Any underspend from the smoking cessation and drug and alcohol ring-fenced funding totals will be identified and held in the public health reserve for use on these services only. DHSC may consider reducing future grant amounts to local authorities that report significant and repeated underspends. More details are in the Reserves section in annex A.

Reporting of grant expenditure

The purpose of all funding in the public health grant is delivery of local authorities’ public health functions. Local authorities will need to forecast and report how they spend their grant against the sub-categories in their Revenue Outturn (RO) return to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which will share data with DHSC.

DHSC uses the local authority RO return to monitor the usage of the grant. It is important that both local authority finance and public health teams, including the director of public health (DPH), are content with the figures submitted. A list of the reporting categories is at annex C. Local authorities’ section 151 officers, also known as a chief financial officer (CFO), and the DPH will return a statement confirming that the grant has been spent in accordance with the conditions. An example of this statement is at annex D and has been updated for financial year 2026 to 2027 to include grant usage for the smoking cessation and drug and alcohol services.

Year-end reporting

At the end of the financial year, local authorities will need to submit a detailed RO return to MHCLG. Local authorities will record expenditure against each of the prescribed functions categories set out in annex C, to demonstrate that they are undertaking activity in these areas.

Local authorities must account for the full value of the grant in their RO returns. As such, the closing value of a local authority’s public health reserve minus the opening value of the public health reserve when added to the net spend reported in the year, must be greater than or equal to the value of the grant for the year.

Where income relating to public health activities is received from sources other than the grant, and such income is recorded on the RO return as public health, then the corresponding expenditure should also be recorded as public health. Any income from the grant not spent at year-end should be carried forward in the public health reserve.

Guidance on reporting and categorisation of spend is available to local authorities in the Service Reporting Code of Practice (SeRCOP).

Enquiries

Enquires about this circular should be addressed to DHSC at phgfinance@dhsc.gov.uk.

Annex A: ring-fenced grant determination and conditions 2026 to 2027

Determination under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 of a ring-fenced public health grant to local authorities for the 2026 to 2027 financial year.

Public health grant to local authorities grant determination 2026 to 2027: No 31/8166

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (‘the Secretary of State’), in exercise of the powers conferred by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, makes the following determination.

Citation

This determination may be cited as the ‘Public health grant to local authorities determination 2026 to 2027: No 31/8166’.

Purpose of the grant

This grant can be used for both revenue and capital purposes.

The purpose of the grant is to provide local authorities in England with the funding required to discharge the public health functions detailed in paragraphs 5 and 6 in the main ‘Grant conditions’ section.

Grant conditions

Pursuant to section 31(4) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State determines that the grant will be paid subject to the conditions set out under ‘Grant conditions’ below.

The ring-fence on the grant will remain in 2026 to 2027, with specific ring-fenced funding totals for smoking cessation and drug and alcohol services.

Determination

The Secretary of State determines the local authorities to which the grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid in the financial year 2026 to 2027. The local authorities and the amounts for the financial year 2026 to 2027 are set out in annex B and annex E in further detail.

Treasury consent

Before making this determination the Secretary of State obtained the consent of the Treasury.

UK Government branding

The grant recipient shall at all times during and following the end of the funding period:

• comply with requirements of the branding manual in relation to the funded activities
• cease use of the ‘Funded by UK Government’ logo on demand if directed to do so by DHSC

The branding manual is the HM Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s ‘Funded by UK Government Branding Manual’ available at the Government Communication Service Branding page. This branding manual was first published by the Cabinet Office in November 2022 and includes any subsequent updates.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Simon Reeve

Deputy Director - Public Health Systems, Department of Health and Social Care

Grant conditions

1. In this determination:

• ‘an authority’ means an upper tier or unitary local authority identified in annex B
• ‘upper tier and unitary local authorities’ means:
  • a county council in England
  • a district council in England, other than a council for a district in a county for which there is a county council
  • a London borough council
  • the Council of the Isles of Scilly
  • the Common Council of the City of London
• ‘DHSC’ means the Department of Health and Social Care
• ‘financial year’ means a period of 12 months ending 31 March 2027
• ‘NHS body’ means an NHS body within the meaning of section 75 of the National Health Service Act 2006
• ‘grant’ means the amounts set out in annex B, including the total consolidated public health grant allocation, which comprises the ring-fenced smoking cessation and drug and alcohol funding totals and rest of the grant
• ‘rest of the grant’ means all funding in addition to the ring-fenced smoking cessation and drug and alcohol funding

Use of the grant

2. Pursuant to section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State hereby determines that the grant shall be paid towards expenditure incurred, or to be incurred, by upper tier and unitary local authorities in the financial year 2026 to 2027. The relevant authorities are shown in annex B.

3. Within the grant, there are ring-fenced funding totals for smoking cessation and drug and alcohol services. Authorities are required to spend the allocated funding for smoking cessation and drug and alcohol services as specified in annex B.

4. Subject to paragraph 6, the rest of the grant must be used only for meeting eligible expenditure incurred or to be incurred by an authority for the purposes of their public health functions as specified in section 73B(2) of the National Health Service Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).

5. The functions mentioned in that subsection are:

(a) functions under section 2B, 111 or 249 of, or schedule 1 to, the 2006 Act

(b) functions by virtue of section 6C of the 2006 Act

(c) the Secretary of State’s public health functions exercised by authorities in pursuance of arrangements under section 7A of the 2006 Act

(d) the functions of an authority under section 325 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (co-operating with the police, the probation service and the prison service to assess the risks posed by violent or sexual offenders)

(e) such other functions relating to public health as may be prescribed

Consolidated grant

6. An authority may use the grant to contribute to a fund made up of:

(a) contributions by the authority from both the grant and other sources of funding - for example, from other authority funding - or from payments made by a private sector or the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector organisation; or

(b) contributions by the authority and one or more of any of the following bodies:

(i) another authority

(ii) an NHS or other public body

(iii) a private sector or VCSE sector organisation

provided the conditions specified in paragraph 7 are met.

7. The conditions referred to in paragraph 6 are that:

(a) the fund must be one out of which payments are made towards expenditure incurred in the exercise of, or for the purposes of, the functions described in paragraph 4

(b) if payments are made out of the fund towards expenditure on other functions of the authority or the functions of an NHS body, other public body, or a private sector or private sector or VCSE sector organisation, the authority must be of opinion that those functions have a significant effect on public health or have a significant effect on, or in connection with, the exercise of the functions described in paragraph 4

(c) the authority must be satisfied that, having regard to the contribution from the grant, the total expenditure to be met from the fund and the public health benefit to be derived from the use of the fund, the arrangements provide value for money

8. An authority must, in using the grant, have regard to the need to reduce inequalities between the people in its area with respect to the benefits that they can obtain from that part of the health service provided in exercise of the functions referred to in paragraph 4.

9. The grant will only be paid to authorities to support eligible expenditure. Any grant funding carried forward to the following year is governed by the grant conditions.

10. All authorities are expected to participate in and support public health peer reviews as part of their best value duty to secure continuous improvement in how they carry out their work.

11. For the ring-fenced smoking cessation funding and drug and alcohol funding, the following conditions apply:

Smoking cessation funding

12. The ring-fenced smoking cessation funding must be used for the purposes of providing smoking cessation services to support smokers to quit and is the minimum amount that must be spent on this provision. Authorities should not use this funding to replace programmes in NHS in-patient and maternity settings. This funding should not be used for wider tobacco control activity, such as enforcement, smoking or vaping youth prevention activity.

13. Authorities should deliver increases in the number of people setting a quit date and 4 week quits. Activity should be reported in the stop smoking services collection.

14. Any authority achieving less than 5% of their smoking population setting quit dates, as set out in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s NG209 guideline and National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training guidance, must submit a self-assessment audit within the financial year to DHSC (guidance on self-assessment to be provided by DHSC). For those achieving 5% or above, the audit is recommended but not mandatory.

Drug and alcohol funding

15. The ring-fenced drug and alcohol funding must be used solely for the purposes of commissioning and providing drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery related services and is the minimum amount that must be spent on this provision.

16. In using the drug and alcohol funding, an authority must have regard to the need to improve the take-up of, and outcomes from, its drug and alcohol misuse treatment services. This should be based on an assessment of local need and ensure equity of access to guideline-recommended medicines and interventions, including residential treatment.

17. Authorities must provide DHSC annually with a comprehensive prevention, treatment and recovery plan for agreement, based on the assessment of local need and which has been developed with local health, housing, employment, children and families, and criminal justice partners.

18. An authority’s annual plan should reflect where current allocation is made up by one or more of the following funding components:

• in-patient detoxification
• individual placement and support
• rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment
• housing support

Eligible expenditure

19. Eligible and ineligible expenditure set out in paragraphs 20 to 23 below is not an exhaustive list and is not intended to be a complete description of what is permissible or otherwise under eligible expenditure terms. Eligible expenditure means expenditure incurred by an authority or any person acting on behalf of an authority, between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027, for the purpose of carrying out the public health functions referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5. It may include fees charged or to be charged to the authority by external auditors and/or accountants for reporting or certifying that the grant paid was applied for its intended purposes.

20. If an authority incurs any of the following costs, those costs must be excluded from eligible expenditure:

a) contributions in kind

b) payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature

c) depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets owned by the authority

d) input VAT reclaimable by the authority from HM Revenue and Customs

e) interest payments or service charge payments for finance leases

f) gifts, other than promotional items, with a value of no more than £10 in a year to any one person subject to the exception in paragraph 21

g) entertaining (entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations)

h) statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties

21. Expenditure on promotional items in fulfilment of the authority’s health improvement duty under section 2B of the 2006 Act such as products, goods or services which are given for health improvement purposes may form part of eligible expenditure. This could include, for example, vouchers for gym or fitness classes, nicotine patches or other expenditure that corresponds with the health improvement objectives of the grant.

22. An authority must not deliberately incur liabilities for eligible expenditure before there is an operational need for it to do so.

23. For the purpose of defining the time of payments, an authority shall account for the spend from the grant using the accrual basis of accounting (for an explanation of accrual accounting please refer to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom).

Payment arrangements

24. Grants will be paid in quarterly instalments by DHSC.

Reporting

Interim (DHSC) reporting

25. With the consolidation of the separate smoking cessation and drug and alcohol funding into the grant, the DPH is now required to complete a twice-yearly report for the ring-fenced smoking cessation and drug and alcohol funding.

26. The mid-year financial reporting template for the ring-fenced smoking cessation and drug and alcohol funding must be submitted by 30 October 2026.

27. The year-end financial reporting template must be submitted by 30 April 2027.

Revenue outturn (MHCLG) reporting

28. Each authority shall prepare a return setting out how the grant has been spent using the RO form at the end of the financial year covering the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. The DPH is required to agree their authority’s RO return alongside section 151 officers. In accordance with existing practice, the RO form will be submitted to MHCLG, and this information will be shared with DHSC. A list of the lines of expenditure (categories) that will need to be reported on is at annex C. The RO form must provide details of eligible expenditure in the period, against each relevant category.

29. The statement of assurance and grant usage must be certified by the authority’s section 151 officer and the DPH that, to the best of their knowledge, the amounts shown on the statement relate to eligible expenditure on public health and that the grant has been used for the purposes intended, as set out in this determination. Annex D shows an example of a statement of assurance and grant usage. The statement template to be completed will be issued separately to authorities in advance of the date for completion. The submission date will align with the date of the RO submission to MHCLG that should be certified by the section 151 officer and the DPH.

30. The Secretary of State may require further external validation to be carried out by an appropriately qualified independent accountant or auditor of the use of the grant where the RO return referred to in paragraph 29 above fails to provide sufficient assurance to the Secretary of State that the grant has been used in accordance with these conditions. The cost of such an action will be borne by the authority and in this circumstance would be classified as eligible expenditure in accordance with paragraph 19.

31. While the grant should not be used for interest or service charge payments or finance leases, it can be used for capital spend on items that do not entail borrowing or a finance lease. Capital expenditure should be noted as a Capital Expenditure from Revenue Account (CERA) payment on the RO form and details provided on the Capital Outturn Return (COR) form issued by the MHCLG. Further guidance will be supplied with the forms that are distributed by MHCLG.

Financial management

32. Each authority must maintain a robust system of internal financial controls and inform DHSC promptly of any significant financial control issues raised by its internal auditors in relation to the use of the grant.

33. If an authority identifies any overpayment of the grant, the authority must repay this amount within 30 days of it coming to their attention.

34. If an authority has any grounds for suspecting financial irregularity in the use of any grant paid under this funding agreement, it must notify DHSC immediately, explain what steps are being taken to investigate the suspicion and keep DHSC informed about the progress of the investigation. For these purposes ‘financial irregularity’ includes fraud or other impropriety, mismanagement and the use of the grant for purposes other than those for which it was provided.

External audit arrangements

35. Appointed auditors are responsible for auditing the financial statements of each authority and for reaching a conclusion on an authority’s overall arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources. The use of, and accounting for, the grant and the arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in doing so fall within the scope of the work that appointed auditors may plan to carry out, having regard to the risk of material error in the authority’s accounts and significance.

Records to be kept

36. Each authority must maintain reliable, accessible and up-to-date accounting records with an adequate audit trail for all expenditure funded by grant monies under this determination.

37. Each authority and any person acting on behalf of an authority must allow: a) the Comptroller and Auditor General or appointed representatives and b) the Secretary of State or appointed representatives free access at all reasonable times to all documents (including computerised documents and data) and other information as is connected to the grant payable under this determination, or to the purposes for which grant was used, subject to the provisions in paragraph 39.

38. The documents, data and information referred to in paragraph 37 are such as the Secretary of State or the Comptroller and Auditor General may reasonably require for the purposes of the Secretary of State’s or the Comptroller and Auditor General’s financial audit or that any department or other public body may reasonably require for the purposes of carrying out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which any department or other public body has used its resources. An authority must provide such further explanations as are reasonably required for these purposes.

39. Paragraphs 37 and 38 do not constitute a requirement for the examination, certification or inspection of the accounts of an authority by the Comptroller and Auditor General under section 6(3) of the National Audit Act 1983. The Comptroller and Auditor General will seek access in a measured manner to minimise any burden on the authority and will avoid duplication of effort by seeking and sharing information with the Audit Commission.

Breach of conditions and recovery of grant

40. If an authority fails to comply with any of these conditions, including in its actual or planned spending (through its decision-making or accounting practices) prior to submission of the RO form, or any overpayment is made under this grant, or any amount is paid in error, or if an authority’s section 151 officer and DPH are unable to provide reasonable assurance that the RO form, in all material respects, fairly presents the eligible expenditure, in the relevant period, in accordance with the definitions and conditions in this determination, or any information provided is incorrect, the Secretary of State may reduce, suspend or withhold grant payments or require the repayment of the whole or any part of the grant monies paid, as may be determined by the Secretary of State and notified in writing to the authority. Such sum as has been notified will immediately become repayable to the Secretary of State who may set off the sum against any future amount due to the authority from central government.

Underspends

41. If there are funds left over at the end of the financial year, they can be carried forward into the next financial year. Funds carried forward should be accounted for in a ring-fenced public health reserve. All the conditions that apply to the use of the grant will continue to apply to any funds carried forward. Any underspend from the smoking cessation and drug and alcohol ring-fenced funding will be held in the public health reserve and will be used on these services only. Where there are large underspends, DHSC reserves the right to reduce allocations in future years.

Reserves

42. Ring-fenced reserves should be accounted for under 3 categories:

• smoking cessation funding
• drug and alcohol funding
• the rest of the grant funding

Annex B: public health allocations for 2026 to 2027

Table 1: local authority grant allocations

Ecode	Class	Local authority name	Financial year 2026 to 2027: total consolidated allocation (£)	Of which is drug and alcohol protected funding total (£)	Of which is smoking cessation protected funding total (£)
E5030	LB	Barking and Dagenham	21,741,058	3,264,480	622,028
E5031	LB	Barnet	22,675,935	4,300,797	731,161
E4401	MD	Barnsley	22,878,134	6,517,727	826,730
E0101	UA	Bath and North East Somerset	12,739,369	3,671,145	557,367
E0202	UA	Bedford	12,269,716	3,316,995	524,114
E5032	LB	Bexley	12,810,849	3,074,705	550,006
E4601	MD	Birmingham	124,686,113	31,083,211	3,367,602
E2301	UA	Blackburn with Darwen	20,138,933	5,853,410	451,175
E2302	UA	Blackpool	26,030,652	8,266,329	746,048
E4201	MD	Bolton	29,939,925	7,150,996	579,281
E1203	UA	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	27,485,170	8,976,682	935,321
E0301	UA	Bracknell Forest	5,546,166	1,120,252	329,171
E4701	MD	Bradford	57,955,755	13,341,973	1,408,919
E5033	LB	Brent	28,541,794	7,221,186	525,727
E1401	UA	Brighton and Hove	29,751,331	10,473,255	834,107
E0102	UA	Bristol, City of	46,671,750	17,845,411	1,164,592
E5034	LB	Bromley	18,514,323	2,855,470	391,008
E0402	UA	Buckinghamshire	27,676,308	5,708,921	1,176,284
E4202	MD	Bury	15,676,900	3,375,833	427,412
E4702	MD	Calderdale	17,341,916	4,721,643	787,368
E0521	SC	Cambridgeshire	35,630,826	8,178,822	2,054,853
E5011	LB	Camden	37,082,670	10,861,169	927,534
E0203	UA	Central Bedfordshire	16,778,832	4,167,986	788,341
E0603	UA	Cheshire East	21,254,981	3,676,977	588,354
E0604	UA	Cheshire West and Chester	21,445,989	4,382,289	890,515
E5010	LB	City of London	6,249,714	4,632,092	77,587
E0801	UA	Cornwall	36,292,496	11,716,014	1,225,477
E1302	UA	County Durham	66,032,972	12,198,452	2,653,707
E4602	MD	Coventry	29,515,112	6,628,016	1,035,241
E5035	LB	Croydon	29,905,214	5,858,853	792,790
E4707	UA	Cumberland Council	15,486,193	4,423,916	468,880
E1301	UA	Darlington	11,679,524	3,164,804	288,849
E1001	UA	Derby	27,694,279	8,890,193	654,475
E1021	SC	Derbyshire	55,463,408	11,766,733	2,660,076
E1121	SC	Devon	37,669,372	8,375,360	2,515,438
E4402	MD	Doncaster	33,702,416	10,466,210	1,235,195
E1239	UA	Dorset	18,924,409	5,042,859	877,205
E4603	MD	Dudley	27,481,066	5,592,211	864,240
E5036	LB	Ealing	35,061,994	9,108,583	771,772
E2001	UA	East Riding of Yorkshire	14,892,874	4,166,329	714,706
E1421	SC	East Sussex	37,233,173	9,931,949	1,683,210
E5037	LB	Enfield	23,026,100	5,664,931	555,421
E1521	SC	Essex	81,786,608	16,672,180	3,814,859
E4501	MD	Gateshead	22,506,502	6,589,961	686,063
E1620	SC	Gloucestershire	31,777,408	8,264,107	1,550,913
E5012	LB	Greenwich	30,268,372	5,205,488	784,243
E5013	LB	Hackney	46,186,546	9,880,704	1,103,424
E0601	UA	Halton	13,249,928	2,809,359	497,353
E5014	LB	Hammersmith and Fulham	28,139,443	6,207,090	564,160
E1721	SC	Hampshire	68,867,026	14,660,141	3,826,613
E5038	LB	Haringey	28,893,866	7,829,978	760,302
E5039	LB	Harrow	14,251,158	2,535,136	457,639
E0701	UA	Hartlepool	12,069,011	4,319,136	205,803
E5040	LB	Havering	14,623,412	2,317,091	437,793
E1801	UA	Herefordshire, County of	12,186,826	2,811,987	369,011
E1920	SC	Hertfordshire	65,024,421	13,119,023	2,486,994
E5041	LB	Hillingdon	23,439,985	5,074,992	558,602
E5042	LB	Hounslow	20,861,579	3,966,996	912,819
E2101	UA	Isle of Wight	9,941,713	2,473,443	385,483
E4001	UA	Isles of Scilly	155,946	0	3,840
E5015	LB	Islington	36,607,791	10,957,337	887,722
E5016	LB	Kensington and Chelsea	26,930,872	6,719,745	649,477
E2221	SC	Kent	91,287,022	16,872,492	4,054,765
E2002	UA	Kingston upon Hull, City of	34,313,046	11,677,112	1,186,166
E5043	LB	Kingston upon Thames	13,690,761	3,149,761	283,110
E4703	MD	Kirklees	34,852,429	9,643,562	1,257,230
E4301	MD	Knowsley	22,915,314	4,794,262	899,364
E5017	LB	Lambeth	43,871,109	9,490,097	1,064,398
E2321	SC	Lancashire	95,364,183	28,265,571	4,247,137
E4704	MD	Leeds	65,694,770	24,940,222	1,733,832
E2401	UA	Leicester	37,933,831	9,861,160	1,059,643
E2421	SC	Leicestershire	33,109,798	6,669,689	1,464,091
E5018	LB	Lewisham	33,380,218	6,538,266	1,024,441
E2520	SC	Lincolnshire	44,953,278	10,395,646	2,860,246
E4302	MD	Liverpool	63,709,993	23,590,817	1,798,950
E0201	UA	Luton	20,599,277	6,724,878	964,218
E4203	MD	Manchester	72,700,962	18,391,670	1,514,512
E2201	UA	Medway	22,686,450	4,259,774	901,789
E5044	LB	Merton	14,014,394	2,299,629	413,206
E0702	UA	Middlesbrough	24,040,964	9,110,592	563,477
E0401	UA	Milton Keynes	15,704,941	3,423,217	731,208
E4502	MD	Newcastle upon Tyne	33,323,630	10,117,153	1,105,114
E5045	LB	Newham	41,338,519	8,168,778	838,328
E2620	SC	Norfolk	54,591,417	13,900,816	2,450,579
E2003	UA	North East Lincolnshire	15,850,347	4,525,032	677,169
E2004	UA	North Lincolnshire	12,506,104	3,410,254	534,547
E8061	UA	North Northamptonshire	22,981,993	5,656,789	948,892
E0104	UA	North Somerset	12,725,362	3,212,515	584,938
E4503	MD	North Tyneside	16,404,925	4,375,539	345,719
E2721	UA	North Yorkshire	28,585,812	6,774,328	1,426,705
E2901	UA	Northumberland	22,027,609	6,458,175	914,068
E3001	UA	Nottingham	46,027,984	12,707,257	1,215,957
E3021	SC	Nottinghamshire	55,830,781	15,303,783	2,895,674
E4204	MD	Oldham	22,599,719	5,340,148	680,030
E3120	SC	Oxfordshire	41,980,812	11,515,438	1,322,686
E0501	UA	Peterborough	16,454,402	5,222,650	624,000
E1101	UA	Plymouth	21,878,225	7,309,263	1,060,521
E1701	UA	Portsmouth	24,398,127	6,158,634	815,314
E0303	UA	Reading	13,693,115	4,119,674	366,834
E5046	LB	Redbridge	18,180,555	4,556,108	621,808
E0703	UA	Redcar and Cleveland	15,791,904	4,321,671	456,118
E5047	LB	Richmond upon Thames	12,269,601	2,250,091	304,222
E4205	MD	Rochdale	24,070,564	5,756,199	784,762
E4403	MD	Rotherham	22,681,196	5,643,432	898,386
E2402	UA	Rutland	1,686,987	278,372	64,576
E4206	MD	Salford	29,389,326	7,258,765	1,070,602
E4604	MD	Sandwell	32,649,088	5,585,216	1,294,890
E4304	MD	Sefton	29,838,050	8,729,215	969,489
E4404	MD	Sheffield	47,335,984	15,518,182	1,496,092
E3202	UA	Shropshire	17,029,761	5,414,684	403,330
E0304	UA	Slough	10,354,860	2,685,878	428,858
E4605	MD	Solihull	14,942,503	3,870,605	610,386
E3320	SC	Somerset	27,826,521	7,684,514	1,482,933
E0103	UA	South Gloucestershire	12,461,843	3,160,023	542,590
E4504	MD	South Tyneside	17,484,680	4,262,721	584,866
E1702	UA	Southampton	24,035,157	7,758,610	1,169,380
E1501	UA	Southend-on-Sea	12,771,520	4,061,809	380,952
E5019	LB	Southwark	37,837,951	8,839,988	581,687
E4303	MD	St. Helens	20,197,936	5,501,634	679,244
E3421	SC	Staffordshire	51,369,927	9,391,540	1,661,032
E4207	MD	Stockport	20,724,148	4,780,669	863,006
E0704	UA	Stockton-on-Tees	19,844,482	6,514,423	624,277
E3401	UA	Stoke-on-Trent	32,050,408	8,732,986	807,441
E3520	SC	Suffolk	39,023,959	9,046,360	2,697,224
E4505	MD	Sunderland	32,029,991	8,281,917	1,082,971
E3620	SC	Surrey	49,750,188	12,356,996	1,843,220
E5048	LB	Sutton	12,707,901	2,350,040	230,862
E3901	UA	Swindon	13,172,610	3,242,129	486,332
E4208	MD	Tameside	20,569,686	5,534,176	845,273
E3201	UA	Telford and Wrekin	15,999,107	2,978,997	519,039
E1502	UA	Thurrock	14,331,080	1,840,187	533,544
E1102	UA	Torbay	12,974,656	3,910,096	536,361
E5020	LB	Tower Hamlets	47,355,706	11,509,986	1,007,424
E4209	MD	Trafford	16,109,500	2,916,760	306,539
E4705	MD	Wakefield	33,569,290	8,502,214	1,437,587
E4606	MD	Walsall	23,449,388	4,981,184	804,130
E5049	LB	Waltham Forest	21,389,200	4,308,189	603,548
E5021	LB	Wandsworth	36,061,866	6,250,334	537,948
E0602	UA	Warrington	15,954,109	3,197,895	603,030
E3720	SC	Warwickshire	29,844,233	5,688,062	1,206,037
E0302	UA	West Berkshire	7,544,573	1,292,950	294,657
E2802	UA	West Northamptonshire	25,267,808	6,655,458	971,729
E3820	SC	West Sussex	46,153,762	10,875,095	1,660,875
E5022	LB	Westminster	42,106,696	9,930,865	1,092,698
E4708	UA	Westmorland and Furness	9,988,282	2,710,361	302,948
E4210	MD	Wigan	35,213,604	9,504,973	913,470
E3902	UA	Wiltshire	22,924,032	4,459,268	1,004,985
E0305	UA	Windsor and Maidenhead	6,064,114	1,202,697	240,802
E4305	MD	Wirral	41,024,364	12,249,631	1,170,059
E0306	UA	Wokingham	6,862,943	966,873	230,777
E4607	MD	Wolverhampton	28,621,803	7,332,986	496,872
E1821	SC	Worcestershire	39,768,529	7,000,842	947,340
E2701	UA	York	10,416,727	3,020,259	404,451

Local authority class definitions:

• LB - London borough
• MD - metropolitan district
• SC - shire county
• UA - unitary authority

The 10 Greater Manchester local authorities (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan) will continue the business rate retention (BRR) arrangement for the core public health grant allocations. A separate grant agreement will be issued, and payment will be sent from DHSC for the allocation of the supplementary smoking cessation and drug and alcohol funding. Please refer to table 2 for this split.

Table 2: Greater Manchester grant allocations

Ecode	Class	Local authority name	Notional public health grant allocations received through BRR arrangements (£)	Section 31 grant for the additional smoking cessation and drug and alcohol funding that has been consolidated into the public health grant (£)
E4201	MD	Bolton	26,858,392	3,081,532
E4202	MD	Bury	14,407,337	1,269,563
E4203	MD	Manchester	64,206,769	8,494,193
E4204	MD	Oldham	20,354,463	2,245,256
E4205	MD	Rochdale	20,868,449	3,202,115
E4206	MD	Salford	26,145,494	3,243,832
E4207	MD	Stockport	19,377,235	1,346,913
E4208	MD	Tameside	18,680,041	1,889,645
E4209	MD	Trafford	15,389,017	720,483
E4210	MD	Wigan	31,196,880	4,016,725

Annex C: reporting categories

Categories for reporting local authority public health spend on RO 2026 to 2027.

Prescribed functions

1. Sexual health services - STI testing and treatment

2. Sexual health services - contraception

3. NHS Health Check programme

4. Local authority role in health protection

5. Public health advice to NHS commissioners

6. National Child Measurement Programme

7. Prescribed children’s 0 to 5 services

Non-prescribed functions

8. Sexual health services - advice, prevention and promotion

9. Obesity - adults

10. Obesity - children

11. Physical activity - adults

12. Physical activity - children

13. Adult drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services and commissioning

14. Adult drug and alcohol prevention

15. Children and young people specialist substance use services and prevention

16. Stop smoking services and interventions

17. Wider tobacco control

18. Children 5 to 19 public health programmes

19. Other children’s 0 to 5 services non-prescribed

20. Health at work

21. Public mental health

22. Miscellaneous - can include, but is not exclusive to:

• nutrition initiatives
• accidents prevention
• general prevention
• community safety, violence prevention and social exclusion
• dental public health
• fluoridation
• infectious disease surveillance and control
• environmental hazards protection
• seasonal death reduction initiatives
• birth defect preventions

Annex D: final statement of assurance and grant usage

This is an example for financial year 2026 to 2027. It is not for completion.

Final statement of assurance and grant usage 2026 to 2027

[Insert name of local authority]

Statement of assurance and grant usage: ring-fenced grant determination 2026 to 2027: No 31/8166

The ring-fenced public health grant, in the total amount of £[insert value] has been provided to this local authority towards expenditure incurred in the 2026 to 2027 financial year.

As the authority’s section 151 officer I can confirm:

• the grant has been applied (or, where amounts are held in the authority’s public health reserve, is planned to be applied) to discharge the public health functions set out in section 73B (2) of the National Health Service Act 2006 (as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012) in accordance with the grant conditions set out in the public health grant to local authorities grant determination 2026 to 2027: No 31/8166

• the ring-fenced smoking cessation funding has been used solely for the purposes of providing smoking cessation services to support smokers to quit and is the minimum amount that must be spent on this provision

• the ring-fenced drug and alcohol funding has been used solely for the purposes of commissioning and providing drug and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery related services and is the minimum amount that must be spent on this provision

• where funding has been combined (‘pooled’) with funds from other sources, that has been in accordance with the relevant conditions in the grant determination

• the values recorded below match the values reported on DHSC reports and the revenue outturn data submission returned to MHCLG on [insert date]:

Public health grant	Allocation	Expenditure	Movement in reserves
Smoking cessation	£[insert value]	£[insert value]	£[insert value]
Drug and alcohol	£[insert value]	£[insert value]	£[insert value]
Rest of grant	£[insert value]	£[insert value]	£[insert value]

Where the difference in allocation and expenditure does not equal movement in reserves, please advise reason.

[Insert signatures and dates of section 151 officer and director of public health]

Please also provide name and email address of a finance contact and a public health contact within your local authority that we can liaise directly with if we have any queries.