Official Statistics

Adult tier 2 weight management services: short statistical commentary April 2022

Published 28 April 2022

Applies to England

Adult tier 2 weight management services provisional data for quarter 1 to quarter 3 of the 2021 to 2022 financial year (experimental statistics): short statistical commentary April 2022.

1. Introduction

In March 2021, the government announced an additional £100 million of funding over the 2021 to 2022 financial year to support people living with excess weight and obesity to lose weight and maintain healthier lifestyles.

The adult weight management services grant (number 31/5440) distributed £30.5 million of this new funding between all local authorities in England who accepted the grant, to support the expansion of adult tier 2 behavioural weight management services commissioned by local authorities. This is part of a place-based whole systems approach to tackling obesity and promoting a healthier weight.

In order to understand the impact of this investment, any local authority in receipt of this grant funding must ensure all commissioned service providers collect data on all participants and their progress and return a minimum data set to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).

This publication provides figures for quarter 3 and updated figures for quarter 1 and quarter 2 which supersede the previous publication. Additional quarters of data will be published routinely, and previously published data will be updated as new data is retrospectively submitted.

2. Interpreting the data

This report includes data for quarter 1 to quarter 3 of the 2021 to 2022 financial year which was submitted by 18 March 2022. Services were still being commissioned and set up during this period and we expect further data to be retrospectively submitted for these time periods. Therefore, all figures in this report are provisional and are likely to be lower than when all data for 2021 to 2022 has been submitted. In some instances, no data is available for a local authority as some service providers have not yet submitted data.

In addition, some data has been submitted for services funded by the existing public health grant or where the funding stream is unknown. Therefore, the findings in this report are not restricted to services funded by the new grant (number 31/5440). This statistical commentary focuses on data from all funding sources. Table 1 in the published data shows the counts of participants by funding stream.

All tables have been updated since the last publication to include figures from October to December 2021 (quarter 3). Quarters 1 and 2 have also been updated for any data submitted following the previous publication. Figures have not yet been added to represent the number of participants followed up in each quarter at 26 weeks following the start of their interventions as few services would have reached this stage. This data will be available for subsequent publications.

In addition, new tables have been added on:

• participants by ethnicity and source of funding (table 5)
• deprivation and source of funding (table 7)
• health status and source of funding (table 11)

These tables have been produced to present the number of participants from high risk groups by source of funding. Tables have also been added that show the number of co-morbidities participants state (table 14) and the prevalence of combinations of modes of intervention (annex table A).

3. Main findings

• 25,825 participants were referred to adult tier 2 weight management services in quarters 1 to 3 of 2021 to 2022. 15,290 of these participants enrolled on services, with 2,625 completing their programme (table 4)
• of those 25,825 participants referred to services, 44% of those referred were self-referrals, and a further 31% were GP referrals. The remainder were either referrals from other health care professionals (9%), non-health professionals (4%) or the referral source was unknown (12%) (table 2)
• of those 15,290 participants enrolled on services, 61% were funded by the weight management services grant 2021 to 2022 (No. 31/5440). 32% of participants were funded by existing public health grant funding and 8% were of unknown funding (table 1)
• 68% of participants were enrolled on services with a face-to-face element of its delivery. 59% of participants were enrolled on services delivered at least in part remotely via email, social media, telephone, text or video call. 10% of participants were on digital services delivered by technology such as apps and websites (table 3).
• 27% of all enrolments to adult tier 2 weight management services lived in the most deprived 20% of areas in England (table 7)
• 29% of those enrolled were in the obesity III BMI category (≥40 kg/m²), 26% in obesity II (35 to <40 kg/m²) and 31% in obesity I (30 to <35 kg/m²). A further 11% of participants were overweight (25 to <30 kg/m²) and 2% were a healthy weight (18.5 to <25 kg/m²) (table 15)
• adult weight management outcome measures (table 17) show that 59% of all participants referred to services led to enrolments, with 45% of those enrolled from high risk groups. 33% of those enrolled completed at least 75% of their active intervention. 37% of participants had lost weight by the end of their service, with 14% having lost at least 5% of their initial body weight
• tables also show counts of participants in adult tier 2 weight management services by variables such as demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, health status, and commissioning local authority

4. Summary

25,825 participants were referred to adult tier 2 weight management services in quarters 1 to 3 of 2021 to 2022.15,290 of these participants enrolled on services, with 2,625 completing their programme (table 4). When broken down by quarters 1 to 3, referrals and enrolments have increased with each quarter throughout the year, with 2,210 participants referred and 1,610 enrolled in quarter one through to 15,760 referred and 8,045 enrolled in quarter 3.

4.1 Enrolments from high risk groups

High risk groups are those more likely to be overweight or obese. These groups are defined as:

• person lives in the nationally most deprived 20% of areas
• person’s ethnicity is black, Asian or minority ethnic group
• person has a mental illness
• person has a disability (including learning disability)

14% of all enrolments in quarter 1 to 3 of 2021 to 2022 were from ethnic minority groups, with 70% white British and 16% of unknown ethnicity (table 5). 27% (4,140) of all enrolments in the same period lived in the most deprived 20% of areas in England (table 7).

12% of participants who enrolled on services in quarter 1 to 3 stated at least one disability, with 49% stating they had no disability and a further 39% of enrolled participants for whom their disability status is unknown (table 11). 1% of all enrolments were on the severe mental illness register in this period (table 11).

29% of those who enrolled on services in quarter 1 to 3 were in the obesity III BMI category (≥40 kg/m²), 26% in obesity II (35 to <40 kg/m²) and 31% in obesity I (30 to <35 kg/m²). A further 11% of participants were overweight (25 to <30 kg/m²) and 2% were a healthy weight (18.5 to <25 kg/m²) (table 15).

4.2 Type of service

Of those referred to services, 44% of those referred were self-referrals, and a further 31% were GP referrals. The remainder were either referrals from other health care professionals (9%), non-health professionals (4%) or the referral source was unknown (12%).

68% of participants were enrolled on services with a face-to-face element of its delivery, of which 19% were individual 1:1 sessions and 49% utilised group sessions. 59% of participants were enrolled on services delivered at least in part remotely via technology, such as email, social media, telephone, text or video call. The majority of these remote services were conducted individually (43%) rather than in groups (16%). 10% of participants were on services delivered by using digital technology such as apps, websites, and devices monitoring participants’ physical activity (table 3). These numbers don’t sum to 100% as two modes could be reported for each participant.

Of those enrolled on services, 61% were funded by the weight management services grant 2021 to 2022 (No. 31/5440). 32% of participants were funded by existing public health grant funding and 8% were of unknown funding (table 1).

4.3 Outcome measures

59% of all participants referred to services in quarter 1 to 3 of 2021 to 2022 were subsequently enrolled (AWM1) (table 17). 45% of participants enrolled on services in the same period are from high risk groups (AWM3). 33% of participants enrolled on adult weight management services completed the active intervention in quarter 1 to 3 (AWM2). This is defined as attending at least 75% of their intervention.

37% of all participants enrolled on adult weight management services in quarter 1 and quarter 2 lost weight at the end of their active intervention when compared to their weight at the beginning of the service (AWM4). Furthermore, 14% of participants enrolled on services lost a minimum of 5% of their body weight at the end of the active intervention in quarter 1 and quarter 2 (AWM5).

Figures are calculated where a sufficient amount of data is available to inform the outcome measure. More analysis will be added to subsequent publications as more data is collected for 2021 to 2022.

4.4 Other tables

Data tables have been produced to show counts of participants in adult tier 2 weight management services in England split by age, gender, ethnic group, sexual orientation, religion, local authority and region, employment status, and index of multiple deprivation decile of residence. Tables are also included that show counts of participants by stated disabilities and co-morbidities as well as the type of weight management intervention. These variables have been included in the data collection to further help assess access to services from high risk groups.

The data tables cover the following periods:

• April to June 2021 (quarter 1)
• July to September 2021 (quarter 2)
• October to December 2021 (quarter 3)

Additional quarters of data will be published routinely, and previously published data will be updated as new data is retrospectively submitted.

Information will be included in later publications on maintenance of weight loss when the service has finished, informing the outcome measure AWM6. This will be available for different population groups and weight management intervention types.

At this stage the data are provisional and published as experimental statistics. OHID are seeking feedback on the data tables from users and stakeholders to improve the quality and useability of the data. We welcome any feedback via adults-weight-management-data@phe.gov.uk.

5. Background

Further information about this publication and the data used:

• Guidance on the data collection is available in the minimum data set technical guidance document
• Further information on the adult tier 2 weight management services grant for local authorities is available in this OHID guidance
• For more information on experimental statistics see the Office for National Statistics Guide to Experimental Statistics

Responsible statisticians, product leads: Caroline Hancock, Rory Bott.

For queries or comments relating to this document and accompanying data tables, please contact: adults-weight-management-data@phe.gov.uk