Guidance

Public health ring-fenced grant financial year 2024 to 2025: local authority circular

Updated 17 December 2024

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-health-grants-to-local-authorities-2024-to-2025/public-health-ring-fenced-grant-financial-year-2024-to-2025-local-authority-circular

This circular sets out:

  • allocations of the local government public health grant for the financial year 2024 to 2025
  • the conditions that will apply to that grant
  • guidance intended to assist local authorities

Background

In the financial year 2024 to 2025, the total public health grant to local authorities will be £3.660 billion.

The grant allocations have been updated to include the additional in-year cost impact of the NHS pay awards for health services commissioned by local authorities and funded through the public health grant. The funding will be paid through an uplift to their quarter 4 public health grant payment. For the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities, they will receive a one-off public health grant payment for this pay uplift.

We published indicative allocations for 2024 to 2025 alongside the 2023 to 2024 public health grant allocations to provide local authorities with greater certainty to plan ahead.

In February 2024 we published the confirmed allocations for 2024 to 2025, which comprised the published indicative allocations for 2024 to 2025 with an uplift for the additional recurrent pay pressures due to the 2023 to 2024 consolidated NHS Agenda for Change pay award. This has now been updated to also include the additional cost impact of the NHS pay awards for 2024 to 2025 (as set out in Annex B).

The grant will be 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 authorities in the amounts indicated for the financial year 2024 to 2025.

This circular is accompanied by 4 annexes:

  • Annex A: public health ring-fenced grant determination and conditions 2024 to 2025
  • Annex B: public health grant allocations for 2024 to 2025
  • Annex C: public health reporting categories for 2024 to 2025
  • Annex D: assurance letter

The grant

The 2024 to 2025 grant will be paid in quarterly instalments:

  • quarter 1: 5 April 2024

  • quarter 2: 5 July 2024

  • quarter 3: 4 October 2024

  • quarter 4: 3 January 2025

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 in annex A and are unchanged from 2023 to 2024. 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.

The department’s presumption is that the grant will be spent in-year. If at the end of the financial year there is any underspend, local authorities may carry these over, as part of a public health reserve, into the next financial year. In using those funds the next year, local authorities will still need to comply with the grant conditions. The department may consider reducing future grant amounts to local authorities that report significant and repeated underspends.

Reporting of grant expenditure

Local authorities will need to forecast and report against the sub-categories in the Revenue Account (RA) and Revenue Outturn (RO) returns to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which will share data with DHSC. The main and primary purpose of all spend from the grant is public health.

Given that the RO return is used as a way of monitoring the usage of the grant, it is important that both the finance contacts and public health teams responsible for this section of financing are content with the figures submitted. Local authorities will need to ensure that the figures are verified and in line with the purpose set out in the grant conditions. A list of the reporting categories is at annex C. Local authorities’ chief executives (or section 151 officers) and directors of public health will also need to return a statement confirming that the grant has been spent in accordance with the conditions. The required statement is at annex D.

Year-end reporting

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

The full value of the grant must be accounted for in the 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 other sources than the ring-fenced grant, and such income is recorded on the RO return as public health, then the corresponding expenditure should also be recorded as public health, and any income not spent at the 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 on how activity should be recorded against the sub-categories.

Enquiries

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

Annex A: determination under section 31 of the local government act 2003 of a ring-fenced public health grant to local authorities for 2024 to 2025

Public health ring-fenced grant determination 2024 to 2025: No 31/7057

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 ring-fenced grant determination 2024 to 2025: No 31/7057’.

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 4 to 5 below under ‘Grant conditions’.

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 the ‘Grant conditions’, ‘Reporting’ and ‘Financial management’ sections below.

The ring-fence on the grant will remain in 2024 to 2025.

Determination

The Secretary of State determines the authorities to which the grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid in the financial year 2024 to 2025. The authorities and the amounts for the financial year 2024 to 2025 are set out in the exposition book.

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

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

Simon Reeve

Deputy Director - Public Health Systems and Workforce, 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
  • ‘the department’ means DHSC
  • ‘financial year’ means a period of 12 months ending 31 March 2025
  • ‘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 the ‘Public health ring-fenced grant determination 2024 to 2025’
  • ‘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

Use of the grant

2. Pursuant to section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State hereby determines that the public health grant shall be paid towards expenditure incurred, or to be incurred, by upper tier and unitary local authorities in the financial year 2024 to 2025. The relevant authorities are shown in the exposition book.

3. Subject to paragraph 5, the grant must be used only for meeting eligible expenditure incurred or to be incurred by local authorities for the purposes of their public health functions as specified in Section 73B(2) of the National Health Service Act 2006 (‘the 2006 act’).

4. 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 local authorities in pursuance of arrangements under section 7A of the 2006 act

(d) the functions of a local 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

5. A local authority may use the grant to contribute to a fund made up of:

(a) contributions by the authority from both the public health grant and other sources of funding, for example, from other local authority funding, or from payments made by a private sector or 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 local authority

(ii) an NHS or other public body

(iii) a private sector or VCSE sector organisation

provided the conditions specified in paragraph 6 are met.

6. The conditions referred to in paragraph 5 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 3

(b) if payments are made out of the fund towards expenditure on other functions of a local authority or the functions of an NHS body, other public body, or a 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 3

(c) the authority must be satisfied that, having regard to the contribution from the public health 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

7. A local 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 3
  • have regard to the need to improve the take up of, and outcomes from, its drug and alcohol misuse treatment services, based on an assessment of local need and a plan which has been developed with local health and criminal justice partners

8. The public health grant will only be paid to local authorities to support eligible expenditure. Grant carried over to the following year is governed by the grant conditions.

Eligible expenditure

9. Eligible expenditure means expenditure incurred by an authority or any person acting on behalf of an authority, between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, for the purposes of carrying out the public health functions referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4.

10. 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 11

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

11. Expenditure on promotional items in fulfilment of the local 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 which corresponds with the health improvement objectives of the public health grant.

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

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

Payment arrangements

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

Reporting

End-of year reporting

15. 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 2024 to 31 March 2025. In accordance with existing practice, this will be submitted to MHCLG, which will share the information with DHSC. A list of the lines of expenditure (categories) that will need to be reported on is attached at annex C. The RO form must provide details of eligible expenditure in the period, against each relevant category.

16. The returns must be certified by the authority’s chief executive (or the authority’s s151 officer) and the director of public health 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. Chief executives have been provided with a statement of assurance for their signature at annex D. This should be submitted to DHSC at phgfinance@dhsc.gov.uk.

17. The Secretary of State may require a 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 16 above fails to provide sufficient assurance to the Secretary of State that the grant has been used in accordance with these conditions.

18. 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 payment on the RO form and details provided on the Capital Outturn Return form issued by MHCLG. Further guidance will be supplied with the forms that MHCLG send out.

19. In accordance with existing practice, local authorities should send the RO to MHCLG.

Financial management

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

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

22. If an authority has any grounds for suspecting financial irregularity in the use of any grant paid under this funding agreement, it must notify the DHSC immediately, explain what steps are being taken to investigate the suspicion and keep the department 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

23. 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 public health 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

24. 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.

25. 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 27.

26. The documents, data and information referred to in paragraph 25 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.

27. Paragraphs 25 and 26 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

28. If an authority fails to comply with any of these conditions, or any overpayment is made under this grant, or any amount is paid in error, or if an authority’s chief executive or s151 officer and director of public health 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

29. If there are funds left over at the end of the financial year they can be carried over into the next financial year. Funds carried over 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 over. However, where there are large underspends, the department reserves the right to reduce allocations in future years.

Annex B: public health allocations to unitary and upper tier local authorities in England for the financial year 2024 to 2025

Ecode Class Local authority FY 2024 to 2025 (£)
E5030 LB Barking and Dagenham 19,065,347
E5031 LB Barnet 19,694,321
E4401 MD Barnsley 18,720,769
E0101 UA Bath and North East Somerset 10,273,817
E0202 UA Bedford 10,001,860
E5032 LB Bexley 11,153,374
E4601 MD Birmingham 102,998,817
E2301 UA Blackburn with Darwen 16,390,210
E2302 UA Blackpool 20,396,057
E4201 MD Bolton 24,778,442
E1204 UA Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 22,083,478
E0301 UA Bracknell Forest 4,731,224
E4701 MD Bradford 46,800,408
E5033 LB Brent 24,710,803
E1401 UA Brighton and Hove 23,070,384
E0102 UA Bristol, City of 36,649,821
E5034 LB Bromley 16,529,567
E0402 UA Buckinghamshire 24,203,918
E4202 MD Bury 13,316,330
E4702 MD Calderdale 14,806,988
E0521 SC Cambridgeshire 30,436,799
E5011 LB Camden 30,854,296
E0203 UA Central Bedfordshire 14,325,907
E0603 UA Cheshire East 18,626,715
E0604 UA Cheshire West and Chester 18,291,705
E5010 LB City of London 1,811,857
E0801 UA Cornwall 28,354,047
E1302 UA County Durham 55,024,898
E4602 MD Coventry 24,846,035
E5035 LB Croydon 24,651,294
E0901 UA Cumberland Council 12,644,758
E1301 UA Darlington 9,539,868
E1001 UA Derby 22,311,955
E1021 SC Derbyshire 47,364,258
E1121 SC Devon 31,621,791
E4402 MD Doncaster 27,194,800
E1203 UA Dorset 15,688,492
E4603 MD Dudley 23,723,264
E5036 LB Ealing 28,035,771
E2001 UA East Riding of Yorkshire 12,515,007
E1421 SC East Sussex 30,853,205
E5037 LB Enfield 19,384,628
E1521 SC Essex 68,857,462
E4501 MD Gateshead 18,471,373
E1620 SC Gloucestershire 27,198,837
E5012 LB Greenwich 26,106,921
E5013 LB Hackney 38,579,059
E0601 UA Halton 11,536,416
E5014 LB Hammersmith and Fulham 24,715,011
E1721 SC Hampshire 58,874,556
E5038 LB Haringey 23,213,578
E5039 LB Harrow 12,579,850
E0701 UA Hartlepool 9,795,564
E5040 LB Havering 12,554,063
E1801 UA Herefordshire, County of 10,184,328
E1920 SC Hertfordshire 55,141,000
E5041 LB Hillingdon 19,814,570
E5042 LB Hounslow 18,178,657
E2101 UA Isle of Wight 8,628,530
E4001 UA Isles of Scilly 142,120
E5015 LB Islington 30,640,445
E5016 LB Kensington and Chelsea 23,542,388
E2221 SC Kent 77,308,935
E2002 UA Kingston upon Hull, City of 26,870,697
E5043 LB Kingston upon Thames 11,722,285
E4703 MD Kirklees 28,447,958
E4301 MD Knowsley 19,320,941
E5017 LB Lambeth 36,961,151
E2321 SC Lancashire 76,651,458
E4704 MD Leeds 50,531,487
E2401 UA Leicester 30,433,308
E2421 SC Leicestershire 28,312,051
E5018 LB Lewisham 28,232,081
E2520 SC Lincolnshire 37,104,746
E4302 MD Liverpool 50,090,797
E0201 UA Luton 17,409,649
E4203 MD Manchester 59,426,822
E2201 UA Medway 19,185,876
E5044 LB Merton 11,949,463
E0702 UA Middlesbrough 18,744,472
E0401 UA Milton Keynes 13,225,543
E4502 MD Newcastle upon Tyne 26,902,694
E5045 LB Newham 34,399,862
E2620 SC Norfolk 45,456,563
E2003 UA North East Lincolnshire 12,556,572
E2004 UA North Lincolnshire 10,503,361
E2801 UA North Northamptonshire 19,341,799
E0104 UA North Somerset 10,570,897
E4503 MD North Tyneside 13,781,995
E2721 UA North Yorkshire 24,573,754
E2901 UA Northumberland 18,792,557
E3001 UA Nottingham 37,449,970
E3021 SC Nottinghamshire 46,126,995
E4204 MD Oldham 18,839,167
E3120 SC Oxfordshire 35,029,938
E0501 UA Peterborough 12,507,127
E1101 UA Plymouth 16,875,809
E1701 UA Portsmouth 19,724,474
E0303 UA Reading 11,016,207
E5046 LB Redbridge 15,695,131
E0703 UA Redcar and Cleveland 12,802,322
E5047 LB Richmond upon Thames 10,672,632
E4205 MD Rochdale 19,318,135
E4403 MD Rotherham 18,434,695
E2402 UA Rutland 1,485,364
E4206 MD Salford 24,221,638
E4604 MD Sandwell 28,140,370
E4304 MD Sefton 24,339,125
E4404 MD Sheffield 37,653,735
E3202 UA Shropshire 13,657,623
E0304 UA Slough 8,226,691
E4605 MD Solihull 12,825,172
E3301 SC Somerset 23,129,296
E0103 UA South Gloucestershire 10,463,313
E4504 MD South Tyneside 15,083,588
E1702 UA Southampton 19,141,556
E1501 UA Southend-on-Sea 10,551,716
E5019 LB Southwark 31,685,466
E4303 MD St Helens 16,155,840
E3421 SC Staffordshire 44,096,826
E4207 MD Stockport 17,955,981
E0704 UA Stockton-on-Tees 15,825,121
E3401 UA Stoke-on-Trent 25,147,825
E3520 SC Suffolk 33,250,528
E4505 MD Sunderland 26,825,275
E3620 SC Surrey 42,839,135
E5048 LB Sutton 11,132,976
E3901 UA Swindon 11,309,068
E4208 MD Tameside 17,274,072
E3201 UA Telford and Wrekin 14,101,750
E1502 UA Thurrock 12,770,647
E1102 UA Torbay 11,001,551
E5020 LB Tower Hamlets 39,507,305
E4209 MD Trafford 14,260,249
E4705 MD Wakefield 27,377,071
E4606 MD Walsall 19,953,882
E5049 LB Waltham Forest 18,017,270
E5021 LB Wandsworth 31,773,860
E0602 UA Warrington 13,887,603
E3720 SC Warwickshire 25,893,783
E0302 UA West Berkshire 6,580,818
E2802 UA West Northamptonshire 20,529,679
E3820 SC West Sussex 38,781,474
E5022 LB Westminster 35,426,746
E0902 UA Westmorland and Furness 8,350,950
E4210 MD Wigan 28,927,027
E3902 UA Wiltshire 19,152,066
E0305 UA Windsor and Maidenhead 5,240,420
E4305 MD Wirral 32,947,022
E0306 UA Wokingham 6,083,872
E4607 MD Wolverhampton 23,488,471
E1821 SC Worcestershire 33,882,180
E2701 UA York 8,905,523

Total: £3,659,792,907

Notes

  1. The 10 Greater Manchester local authorities (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan) are piloting business rate retention for public health and no longer receive a grant. The funding values quoted for these areas are notional allocations only.

  2. There is a minor one-off funding adjustment for Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council, to move £117,000 for oral health programmes from NHS to local authority public health grant allocations.

Annex C: categories

Categories for reporting local authority public health spend from 2024, that is, RA Budget 2024 to 2025 and RO 2024 to 2025.

Prescribed functions

1) Sexual health services - sexually transmitted infections 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) Treatment for drug misuse in adults

14) Treatment for alcohol misuse in adults

15) Preventing and reducing harm from drug misuse in adults

16) Preventing and reducing harm from alcohol misuse in adults

17) Specialist drug and alcohol misuse services for children and young people

18) Stop smoking services and interventions

19) Wider tobacco control

20) Children 5 to 19 public health programmes

21) Other children’s 0 to 5 services non-prescribed

22) Health at work

23) Public mental health

24) 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

25) Test, track and trace and outbreak planning

26) Other public health spend relating to COVID-19

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