The government has published the multi-year Public Health Grant allocations for local authorities in England.

This is the first three-year public health settlement in a decade.

The allocations cover one year of confirmed allocations for 2026/27 and two years of indicative allocations until 2028/29.

The Public Health Grant has been increased by £224 million in 2025/26 to help local authorities deliver public health services. The consolidated Public Health Grant will be higher in real terms every year of this Parliament than it was in 2024/25.

More than £13.4 billion is available 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.

Ashley Dalton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care said: "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."

Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor, Chair of the LGA’s Health and Wellbeing Committee, said: “The LGA has long called for an increase to the Public Health Grant, we are therefore pleased to see a real terms increase in the grant, alongside alignment with the Local Government Finance Settlement, the bringing together of key funding streams for services and continued investment in the Swap to Stop scheme.

"We support the introduction of proportionate assurance arrangements, including a sector-led public health peer review offer, to help councils demonstrate impact, share good practice, and continuously strengthen the effectiveness of local public health systems.

"Councils are committed to using this funding to continue delivering the local services that protect health, prevent illness, and reduce inequalities in our communities. However, while the introduction of multi-year allocation is positive and will give councils more stability in order to plan long-term public health programmes, public health services remain under significant pressure. To truly deliver on prevention and reduce demand on the NHS and social care, funding needs to keep pace with inflation and rising demand."