The Director of Public Health has decided to accept the award of national ringfenced additional grant funding from the Department of Health and Social Care  in the sum of £352,803 and to vary the contract with the Wirral Stop Smoking Service Provider, ABL Health Ltd, in the total sum of £316,730.70 for delivery of enhanced stop smoking support during the current financial year, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

The extra stop smoking grant funding is ringfenced for local authority led stop smoking services and support and will be used to invest in enhancing Wirral Council’s commissioned stop smoking service, ABL, and wider system support. 

This is in addition to, and whilst maintaining existing spend on this service and support from the ringfenced Public Health Grant.  To receive the funding, local authorities must maintain existing spend on stop smoking services.  The funding will not replace other/existing programmes delivered within the NHS Long Term Plan.

The funding will:

• Build additional capacity to deliver expanded local stop smoking service, ABL, and wider system support;

·  Build demand for local stop smoking service, ABL, and wider system support; and

·  Deliver increases in the number of people setting a quit date and 4 week quit outcomes, reporting outcomes in the Stop Smoking Services Collection.

The grant will be ring-fenced for use on local stop smoking services and support.  It is necessary to accept the grant to commission and upscale local offers and generate demand for stop smoking support over time and delivering quits needed to meet the ambition of being smokefree by 2030 (prevalence of 5% or less).

The decision has been taken under Part 3 Section C - Overview and Scheme of Delegations of Authority to Officers as the decision is not reserved to a Committee or Sub-Committee and the Director is satisfied that paragraphs 2(a) to 2(c) apply.

Background Papers

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stopping-the-start-our-new-plan-to-create-a-smokefree-generation/stopping-the-start-our-new-plan-to-create-a-smokefree-generation#executive-summary

Local stop smoking services and support: funding for 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK

Wirral’s response to the Khan Review 2030: Making smoking obsolete Health and Wellbeing Board, Dec 2022