LGA updates guidance on local authority public health responsibilities

The publication, Councillors' guide to local authority public health responsibilities, has been updated to reflect the 2026/27 public health grant settlement, the Government's 10 Year Health Plan and Neighbourhood Health Framework.

The guide sets out councils' statutory responsibilities for improving the health of local populations, funding arrangements for public health services, and the relationship between local government duties and national health policy developments.

It notes that local authorities in England will receive £4.404bn through the public health grant in 2026/27, up from £3.884bn in 2025/26, marking the first multi-year public health grant settlement in a decade.

Meanwhile, the guidance outlines prescribed public health functions that councils are required to commission or provide, including NHS Health Checks, health visiting and school nursing services, sexual health services, drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, smoking cessation services, oral health improvement programmes and local health protection arrangements.

The publication highlights a significant expansion of the role of health and wellbeing boards (HWBs) under the Government's Neighbourhood Health Framework.

HWBs are statutory committees of upper-tier and unitary local authorities. They bring together senior leaders from local government, the NHS, Healthwatch and other partners to improve the health and wellbeing of their local population.

According to the guidance, HWBs will be expected to play a “central convening role” in the development of local neighbourhood health plans, working alongside integrated care boards and other system partners.

The guide states that during 2026/27, HWBs must work with communities, health and care organisations and wider partners to establish “whole life-course outcome measures for neighbourhood health in their area”.

The measures will form the basis for local Neighbourhood Health Plans to be developed by 2027/28.

The LGA said: “This represents a material expansion of the HWB's strategic role and is one of the most significant policy developments affecting local public health in recent years.”

Detailing the abolition of NHS England - the arm's-length body responsible for overseeing the NHS in England and allocating resources to the system - the guidance states that its functions will be “absorbed into DHSC”.

It adds: “This is a major centralisation of NHS oversight and will significantly reduce the scale of NHS management infrastructure at national level.”

The LGA noted that the guide will continue to be updated as the policy landscape evolves.

Lottie Winson