Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Deferred
Prioritise funding and support for local preventative services to reduce acute service demand.
Conclusion
The Ministry must prioritise funding and support for local preventative services to fix the foundations, reduce the demand for acute services, and bring down costs in the longer term. (Recommendation, Paragraph 50)
Government Response Summary
The government detailed funding allocated at the Autumn Budget 2024 to support the public sector with increased employer National Insurance Contributions, rather than committing to prioritising new funding specifically for local preventative services.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
40. At autumn Budget 2024, the Government set aside funding to support the public sector with the additional cost of employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs). The total support funding for the whole of the public sector amounted to £4.7 billion in 2025–26, inclusive of Barnett consequentials (the Barnett formula was applied in the normal way to changes in UK Government department budgets). This funding was based on an estimate of the proportion of employer NICs receipts paid by public sector organisations, using the Office for National Statistics’ classification of the public sector boundary. This approach to estimating the cost of similar measures for public sector organisations is in line with the approach taken under the previous government. The total £4.7 billion support funding in 2025–26 (including Barnett consequentials) was allocated to departments and other public sector employers at Main Estimates 2025–26 based on each employer’s total share of headcount, wage and salary costs.