Decision details

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Public Health, the purpose of which was to note and accept the increased notional Public Health budget settlement for Oldham in 2025/26.

Further, approval was sought, from the Cabinet to delegate authority to the Director of Public Health, after consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care, Health, and Wellbeing to agree all spending decisions related to, and any decisions taken in respect of procurement or contract modification activity linked to the notional Public Health budget settlement for Oldham in 2025/26.

In the 2025 to 2026 financial year, the total public health grant by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to local authorities, under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, will be £3.858 billion in total. This included the notional amounts for the 10 Greater Manchester (GM) local authorities under the business rate retention arrangement.

Oldham Council was one of the 10 GM local authorities piloting the business rate retention for public health and, therefore, no longer received a public health grant, which is why the funding values referenced in the DHSC grant award were notional allocations only. However, the impact of the business rate retention arrangement in GM is that whilst the 10 GM authorities, including Oldham, had agreed through GMCA to forgo the public health grant, each council retained higher shares of business rates.

The notional public health grant allocation for 2025/26 was confirmed as £19,853,309, which was an increase of £1,014,142 from the published allocation for 2024/25 and which corresponded to a per-head allocation of £81.19.

The notional public health grant settlement for Oldham will be received from the GM business rate retention arrangement rather than through the public health grant. Therefore, as a result, the GM authorities would not be subject to all the terms and conditions of the public health grant, as imposed by the DHSC.

On average, people in Oldham are less healthy than those in other parts of the North-West region and when compared to the England average. Oldham’s communities have wide ranging health and wellbeing needs, and these can vary significantly between different groups. It is important that the Public Health funding is invested effectively, to address identified health and wellbeing needs, ensuring the greatest possible positive impact on the health and wellbeing of Oldham’s people.

Options/Alternatives considered:

Option 1: To approve the recommendations set out in the submitted report.

Option 2: Do not allocate the value of the Public Health settlement for 2025/26 to the Public Health budget via the Business Rates Retention Pilot - This would mean that the Public Health Department would not have the funding in 2025/26 to provide public health support to the value of the Public Health Settlement for 2025/26. 

The preferred Option was Option 1.

Resolved:

That the Cabinet approves: 

1.    The notional DHSC 2025/26 Public Health budget settlement for Oldham of £19.8m.

2.    That the value of the Public Health settlement for 2025/26 of £19.8m shall be allocated to the public health budget via the Business Rates Retention Pilo.t

3.    The delegation of authority to the Director of Public Health after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing to make all spending decisions relating to the Public Health settlement for 2025/26.

4.    The delegation of authority to the Director of Public Health in consultation with the Director of Finance (where required) to procure, award, and modify all contracts stemming from spending decisions relating to the Public Health settlement for 2025/26 and from a compliant procurement process.

5.    The delegation of authority to the Borough Solicitor or their nominee to carry out all necessary legal formalities linked to the above approvals, including the signing and sealing of contracts.