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What the autumn budget 2024 means for health and social care


The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachael Reeves delivered the new Government's first budget. You can read about the full budget on GOV.UK.


NHS to receive a significant funding boost


The government will boost daily spending for the Department of Health and Social Care by £22.6 billion by 2025-26. Almost all extra spending is to go to NHS England whose budget will grow from £171 million this year to £192 million in two years time.


The government is also boosting capital investment in the NHS from £10.5 billion in 2023-4 to £13.6 billion in 2025-6. This includes £1.5 billion of investment in new equipment (such as hospital beds and CT/MRI scanners), and £1 billion to reduce the backlog of critical NHS maintenance, repairs and upgrades.


There are some investment commitments in the Budget:

  • £70 million of investment invest in new radiotherapy machines to improve cancer treatment

  • £2 billion of investment in NHS technology to ensure all Trusts have Electronic Patient Records, improve cyber security and enhance patient access through the NHS App

  • A dedicated fund to deliver around 200 upgrades to GP surgeries across England, supporting improved use of existing buildings and space, boosting productivity and enabling practices to deliver more patient appointments

  • £460 million of investment to address the risk posed by future health emergencies (particularly pandemics) including replenishing personal protection equipment (PPE), vaccine and medicines stockpiles, and investing in critical health protection infrastructure, such as high-containment laboratories

  • £26 million to open new mental health crisis centres.


Modest investment in social care, but likely increased cost for providers (and local authorities)


£600 million of new grant funding will be provided to local authorities for adult social care.


Employer National Insurance Contributions will increase by 1.2 percentage points to 15% and the per-employee threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will be reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000 per year. The National Living Wage will increase by 6.7%.


Some action on public health but no announcement on the public health grant
  • Reforms have been announced in the budget to reduce smoking rates and tackle obesity related illness

  • The government will renew the Tobacco Duty escalator, which sees the cost of tobacco taxes increase by 2% more than the rate of inflation every for the remainder of the Parliament (until 2029). The duty will increase by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco this year

  • A new Vaping Products Duty will be introduced from 1 October 2026 at a flat rate of £2.20 per 10ml vaping liquid, accompanied by an equivalent further one-off increase in Tobacco Duty. This is aimed to both reduce vaping rates but also maintain the incentive for smokers to switch from tobacco to vaping

  • To help tackle obesity and other harms caused by high sugar intake, the government will ensure that the Soft Drinks Industry Levy increases to maintain incentives for soft drinks manufacturers to reduce their sugar content. The government will also review the current sugar thresholds and the exemption for milk-based drinks.


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