Rotherham Council approves £22.6m public health spending plan for smoking and drug treatment services
More than £22.6m will be spent on public health services in Rotherham over the next year after councillors approved the council’s spending plans.
Rotherham Council’s cabinet signed off the plans at a meeting on 16 March, setting out how the borough’s Public Health Grant will be used in 2026/27.
The funding will support services including stop smoking help, drug and alcohol treatment, sexual health services, NHS health checks, children’s public health nursing and healthy lifestyle support.
A large share of the funding is now protected for specific services. Council papers show £5.6m has been earmarked for drug and alcohol support, while just under £900,000 has been set aside for smoking cessation.
The overall public health grant for 2026/27 has risen from £19.57m to £22.68m.
Councillors were told the change follows a new approach from the Government, with several previously separate grants now rolled into the main public health grant, but still ringfenced for certain areas of work.
That means the council will continue funding services including Rotherham Alcohol and Drug Service, known as ROADS, and stop smoking support delivered through Rotherham Healthwave.
The cabinet report said the extra funding would help the council meet its legal duty to improve public health and continue targeted work with groups most at risk of poor health outcomes.
This includes support for people with drug and alcohol dependency, smokers trying to quit, and vulnerable residents who may need access to specialist help.
The plans also allow the Director of Public Health to recommission drug and alcohol services and commission stop smoking support in line with the Government’s ambition to create a “smoke free generation”.
Council documents state that smoking rates remain higher in some groups, including people with mental health conditions, those living in deprived areas, people in routine and manual jobs, and some minority communities.
The report also notes that helping adults quit smoking can have wider benefits for children by increasing the number living in smoke-free homes.
In addition to smoking and substance misuse services, the funding will continue to support sexual health services, NHS health checks for adults aged 40 to 74, and public health nursing for children and young people.
A supervised toothbrushing programme is also expected to continue, although the council’s 2026/27 allocation for that scheme has not yet been confirmed.
Councillor Joanna Baker Rogers, cabinet member for adult social care and health told the meting: “From April 2026 the government introduced a funding simplification process, consolidated drug and alcohol and smoking cessation supplementary grants into the public health grant. These are now protected funding streams within the public health grant, and must be spent in line with the national grant conditions.”
The council said the grant would be monitored through quarterly reporting to make sure the money is spent in line with government conditions.