Notes to editors
Previous analysis by the Health Foundation had also shown that the public health grant should be increased even further, requiring a total of over £3 billion a year above current levels, to both reverse the impact of cuts and ensure that the grant is reallocated to allow additional investment in the most deprived areas where there is greatest need. Restoring the cuts as called for by the two charities today would only reduce that funding gap by less than half. But with services under immediate pressure and long-term funding decisions likely to be delayed, the charities say this minimum action of reversing cuts to the grant must be taken immediately.
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1. The £850 million is the cut for 2019/20 (calculated purely accounting for changes in costs), not including the additional £50 million cut expected in 2020/21. There is then an extra £100 million factored in to account for population growth, taking the amount required up to a total of £1 billion in 2020/21 to restore real-term per head funding.