Westminster will receive more than four times as much public-health funding per resident as Bexley next year, according to an analysis of government figures.
The central London borough has been allocated £200.51 for each resident through the Public Health Grant in 2026–27.
Bexley will receive £49.96 per person, the lowest amount among London’s 32 boroughs.
The grant pays for services including drug and alcohol treatment, sexual-health clinics, stop-smoking support, NHS health checks and children’s public-health services.
These services are intended to prevent illness or tackle health problems before they become more serious and require more expensive NHS treatment.
Kensington and Chelsea, Hackney, Camden and Islington are also among the boroughs receiving the highest amounts per resident.
Harrow, Havering, Bromley and Barnet sit near the bottom of the table alongside Bexley.
At first glance, the ranking may appear surprising.
Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea contain some of the country’s most expensive and affluent neighbourhoods, while several less wealthy outer-London boroughs receive much less per resident.
The figures are not a straightforward measure of current deprivation or health need.
The Health Foundation says allocations remain largely shaped by historical spending patterns, and identifies Westminster as the authority receiving the most above what a needs-based formula would suggest, with Kensington and Chelsea also a long-standing outlier.
Per-resident figures can also make funding in central London appear more generous than it is.
Boroughs such as Westminster provide some public-health services to commuters, visitors, homeless people and others who may use services in the area but are not included in its resident population.
The difference between the highest- and lowest-funded boroughs is not confined to next year’s allocations.
In 2024–25, the latest year for which completed council spending figures are available, Bexley recorded net public-health spending of £46.50 per resident.
Westminster spent £199.02.
Public-health funding is distributed partly according to local need, with deprivation, poor health and other pressures affecting the amount councils receive.
However, the system has not fully moved away from historic funding levels, meaning allocations do not always closely match present-day patterns of need.
The differences between boroughs also come after a prolonged decline in the value of public-health funding nationally.
The Health Foundation calculated that Public Health Grant funding per person was 26% lower in real terms in 2025–26 than it had been in 2015–16.
It found that some of the largest reductions had affected more deprived areas.
The King’s Fund said the 2026–27 settlement was worth just over £70 per person across England.
It also cautioned that some of the apparent increase was caused by previously separate funding for smoking cessation and drug and alcohol treatment being absorbed into the main grant.
The government has said the consolidated grant will remain higher in real terms throughout this Parliament than it was in 2024–25.
More than £13.4 billion has been allocated over three years.
The figures also show that some London boroughs will receive more per resident than they reported spending in 2024–25.
Barking and Dagenham spent about £79.15 per resident that year and has been allocated £93.41 per resident for 2026–27.
Croydon shows the reverse pattern. It spent £77.97 per resident in 2024–25 but has been allocated about £73.06 per resident for 2026–27.
The two sets of figures are not directly equivalent.
The earlier data records what councils ultimately spent, while the latest figures show the amount allocated by central government.
Councils may also use money from other sources to support public-health services.
The City of London was excluded from the main comparison because its small resident population and much larger daytime workforce make a per-resident calculation particularly misleading.
Methodology
The analysis used Department of Health and Social Care Public Health Grant allocations for 2026–27, council public-health expenditure figures for 2024–25 and Office for National Statistics mid-2024 population estimates.
Each borough’s allocation or expenditure was divided by its population to calculate an amount per resident.
The results show funding relative to the resident population, not the number of people who may use public-health services in each borough.
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