A budget to stabilise but not yet transform the NHS

In response to the Autumn Budget 2024, Dame Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, said: 

“After more than a decade of underinvestment and short-termism, we welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to a long-term approach to rebuilding the NHS and other public services.

“The additional investment in the NHS announced today will help to stabilise services. The 3.8% average annual increase is similar to the historic average and should enable the government to make some progress on its ambitions for the NHS, though this will be limited by the costs of meeting next year’s pay settlements and other cost pressures such as the increase in employers’ National Insurance. All eyes will now turn to next year’s Spending Review and the NHS 10-year plan to move beyond stabilising services by putting the investment, reform and, crucially, the technology in place to transform the NHS.

“The increase in capital investment is particularly welcome, with the UK having become an international outlier in its relatively low levels of capital spending, resulting in a spiralling backlog of maintenance and repairs. If the government is serious about its commitment to prevention, it should follow the changes to its fiscal rules by strengthening the fiscal framework to boost and protect prevention spending.

“The UK’s significant working-age health challenge is shrinking the labour force and holding back economic growth. We therefore welcome signals that the government will do more to support people in ill health and move them back into work, although we will need to see the details in the government’s forthcoming white paper. In the meantime, upholding the previous government’s decision to cut disability benefits will mean fewer people will be able to access the support they need and risk pushing more people into poverty.

“An additional £1.3bn for local government – equivalent to a 3.2% real-terms increase in core spending power in 2025/26 – is welcome and will support councils in the vital role they play in improving the health of their local populations. Given the government’s commitment to moving from treatment to prevention, a significant increase in the public health grant—which has seen a 27% real-terms cut since 2015/16—is also needed to ensure that local areas can provide the public health services that local people need.

“Finally, while we welcome the additional £600m for social care and the reforms to Carers Allowance, the continued silence on wider social care reform is disappointing.”

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