Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Integrated Care Boards will receive extra funding to meet costs adjusted for population.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) receive funding allocations from NHS England to pay for the services they commission, and NHS England is responsible for decisions on the weighted capitation formula used to allocate resources between ICBs. This process is independent of the Government. NHS England takes advice from the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, a group of academics and other experts.

Most funding is allocated as non-ring-fenced budgets, informed by a calculation of what would constitute a ‘fair share’ of funding, taking account of population, age, need, deprivation, and health inequalities considerations. ICB allocations for 2025/26 were published on 30 January 2025. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/allocations/

Core allocations are growing by 4.4%, which is higher than population growth, so ICBs are receiving extra funding, adjusted for the population compared to the year before.