Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they conducted a resource and cost analysis when setting guide prices for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessments for 2026–27; and if so, whether they will publish that data.

NHS England has engaged with providers and commissioners as part of the development of the currency models and guide prices for autism assessment services and certain attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services prior to their inclusion within the NHS Payment Scheme.

The statutory consultation for the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27, which closed on 16 December 2025, provided an opportunity for all service providers to review the consultation guidance and provide comments and feedback, with further information avaiable on the NHS.UK website. NHS England is currently reviewing this feedback to inform the final 2026/27 Payment Scheme. The NHS England Payment Team invited all known ADHD and autism service providers to a pre-consultation webinar which set out the overall changes to the payment scheme. NHS England will continue to engage service providers as part of the next phase of development following the publication of the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27.

As set out in the NHS Payment Scheme consultation, we have used a range of existing local prices agreed between commissioners and providers as the basis for the guide prices in the consultation. The payment scheme consultation provides the opportunity for providers to comment on the proposed guide prices, and we will consider all the responses received before finalising the payment scheme for 2026/27. These proposals for 2026/27 represent the first stage of planning pricing development for autism assessment services and certain ADHD services.

NHS England has set out what is included within assessments for ADHD and autism within a supporting document to the NHS Payment Scheme 2026/27 statutory consultation. This guidance also links to clinical guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and other guidance which may support the commissioning and provision of these services. Guidance setting out the all age autism assessment pathway intended to help integrated care boards deliver improved outcomes in all age autism assessment pathways was written by NHS England in April 2024 and is available on the NHS.UK website.