FSRH and BASHH Joint Statement on the Announcement of The Public Health Grant 2024-2025

07 February 2024

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) respond to the Department of Health and Social Care’s announcement on the 2024 to 2025 Public Health Grant allocation.

We are increasingly concerned by the severe and continuing pressures that have been placed on public health , by the year-on-year real terms reductions in funding over the past decade, which in turn severely impact on the ability to deliver the full range of sexual and reproductive health services.

We are calling on the Government to urgently address these funding challenges and reverse the cuts to public health. This will help us to reverse the cuts to sexual and reproductive health services across the country, making them more accessible for patients.

Recent data on both prevalence of STIs, increasing uptake of abortion care as well as rising demand for services underlines the need to ensure that everyone can access high quality sexual and reproductive health services and expertise.

We are calling for the Government to deliver a comprehensive national Sexual & Reproductive Health Strategy, that should address current challenges in the sector, with consistent funding. This Strategy should be underpinned by a commitment to increase the public health grant and commit to year-on-year real terms increases to allow us to not only restore but also to expand services for a growing population.