BASHH Statement on the 2025/26 Public Health Grant

07 February 2025 (Last updated: 20 Feb 2025 13:01)

The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) welcomes the Government’s decision to increase the Public Health Grant by £200 million, equating to an uplift of 5.4%.

The funding announcement represents the biggest increase to the Public Health Grant for nearly a decade, after years of real-term cuts. These cuts have fallen particularly heavily on sexual health services, with spending on genitourinary medicine (GUM) and contraception being reduced by £200 million between 2014/15 and 2022/23. This has jeopardised our ability to provide essential care to those who need it most and has coincided with massively increasing STI rates and growing inequalities in sexual health in England.

Professor Matt Phillips, BASHH President, said: “Today’s announcement comes at a time when we are seeing record rates of new sexual health infection and services facing unprecedented demand. New diagnoses of gonorrhoea in England have never been higher, whilst rates of syphilis are at levels not seen since the 1940s.

Against this backdrop, it is vital that today’s funding decision marks the beginning of a sustained, long-term commitment to increased public health and sexual health investment. To truly turn the tide and address the increasingly poor sexual health outcomes, we also urge the Government to develop a new national sexual health strategy – informed by both experts and service users. We need this to support ambitious and cohesive approach to sexual health policy across the four nations.”