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Up until 2012, the amount of money each Council had to spend on drug and alcohol treatment services was ringfenced, until the Government decided to give Councils autonomy over how they spend their yearly Public Health Grants. We believe that this decision was the catalyst for disaster.
We have analysed how much each Council is choosing to spend on substance misuse treatment services in their local area every year since 2013, and the vast majority of Councils have slashed their budgets dramatically in the last decade.
Across England, our analysis, featuring in an exclusive with Sky News, shows that in 2013/14, Councils spent £569M on drug misuse treatment services, £204M on alcohol misuse treatment services and a further £55M on drug and alcohol misuse services for young people; a total spend of £828M on substance misuse services and nearly a third (30%) of the overall annual Public Health Grant.
Ten years and record-breaking numbers of drug and alcohol deaths later, UKAT’s analysis of the figures show a catastrophic £211M cut to addiction treatment services.
In 2023/24, Councils in England have budgeted to spend £379M on drug misuse treatment services, £189M on alcohol misuse treatment services and £49M on drug and alcohol misuse services for young people; a total spend of £617M on substance misuse treatment services and just 16% of the overall Public Health Grant, half of what they were spending of the Government’s money ten years ago.
Below is a list of the upper tier unitary local authorities and what they are spending on drug and alcohol treatment services now vs ten years ago.
| Local Authority | 2013/14 SPEND | 2023/24 SPEND | 2013/14 v 2023/24 Difference (£) | 2013/14 v 2023/24 Difference (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath & North East Somerset | £2,890,000 | £2,112,000 | -£778,000 | -27% |
| Bedford | £2,483,000 | £1,500,000 | -£983,000 | -40% |
| Blackburn with Darwen | £4,029,000 | £3,284,000 | -£745,000 | -18% |
| Blackpool | £5,515,000 | £1,798,000 | -£3,717,000 | -67% |
| Bracknell Forest | £744,000 | £499,000 | -£245,000 | -33% |
| Brighton & Hove | £5,564,000 | £7,477,000 | £1,913,000 | 34% |
| Bristol | £13,765,000 | £9,977,000 | -£3,788,000 | -28% |
| Central Bedfordshire | £4,564,000 | £2,795,000 | -£1,769,000 | -39% |
| Cheshire East | £3,246,000 | £2,589,000 | -£657,000 | -20% |
| Cheshire West & Chester | £3,821,000 | £2,985,000 | -£836,000 | -22% |
| Cornwall | £6,563,000 | £6,150,000 | -£413,000 | -6% |
| Darlington | £3,029,000 | £1,712,000 | -£1,317,000 | -43% |
| Derby | £5,719,000 | £4,842,000 | -£877,000 | -15% |
| Durham | £11,812,000 | £8,040,000 | -£3,772,000 | -32% |
| Dorset | £3,660,000 | £3,222,000 | -£438,000 | -12% |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | £2,941,000 | £2,774,000 | -£167,000 | -6% |
| Halton | £1,948,000 | £1,619,000 | -£329,000 | -17% |
| Hartlepool | £4,480,000 | £2,166,000 | -£2,314,000 | -52% |
| Herefordshire | £3,098,000 | £1,201,000 | -£1,897,000 | -61% |
| Isle of Wight | £1,912,000 | £2,227,000 | £315,000 | 16% |
| Kingston upon Hull | £8,351,000 | £10,012,000 | £1,661,000 | 20% |
| Leicester | £6,652,000 | £4,612,000 | -£2,040,000 | -31% |
| Luton | £5,511,000 | £3,622,000 | -£1,889,000 | -34% |
| Middlesbrough | £5,506,000 | £7,608,000 | £2,102,000 | 38% |
| Milton Keynes | £1,812,000 | £1,691,000 | -£121,000 | -7% |
| North East Lincolnshire | £4,567,000 | £2,642,000 | -£1,925,000 | -42% |
| North Lincolnshire | £3,256,000 | £1,268,000 | -£1,988,000 | -61% |
| Nottingham | £0 | £6,570,000 | £6,570,000 | – |
| North Somerset | £3,344,000 | £2,289,000 | -£1,055,000 | -32% |
| Northumberland | £4,026,000 | £3,387,000 | -£639,000 | -16% |
| Peterborough | £3,117,000 | £1,801,000 | -£1,316,000 | -42% |
| Plymouth | £3,495,000 | £4,029,000 | £534,000 | 15% |
| Portsmouth | £5,300,000 | £3,468,000 | -£1,832,000 | -35% |
| Reading | £3,621,000 | £1,394,000 | -£2,227,000 | -62% |
| Redcar & Cleveland | £3,659,000 | £2,114,000 | -£1,545,000 | -42% |
| Rutland | £340,000 | £177,000 | -£163,000 | -48% |
| Shropshire | £3,450,000 | £4,127,000 | £677,000 | 20% |
| Somerset | £5,913,000 | £4,048,000 | -£1,865,000 | -32% |
| South Gloucestershire | £2,486,000 | £1,777,000 | -£709,000 | -29% |
| Southampton | £4,673,000 | £2,995,000 | -£1,678,000 | -36% |
| Southend-on-Sea | £2,830,000 | £2,612,000 | -£218,000 | -8% |
| Stockton-on-Tees | £5,119,000 | £3,155,000 | -£1,964,000 | -38% |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £7,387,000 | £3,254,000 | -£4,133,000 | -56% |
| Swindon | £2,490,000 | £1,634,000 | -£856,000 | -34% |
| Telford & Wrekin | £2,885,000 | £1,526,000 | -£1,359,000 | -47% |
| Thurrock | £1,450,000 | £1,581,000 | £131,000 | 9% |
| Torbay | £3,301,000 | £2,987,000 | -£314,000 | -10% |
| Warrington | £2,843,000 | £2,436,000 | -£407,000 | -14% |
| West Berkshire | £1,114,000 | £1,024,000 | -£90,000 | -8% |
| Wiltshire | £4,416,000 | £1,797,000 | -£2,619,000 | -59% |
| Windsor & Maidenhead | £1,175,000 | £643,000 | -£532,000 | -45% |
| Wokingham | £0 | £838,000 | £838,000 | – |
| York | £1,388,000 | £1,654,000 | £266,000 | 19% |
Any data shown with a minus figure is a cut to budget, any whole figure is an increase in budget. Any use of the below data must be credited to the UK Addiction Treatment Group.
For further media enquiries, please email media@ukat.co.uk