The Integrated Meeting of Waltham Forest Health & Wellbeing and Health & Care Partnership Boards was scheduled to discuss the Better Care Fund (BCF) plan for 2025/26. The meeting was also scheduled to approve the minutes from the previous meeting held on 20 January 2025. Some items were expected to be discussed in private due to their commercially sensitive nature.

Better Care Fund Plan 2025/26

The Health and Wellbeing Board was scheduled to discuss and approve the Better Care Fund (BCF) plan for 2025/26. The BCF is a national programme intended to integrate health and social care for residents. Under the BCF, NHS Integrated Care Boards and local authorities are required to agree on an integrated spending plan.

The report pack included the following proposals:

• The BCF allocation to Waltham Forest Council for 2025/26 did not include any growth compared to the previous year's allocation, but the NHS minimum contribution saw a minimal increase, totaling £328,012.
• The Local Authority Better Care Grant for Waltham Forest is £11,703,015, with no growth compared to last year's allocation.
• The 2025/26 allocation for Waltham Forest totals £26,839,366, with a growth of £328,012 compared to last year's allocation.
• The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) 25/26 allocation for Waltham Forest is totalling: £2,931,240 and its growth is totalling to £354,552.

The report pack stated that the BCF plan is a key enabler for the delivery of a number of local partnership plans that are closely related to BCF, including:

• The Waltham Forest Promoting Wellbeing Strategy (2023)
• The Mission Waltham Forest Strategy (2024)
• The North East London (NEL) Joint Forward Plan (2023)
• The Interim North East London Integrated Care Strategy (2023)
• 23/24 Operating plan and ICB Budget
• Securing data improvements to support capacity and demand planning
• Additional Discharge Funding arrangements to be fully incorporated into BCF and deliver maximum impact on delays
• Further development of step down options including facilities to reduce delayed transfers for pathway 2 and 3
• Development of a refreshed Market Position Statement in 2024, which for the first time will be joint, relating to care and related health services.
• Supporting a reduction in health inequalities in line with the published Marmot report on a Fairer and Healthier Waltham Forest: Equity and the social determinants in Waltham Forest (2023) Consultation

The report pack recommended that the Health and Wellbeing Board approve the Waltham Forest Better Care Fund (BCF) 2025-26 Plan, consisting of:

• Appendix 1 – Narrative plan BCF 2025-2026
• Appendix 2 – BCF 2025-2026 Expenditure plan and metrics
• Appendix 3 – BCF 2025- 2026 Capacity and Demand activity

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The board was scheduled to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2025. Some of the key points from the minutes include:

• The Integrated Board agreed to adopt the work supported by The Kings Fund as the Integrated Health Boards’ partnership priorities, and to adopt SEND[^2] as an additional priority area. [^2]: Special Educational Needs and Disability
• The Integrated Board agreed the proposed allocations for the Health Inequalities Fund for 25/26 which were previously unallocated, and to add an item on the resource implications of the ICB allocation for 25/26 to the forward plan.
• The Integrated Board noted the contents of the report on the response to Marmot recommendations[^3]. [^3]: The Marmot Review, titled 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives', is an independent review into health inequalities in England, published in 2010. It was chaired by Sir Michael Marmot and made a number of recommendations for reducing health inequalities.
• The Integrated Board agreed that the Health Engagement Leads Oversight Group should be formalised.
• The Health and Wellbeing Board agreed that the Integrated WF Finance Oversight Group take through governance The Deed of Variation of the Section 75 agreement for 2024/25.
• The Health and Care Partnership Board noted the update on the Community Transformation Business Case.