The Waltham Forest Health and Wellbeing Board met on 24 March 2025 to discuss a number of issues relating to the provision of health and social care in the Borough. High on the agenda were the arrangements for funding the Better Care Fund in 2025/26, and the approval of the associated plan. There was also a discussion about whether to formally adopt the work that had been supported by The Kings Fund as the Integrated Health Boards' partnership priorities.

Better Care Fund 2025-26

The Better Care Fund (BCF) is a programme that aims to further develop integrated health and social care for residents across the country. The Board were asked to approve the 2025-26 plan for Waltham Forest.

Waltham Forest Council's allocation through the BCF in 2025/26 is £11,703,015. This is the same amount as it received in 2024/25. This is in addition to £26,839,366 allocated by the NHS. The plan details how this money, which totals £41,536,921 when combined with money from other sources, will be spent.

The plan contains a number of proposals about how the fund will be used to support the Council's strategic priorities. This includes the Mission Waltham Forest strategy, and the Council's response to the recommendations of the Marmot Review.¹

The plan will be monitored by the Waltham Forest Finance Oversight Group. Once the plan has been submitted to, and approved by, NHS England, the Council will be required to sign a Section 75 agreement that sets out the legal basis for the arrangements.

Business planning for Integrated Health Boards - workshop

This item was a workshop to help the Board decide whether to formally adopt work that had previously been supported by The Kings Fund as the Integrated Health Boards’ partnership priorities. The work included priorities for joint working between the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Health and Care Partnership Board.

The Boards had previously worked with The Kings Fund, an independent charitable foundation working to improve healthcare, on a programme of work to develop their shared priorities. The outputs of this work were included in the meeting pack, and the Boards were asked to consider whether they should be formally adopted.

Alongside this, there was also a discussion about the effectiveness of the arrangements for joint working between the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Health and Care Partnership Board. This included proposals to change the way the meetings are run and the frequency with which they happen.