Waltham Forest Council is preparing to commission a new stop-smoking service worth £2.25 million, with the proposed contract running from April 2027 to the end of March 2030. The arrangement could be extended for a further two years, subject to the council’s decisions and the terms of the eventual procurement.
The planned service is intended to support people who smoke in the borough to quit, while also giving greater attention to children and young people who may be at risk of taking up smoking or vaping. The council’s stated aim is to help move adult smoking prevalence below five per cent by 2030, the national Smokefree 2030 ambition.
A successor to the current service
Waltham Forest currently funds QuitRight, a service delivered by Queen Mary University of London. It is available to people who live, work or study in the borough, as well as people registered with a local GP. The existing offer includes a 12-week quit plan, support from a trained practitioner, nicotine-replacement products and e-cigarettes, with telephone, digital and some face-to-face appointments.
The new commissioning exercise does not mean that an immediate change to local support has been announced. Rather, it sets out the council’s intention to secure the next service for the period beginning in April 2027. The provider will be selected through the council’s procurement process, and the final service design, contract award and any extension will depend on that process.
Local evidence cited in the council’s plans indicates that the current service has helped reduce the proportion of smokers from 16.2 per cent to 8.1 per cent. That is a substantial fall, but it also leaves the borough above the proposed 2030 threshold. The council says it needs to accelerate progress among the remaining smokers, including people living in communities where smoking rates are higher and people who need more intensive help to quit.
Balancing quitting support and prevention
The proposed remit reflects the complicated place of vaping in smoking policy. The council intends to continue recognising vapes as a stop-smoking aid for existing adult smokers, while discouraging vaping among children, young people and people who have never smoked. Its plans acknowledge that the long-term health effects of vaping are not fully known.
That distinction matters because a service designed only around adult cessation would not address the wider public-health concern about young people starting to use nicotine products. The future provider is therefore expected to combine individual quitting support with work that helps protect children and young people from smoking and vaping. The precise prevention activity will be established through the commissioning process rather than being set out as a new offence or enforcement power.
For adults seeking help now, local support remains available while the future contract is prepared. The current programme offers confidential advice, behavioural support and access to nicotine-replacement treatment or e-cigarettes. Appointments can be arranged by telephone or digitally, and community clinics provide face-to-face options in parts of the borough. Translation support is also available.
What the investment could mean
The council’s reported cost of helping one Waltham Forest smoker quit is about £937, compared with a London median of £798. That difference may reflect the needs of the people being supported, the intensity of the programme or the way costs are recorded; it is not, by itself, a measure of the service’s effectiveness. The proposed contract gives the council an opportunity to examine how support is targeted and how outcomes are measured.
For residents, the immediate message is that the existing service continues, while a longer-term replacement is being planned. The £2.25 million figure represents the proposed commissioning value, not a cash payment already made to a confirmed provider. Further details, including the successful organisation, performance targets and the shape of the youth-prevention work, should become clearer as the procurement progresses.
Smoking remains a leading preventable cause of illness, and quitting can reduce health risks at any age. The borough’s challenge is to turn the progress already recorded into further reductions without treating adult smokers, young people who vape and people who have never smoked as the same group. The planned service is intended to address those different needs through a single public-health framework.
