Ealing Council and the North-West London Integrated Care Board (NHS NWL ICB) agreed to enter into a new partnership in September 2023, to engage in various transactions necessary for the delivery of health and social care services to the local community, establishing a pooled fund permits access to the Better Care Fund (BCF); money from the government.
There are several funds involved in the Agreement. Aligned Funds are where the commissioning and budget/spend remains with the originating organisation but the outcomes the money is spent on are aligned and are reported on as part of the S75 package. The biggest pooled fund is from the Better Care Fund (NWL ICB) and from existing council budgets, comprising of the below contributions:
| 2025/26 £000's | 2024/25 £000's |
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| Ealing Council contribution | 22,262 | 101,115 |
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| NWL ICB contribution | 37,210 | 38,152 |
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| Total BCF pooled fund | 59,472 | 139,267 |
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In 2025/26, BCF plan was reduced by £79.795m. This decrease is due to the following reasons:
The decrease of the Adult Social Care Discharge Grant to nil and exclusion of the ICB Discharge Funding.
Removal of the placement budget additional contributions from the local authority.
An alignment of schemes included in the BCF across NWL.
This is a virtual pool and unlike many other S75 agreements the council will not physically hold the NWL ICB share, nor will it spend money on behalf of the NWL ICB.
The council is the 'host' for the Better Care Fund Pooled Fund (and for many of the other Pooled/Aligned Funds) and the financial monitoring is undertaken by both parties on a quarterly basis.
POOLED FUND MEMORANDUM ACCOUNT FOR EALING COMMUNITY EQUIPMENT SERVICES
The council and North West London Integrated Care Board (NWL ICB), entered into a formal Section 75 pooled budget arrangement for Community Equipment Services with effect from 1 November 2003. The council is the lead for the arrangement. The costs and funding are shown in the table below:
| 2025/26 £000's | 2024/25 £000's |
|---|
| Community Equipment Costs | 4,586 | 4,511 |
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| The Council of the London Borough of Ealing | 2,293 | 2,256 |
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| North West London Integrated Care Board (NWL ICB) | 2,293 | 2,256 |
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| Total Funding | 4,586 | 4,511 |
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The council has interests in other companies that have the nature of subsidiaries and associates. The council has produced group accounts in 2025/26, and these can be found in the Group Accounts section of the document.