We have set a clear target for systems to work to reduce long waits in NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework. By 2028/29 at least 80% of community health service activity, including podiatry, should take place within 18 weeks. In addition, in 2025 we published Standardising Community Health Services, which provides an overview of the core community health services, with further detail published in February 2026.

The NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for commissioning podiatry services across Birmingham and Solihull. Services are provided by the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

The Birmingham and Solihull ICB is working closely with both providers to address these challenges and reduce waiting times through a coordinated programme of improvements. Key actions across the system include:

- improving access and pathways, by reviewing and refining referral pathways to ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate service first time, reducing unnecessary demand and delays;

- service redesign, by developing more sustainable models of care that better reflect current demand and levels of clinical complexity, including opportunities to deliver care in alternative settings;

- workforce development and productivity, by expanding workforce capacity through apprenticeships and upskilling, optimising skill mix, and improving productivity through better use of support roles and streamlined clinic processes; and

- operational improvements, by reducing non-attendance rates, improving clinic utilisation, and strengthening performance monitoring to support timely intervention where pressures emerge.

The government is investing over £1.5 billion in tackling youth unemployment and inactivity, including £820 million for the expanded Youth Guarantee and £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. This will provide young people aged 16–24 with greater support into work and learning, including a Jobs Guarantee offering fully subsidised paid work for every 18–21-year-old on Universal Credit for 18 months.

In line with the Government’s December 2025 announcement, the Jobs Guarantee will begin its rollout from Spring 2026 in 6 areas which have some of the highest need, including Birmingham and Solihull.

The first 6 months of the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide over 1000 job starts across the 6 areas.

National roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain will take place later in 2026. The programme is expected to support around 55,000 young people over the next three years, contributing to this government’s long-term ambition to increase employment and reduce long-term youth unemployment.

This Government is taking action to ensure young people have clear pathways into work, with opportunities that build skills, confidence and long-term employability.

In addition, through the expanded Youth Guarantee, we are creating around 300,000 additional opportunities for young people to gain workplace experience and training.

This includes up to 150,000 extra work experience placements and up to 145,000 bespoke training opportunities designed with employers through our Sector based Work Academy Programmes, or SWAPs. These programmes provide young people with real, practical experience linked to vacancies in priority sectors, improving their prospects of moving quickly into work.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population.

NHS England supports ICBs to reduce variation in the quality and provision of National Health Service wheelchairs, and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhse-national-wheelchair-data-collection/q2-2025-26

The Community Health Services Situation Report, which will be used to monitor ICB performance against waiting time targets in 2026/27, currently monitors waiting times for both children and young people and adult waiting times under the ‘Wheelchair, Orthotics, Prosthetics and Equipment’ line. The Community Health Services Situation Report is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/community-health-services-waiting-lists/

The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework, published October 2025, requires that, from 2026/27, all ICBs and Community Health Services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all community health services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits.

Birmingham and Solihull ICB providers are working towards reducing waiting times in line with the NHS 10-Year Health Plan. In Birmingham in December 2025, equipment handovers were completed within the 18-week target for 42.9% of children and 71.9% of adults.