A support scheme for smokers struggling with their addiction and wanting help to quit has been extended by Hackney Council.  

Smokefree City and Hackney will be in place until June 2024, the Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee agreed at a meeting yesterday.  

The stop smoking service helps anyone over 18 who lives, works, studies, or is registered to a GP in the boroughs to quit smoking.  

The extension could cost the council nearly £1m, but Councillor Christopher Kennedy called it a “vital service” in creating “a healthy, happy, and thriving Hackney.” 

Kennedy said at the committee meeting: “We have a manifesto commitment that we were elected on; to work towards a smoke-free Hackney for 2030 … That’s a tough target to meet and I’m convinced this one-year extension is the best way of helping us get there.”  

He said there is “work that still needs to be done” to provide Hackney’s 14.2% smoker population with support should they want to quit.  

Simon O’Brien was a smoker for 15 years until he used the service. He said Smokefree City and Hackney “the best thing about quitting has been the sense of achievement. Knowing that I was addicted to something for half my life and I was able to quit makes me think ‘you know what, what else can I do?’.” 

Another recovered smoker, Rebecca Bradshaw, used the service after multiple health scares. She told Smokefree City and Hackney: “When I see smokers now … I think I don’t have to do that anymore and then I feel like I’ve won.” 

A report to the Cabinet called the service “a central aspect” of public health and said it was helping to fight “one of the leading causes of preventable death and disease in the UK and the main driver of health inequalities.”

Lola Olawole, who introduced the report to the committee, said stopping the service “would negatively impact the health” of Hackney residents.  

She praised City and Hackney Stop Smoking Service for being a “public health service … [that] plays a vital role in Hackney” and said its extension is what “best meets the needs” of the borough.  

In June 2024, there will be a “full evidentiary review and service redesign” to improve the support given.