NEregion

Prevalence rates and numbers of smokers

Table 1 below shows the smoking prevalence rates in the resident population. The data has been pre-loaded with the prevalence rates for this local economy.

To change the overall prevalence rate, click in the dark blue cell and type in a number between 0 and 100. Click 'Update' to calculate the costs to your local economy. Click 'Reset' to return to the original prevalence rate.

Table 1 Smoking prevalence rates by age and socio-economic status
Socio-economic status	Age
Socio-economic status	All people	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74
All people (%)
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons

Table 2 below shows the number of smokers in the area by age and socio-economic status according to the prevalence rates entered in Table 1 above.


Table 2 Number of smokers by age and socio-economic status
Socio-economic status	Age
Socio-economic status	All people	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74
All people
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons


Figure 1 below shows the distribution of smokers by socio-economic status according to the prevalence rates calculated in Table 1 above.

Figure 1 Distribution of smokers by socio-economic status (%)






















Figure 2 below shows the distribution of smokers by age according to the prevalence rates calculated in Table 1 above.

Figure 2 Distribution of smokers by age (%)

Economic activity rates

Tables 3 below shows the economic activity rates for all people in the local economy according to their socio-economic status. 'Full-time' includes all employees and self-employed people working on a full-time basis, 'Part-time' includes all employees and self-employed people working on a part-time basis. 'Unwaged' includes all unemployed, economically active (full-time) and inactive students, those looking after home/family, those permanently sick/disabled and all other economically inactive people. 'Pension' includes all those in retirement. For the purposes of this model, it is assumed that all those in retirement fall into the 60-74 age band.

Table 3 Economic activity rates by age and socio-economic status: All people
Socio-economic status	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension
All people (%)	38	16	30	15
Higher managerial and professional	70	20	6	4
Lower managerial and professional	60	28	8	4
Intermediate occupations	52	35	10	3
Small employers and own account workers	67	19	12	2
Lower supervisory and technical	64	18	14	3
Semi-routine occupations	50	26	21	3
Routine occupations	53	19	25	3
Never worked and long-term unemployed	0	0	98	2
Not classified: Full-time students	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Other reasons	0	0	42	58

Tables 4-9 below also shows the economic activity rates for different age groups according to their socio-economic status. Due to limitations in the data available, economic activity rates are not available for each socio-economic group within each age band. While economic activity rates are given for 'All people' within each full-time, part-time, unwaged and pension populations, the model then uses average economic activity rates across each socio-economic group. The tables also show number of smokers within each socio-economic group according to their economic activity status. This is calculated based on the given average economic activity rates and on the prevalence rate entered in Table 1. This means that figures given in the blue cells are accurate calculations, while those in yellow cells are estimations.

Table 4 Economic activity rates by age and socio-economic status: 16-19 year olds
Socio-economic status	Economic activity rates				Number of smokers
Socio-economic status	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension
All people	18	8	73	0
Higher managerial and professional	54	24	22	0
Lower managerial and professional	54	24	22	0
Intermediate occupations	54	24	22	0
Small employers and own account workers	54	24	22	0
Lower supervisory and technical	54	24	22	0
Semi-routine occupations	54	24	22	0
Routine occupations	54	24	22	0
Never worked and long-term unemployed	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Full-time students	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Other reasons	0	0	0	0

Table 5 Economic activity rates by age and socio-economic status: 20-24 year olds
Socio-economic status	Economic activity rates				Number of smokers
Socio-economic status	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension
All people	38	17	45	0
Higher managerial and professional	55	24	20	0
Lower managerial and professional	55	24	20	0
Intermediate occupations	55	24	20	0
Small employers and own account workers	55	24	20	0
Lower supervisory and technical	55	24	20	0
Semi-routine occupations	55	24	20	0
Routine occupations	55	24	20	0
Never worked and long-term unemployed	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Full-time students	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Other reasons	0	0	100	0

Table 6 Economic activity rates by age and socio-economic status: 25-34 year olds
Socio-economic status	Economic activity rates				Number of smokers
Socio-economic status	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension
All people	50	22	27	0
Higher managerial and professional	59	26	15	0
Lower managerial and professional	59	26	15	0
Intermediate occupations	59	26	15	0
Small employers and own account workers	59	26	15	0
Lower supervisory and technical	59	26	15	0
Semi-routine occupations	59	26	15	0
Routine occupations	59	26	15	0
Never worked and long-term unemployed	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Full-time students	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Other reasons	0	0	100	0

Table 7 Economic activity rates by age and socio-economic status: 35-49 year olds
Socio-economic status	Economic activity rates				Number of smokers
Socio-economic status	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension
All people	52	23	25	0
Higher managerial and professional	61	27	12	0
Lower managerial and professional	61	27	12	0
Intermediate occupations	61	27	12	0
Small employers and own account workers	61	27	12	0
Lower supervisory and technical	61	27	12	0
Semi-routine occupations	61	27	12	0
Routine occupations	61	27	12	0
Never worked and long-term unemployed	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Full-time students	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Other reasons	0	0	100	0

Table 8 Economic activity rates by age and socio-economic status: 50-59 year olds
Socio-economic status	Economic activity rates				Number of smokers
Socio-economic status	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension
All people	42	19	40	0
Higher managerial and professional	55	24	21	0
Lower managerial and professional	55	24	21	0
Intermediate occupations	55	24	21	0
Small employers and own account workers	55	24	21	0
Lower supervisory and technical	55	24	21	0
Semi-routine occupations	55	24	21	0
Routine occupations	55	24	21	0
Never worked and long-term unemployed	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Full-time students	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Other reasons	0	0	100	0

Table 9 Economic activity rates by age and socio-economic status: 60-74 year olds
Socio-economic status	Economic activity rates				Number of smokers
Socio-economic status	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension	Full-time	Part-time	Unwaged	Pension
All people	8	4	17	71
Higher managerial and professional	37	16	34	12
Lower managerial and professional	37	16	34	12
Intermediate occupations	37	16	34	12
Small employers and own account workers	37	16	34	12
Lower supervisory and technical	37	16	34	12
Semi-routine occupations	37	16	34	12
Routine occupations	37	16	34	12
Never worked and long-term unemployed	0	0	60	40
Not classified: Full-time students	0	0	100	0
Not classified: Other reasons	0	0	11	89

Cigarette consumption

Table 10 below shows the average distribution of cigarettes smoked during the working day. Data cells in the table that contain a '1' denote that a cigarette smoked in the allotted time frame is considered to be smoked during working time and hence will require a break from production. The model assumes that some ‘bunching’ of cigarette smoking: if a time zone overlaps with the beginning or end of the working day, it is assumed that the smoker will choose to smoke the cigarette outside work hours and also assumes that each worker is entitled to a one hour lunch break, during which a cigarette smoked is not counted as being ‘on work time’ and that full-time workers work eight hours per day, part-time workers work four hours per day. It is assumed that a cigarette break lasts for five minutes.

The time zones show that the model is based on a smoker waking at 7am, starting work at 9am and going to bed at 11pm. However, it makes no difference to the number of cigarettes smoked during the working day if full-time/part-time workers work eight hour/four hour shifts that start at some other hour other than 9am (the same number of time zones and ‘bunching’ opportunities exist).

Table 10 Cigarettes per day of working population
No. of cigarettes
11				12				13
Time	All	Full time	Part-time	Time	All	Full time	Part-time	Time	All	Full time	Part-time
07:00				07:00				07:00
08:27	1	0	0	08:20	1	0	0	08:14	1	0	0
09:54	1	0	0	09:40	1	0	0	09:28	1	0	0
11:21	1	1	1	11:00	1	1	1	10:42	1	1	1
12:48	1	1	1	12:20	1	1	1	11:56	1	1	1
14:15	1	0	0	13:40	1	0	0	13:10	1	0	0
15:42	1	1	0	15:00	1	1	0	14:24	1	1	0
17:09	1	1	0	16:20	1	1	0	15:38	1	1	0
18:36	1	0	0	17:40	1	0	0	16:52	1	1	0
20:03	1	0	0	19:00	1	0	0	18:06	1	0	0
21:30	1	0	0	20:20	1	0	0	19:20	1	0	0
22:57	1	0	0	21:40	1	0	0	20:34	1	0	0
				23:00	1	0	0	21:48	1	0	0
								23:02	1	0	0
Total in work time

Table 10 Cigarettes per day of working population (continued)
No. of cigarettes
14				15				16
Time	All	Full time	Part-time	Time	All	Full time	Part-time	Time	All	Full time	Part-time
07:00				07:00				07:00
08:09	1	0	0	08:04	1	0	0	08:00	1	0	0
09:18	1	0	0	09:08	1	0	0	09:00	1	0	0
10:27	1	1	1	10:12	1	1	1	10:00	1	1	1
11:36	1	1	1	11:16	1	1	1	11:00	1	1	1
12:45	1	1	1	12:20	1	1	1	12:00	1	1	1
13:54	1	0	0	13:24	1	0	0	13:00	1	0	0
15:03	1	1	0	14:28	1	1	0	14:00	1	1	0
16:12	1	1	0	15:32	1	1	0	15:00	1	1	0
17:21	1	0	0	16:36	1	1	0	16:00	1	1	0
18:30	1	0	0	17:40	1	0	0	17:00	1	0	0
19:39	1	0	0	18:44	1	0	0	18:00	1	0	0
20:48	1	0	0	19:48	1	0	0	19:00	1	0	0
21:57	1	0	0	20:52	1	0	0	20:00	1	0	0
23:06	1	0	0	21:56	1	0	0	21:00	1	0	0
				23:00	1	0	0	22:00	1	0	0
								23:00	1	0	0
Total in work time

Cigarette breaks

Table 11 below shows the total cost of lost production time (in equivalent wages) to businesses due to cigarette breaks. This calculation is based on Tables 12-17 below, the smoking prevalence rate entered in Table 1 and the cigarette consumption model described on the previous link.

Table 11 Total cost of cigarette breaks to businesses per year
All people	Costs (£)
Full-time
Part-time
Total

Tables 12-17 below show the average number of cigarettes smoked by different socio-economic classifications for each age group, together with the number of cigarettes that are smoked on work time. The tables also show the average weekly wages for full-time and part-time employees/self-employed for each socio-economic status and age group and hence the cost of cigarette breaks for each group per year.


Table 12 Cost of cigarette breaks to businesses: 16-19 year olds
Socio-economic status	Cigarettes per day		Cigarettes in work		Wages (£ / week)		Costs of cigarette breaks per year (£)
All people	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons

Table 13 Cost of cigarette breaks to businesses: 20-24 year olds
Socio-economic status	Cigarettes per day		Cigarettes in work		Wages (£ / week)		Costs of cigarette breaks per year (£)
All people	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons

Table 14 Cost of cigarette breaks to businesses: 25-34 year olds
Socio-economic status	Cigarettes per day		Cigarettes in work		Wages (£ / week)		Costs of cigarette breaks per year (£)
All people	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons

Table 15 Cost of cigarette breaks to businesses: 35-49 year olds
Socio-economic status	Cigarettes per day		Cigarettes in work		Wages (£ / week)		Costs of cigarette breaks per year (£)
All people	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons

Table 16 Cost of cigarette breaks to businesses: 50-59 year olds
Socio-economic status	Cigarettes per day		Cigarettes in work		Wages (£ / week)		Costs of cigarette breaks per year (£)
All people	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons

Table 17 Cost of cigarette breaks to businesses: 60-74 year olds
Socio-economic status	Cigarettes per day		Cigarettes in work		Wages (£ / week)		Costs of cigarette breaks per year (£)
All people	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Higher managerial and professional
Lower managerial and professional
Intermediate occupations
Small employers and own account workers
Lower supervisory and technical
Semi-routine occupations
Routine occupations
Never worked and long-term unemployed
Not classified: Full-time students
Not classified: Other reasons

Treatment costs

Table 18 shows the number of hospital bed days taken up by smokers for smoking related diseases by age group. The figures are based on the number and duration of recorded treatments from the North East Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database. The cost of bed days for treating smoking related diseases is calculated at £400 per day.

The table also includes treatment for smokers aged under 16 and those aged 75 and above. These figures are based on the number and duration of recorded treatments from the North East HES database.

Table 18 Number of bed days and cost
Bed days	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Smoker bed days per 100 smokers	1.3	1.6	1.9	7.9	32.9	153.2	12.2	437.3
Bed days
Total bed day costs (£)

Table 19 shows the number of smoker discharges (patients who are smokers) treated for smoking related diseases. The cost of inpatient appointments are calculated at £151 per day and the cost of follow-up appointments are calculated at £87 per day. It is assumed that each smoker has one outpatient and one follow-up appointment.

Table 19 Number of smoker discharges, outpatient and follow-up appointment costs
Discharges	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Smoker discharges per 100 smokers	1	1	1	3	10	28	10	40
Total number of discharges
Total outpatient costs (£)
Total follow up appointment costs

Table 20 shows the number of weekday bed days taken up by smokers for smoking related diseases by age and economic activity. It is assumed that a smoker is no more or less likely to be treated on a weekday than on a weekend.

Table 20 Number of weekday bed days
Bed days	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
No. weekday bed days working full-time
No. weekday bed days working part-time
No. weekday bed days unwaged
No. weekday bed days pension

Table 21 shows the cost of weekday bed days taken up by smokers for smoking related diseases who are employed/self-employed on a full-time and part-time basis. The costs are calculated using average wages for each age group.

Table 21 Cost of working day bed days to businesses
Total inpatients costs to business	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Total costs working full-time (£)
Total costs wage working part-time (£)
Total (£)

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) estimates that those in work in the North East region take just over 1.5m days off sick due to smoking. Based on this data, Table 22 shows the number of 'home' sick days taken by those in work/self employed for each age group. It is assumed that smokers in one age band are no more or less likely to take a day off sick than smokers in any other age band.

Table 22 Number of 'home' sick days
Home sick days	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
No. working full-time
No. working part-time
Total

Table 23 shows the cost of the 'home' sick days (as shown in the table above) to businesses. The costs are based on the equivalent average wages for each age group. It should be noted that, on average, wages increase with age and hence the unit cost of a home sick day also increases as smokers age.

Table 23 Cost of 'home' sick days to businesses
Home sick days cost to business	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Total costs working full-time (£)
Total costs wage working part-time (£)
Total (£)

Deaths

Table 24 shows the number of deaths of smokers from smoking related diseases for each age group. The figures are based on mortality data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Table 24 Number of smoker deaths from smoking related diseases
Deaths	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Smoker deaths per 100 smokers	0.0014	0.0032	0.0116	0.0880	0.6181	3.5233	0.0014	13.2734
Total deaths

Table 25 shows the cost to the local economy of deaths of smokers from smoking related diseases. The figures are based on the equivalent wages (or spend) by smokers if they had lived for one additional year. The average weekly spend of 'unwaged' smokers is assumed to be £70 - this figure is based on an average of benefits and other income for smokers within this group and uses data provided by Jobcentre Plus. The average weekly spend for those in retirement is assumed to be £207 - this figure is based on data from the Pensioners' Income Series. (See the Methodology - Model Sources section of this website for more information.)

Table 25 Cost of deaths of smokers from smoking related diseases in a single year
Deaths	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Total costs working full-time
Total costs wage working part-time
Total costs spend unwaged
Total costs spend pension
Total costs (£)

Second hand smoke

A number of non-smokers will suffer ill health and require treatment due to the effects of second hand smoke. Research by the Royal College of Physicians, publicised by Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, estimates that (proportionally) approximately 50 people in the North East region die of second hand smoke every year. If it is assumed that the ratio of deaths to bed days of treatment required for smokers also holds for those suffering the effects of second hand smoking, then (based on hospital episode statistics for the North East region) it is possible to approximate the economic impacts of second hand smoking.

On this basis, Table 26 shows the number of deaths caused by passive smoking in the local economy. The total costs of deaths from second hand smoke in a single year are also shown for each age group by economic activity.

Table 26 Deaths from second hand smoke
Second hand smoking deaths	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Deaths (region)
Second hand smoking deaths
Total costs working full-time (£)
Total costs wage working part-time (£)
Total costs spend unwaged (£)
Total costs spend pension (£)
Total costs (£)

Table 27 shows the number of bed days taken up by those suffering from smoking related diseases caused by second hand smoke. The total cost of treating second hand smoke is summed below.

Table 27 Cost of second hand smoke
Second hand smoking bed days	16-19	20-24	25-34	35-49	50-59	60-74	Under 16s	75+	Total
Bed days	475	845	1,981	12,043	25,723	111,892	2,013	141,096
Second hand smoking bed days
Cost of treatment (£)

				Total cost of second hand smoking (£)

NHS services

Based on the number of smokers in the local economy, Table 28 shows the costs to the NHS of providing services to help people stop smoking and the cost of prescription Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) and Bupropion (Zyban). (The data refers to 2001-02 and is an estimate for the North East region based on Prescribing Analyses and Cost (PACT), Prescription Pricing Authority, and West Midlands Public Health Steering Group (WMPHSG) sources.)

Table 28 Estimated cost of NHS Services
Service	Total
Cost to NHS of providing services to help stop smoking (£)
Cost of prescription Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) and Bupropion (£)
Total (£)

If you wish to enter an alternative amount of spend on NHS services based on your own data, please do so in the blue cells in Table 29 below. You may wish to do this if you do not want the estimates of the cost of NHS services to be dependent on the number of smokers in the local economy (as per the estimates in Table 28 above) - i.e. you may want to fix the level of spend regardless of any increase or decrease in the number of smokers.

Table 29 Estimated cost of NHS Services
Service	Total
Cost to NHS of providing services to help stop smoking (£)
Cost of prescription Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) and Bupropion (£)
Total (£)

Fires

As no data is available on the severity of injury caused by fire or the type and duration of treatment required (and hence the likely duration of economic activity lost), the economic cost of fires caused by smoking is calculated on a different basis to other section on this website. Home Office research on the economic costs of fire (see the Methodology - Sources Used section of this website for more details) uses planning figures from the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) to approximate the economic cost of loss of life and injury, based on three main impacts: • Healthcare costs – costs to the NHS of treatment required patients suffering injuries caused by fire. • Lost output – costs of time off work and the resulting loss of productivity. • Emotional and physical suffering – costs based on the value society places on preventing incidents occurring.

Table 30 shows the cost of different types of fires caused by smokers based on the number of smokers in the local economy.

Table 30 Cost of fires caused by smoking
Location	No. caused by smokers materials	Total average cost per fire (£)	Total cost (£)
Accidental fires in dwellings
Other buildings and business premises
Road vehicles
Total
* Figures may not agree due to rounding

Costs

Table 31 shows key statistics generated by the Smoking Costs model based on the prevalence rate entered in Table 1 and the modelling described in each of the links. The total amount spent on tobacco by smokers assumes an average rate of £5 for 20 cigarettes. Health costs include the costs of treating smokers of all ages, economic costs include the costs associated with smokers aged 16-74 only.

Table 31 Key statistics (all smokers unless otherwise stated)
Key facts
Smoking prevalence rate
No. of smokers (aged 16-74)
No. of inpatients treated for smoking related diseases
No. of bed days taken by smokers for smoking related diseases
No. of deaths caused by smoking
No. of cigarettes smoked per year (aged 16-74)
Amount spent on cigarettes per year (@ 25p per cigarette) (aged 16-74)

Table 32 shows the total annual costs of smoking on the local economy according to the prevalence rate entered in Table 1 and the modelling described in constituent part of the model.

Table 32 Annual costs to the economy (all smokers)
Cost to local economy
Item	Cost (£m)
Cost of treating smokers for smoking related diseases
Cost of outpatient appointments for smokers
Cost of follow up appointments for smokers
Cost of premature death of smokers in single year
Cost of second hand smoke
Cost of smoking-related sick days
Cost of hospital treatment time to businesses
Cost of staff smoking during working day to businesses
Cost of fires caused by smoking
Total cost (£)

Table 33 below shows the investment costs made by the NHS in providing and paying for services and drugs in order to help people quit smoking.

Table 33 Investment costs to the NHS
Investment costs
Item	Cost (£m)
Cost to NHS of providing services to help stop smoking
Cost of prescription Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) and Bupropion
Total cost (£)

Table 34 below shows the change in the number of smokers and associated costs as the overall smoking prevalence rate is changed.

Table 34 Impact of change in prevalence rate
Item	Total
Current overall prevalence rate (default)	26.9	Current
No. of smokers (default)	493,298
Annual cost to economy + NHS investment costs (£) (default)	527,173,883
Your prevalence rate		Your prevalence rate
No. of smokers (based on your prevalence rate)
Annual cost to economy + NHS investment costs (£) (based on your prevalence rate)
Change in prevalence rate (Percentage points, based on your prevalence rate - current prevalence rate)		Difference
Change in number of smokers (based on your prevalence rate - current prevalence rate)
Savings to economy and NHS (based on your prevalence rate - current prevalence rate)
Saving/Cost per smoker quitting/starting (based on your prevalence rate - current prevalence rate) (£)

The NHS offers a range of services and NRT to help people quit smoking. Data from national NHS allocations estimates that £24.5m is spent supporting 124,000 people to quit smoking in the short term (four weeks), equivalent to £198 per quitter. (This £24.5m also includes money allocated to tobacco control.) It is also estimated that the costs of providing support and to a long-term quitter (52 weeks) are roughly double the short term figure, equivalent to £395. It is further estimated that a long-term quitter would, on average, use £320 of NHS-provided NRT over the 52 weeks. This means that, through the most expensive method of helping a smoker to quit, the total cost of producing a long-term quitter is a maximum of £715. However, due to economies of scale when supporting a large number of people who are attempting to quit smoking, this figure may be reduced by up to £200 per smoker.

If every smoker who gave up did so by using the most expensive, intensive level of support and NRT available from the NHS, there would still be a substantial net gain to the local economy, even in the year during which support and NRT are provided. The benefit to the local economy in the year after which quitting support was provided to the smoker would then increase greatly and be maintained for the length of time the ex-smoker refrained from smoking.