To:
- general practices
- primary care network directors
cc:
- NHS England regional:
- directors of primary care and public health commissioning
- heads of public health commissioning
- screening and immunisation leads
- heads of primary care
- medical directors
- primary medical care directors
- integrated care board (ICB):
- chief executives
- vaccination leads
- chief medical officers
- primary care leads – for information
Dear colleagues,
Confirmation of national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and immunisation catch-up campaign for 2025/26
Thank you for all you are doing to support vaccinations and immunisations delivery.
You will be aware that practices are required to participate in a national vaccination and immunisation campaign each year, as a requirement of the GP contracts. This year, the agreed campaign is a catch-up campaign for HPV vaccination.
The HPV vaccination programme is reporting uptake levels below the national target and our overall uptake rates remain below the World Health Organization’s target across all regions. The data shows a decline in HPV coverage in the catch-up cohorts, which means that there are many eligible individuals who remain unvaccinated after leaving school, despite the catch-up initiatives in place by the School Age Immunisation Services (SAIS).
The NHS HPV vaccination programme in England has dramatically lowered HPV infections and rates of cervical cancer in vaccine-eligible women, with the strongest effects seen in those offered vaccination at younger ages. HPV vaccination also protects men and women against genital warts and other cancers of the genital areas and anus, as well as some mouth and throat (head and neck) cancers.
The HPV vaccination programme remains an essential service within the General Medical Services (GMS) contract and practices are required to offer and provide vaccinations on an opportunistic or by-request basis to eligible individuals. For the 2025/26 GP vaccination and immunisation campaign, we would like practices to support HPV vaccination catch-up and focus on targeting eligible cohorts who remain unvaccinated.
The HPV vaccine campaign will use a combination of approaches at GP practice level, including targeted communications and invitations for eligible individuals who have not yet been vaccinated. We expect this campaign to support existing HPV catch-up local improvement plans, the national SAIS improvement plan and the SAIS review.
Campaign timings
For the 2025/26 GP campaign, we would like practices to invite unvaccinated individuals aged 16-24 for their HPV vaccine. This includes:
- all females born on or before 1 September 2009 – up to their 25th birthday
- males born from 1 September 2006 to 31 August 2009 (inclusive). Eligibility for boys was only extended to those entering year 8 from September 2019, in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommendation
We want practices to take a ‘make every contact count’ (MECC) approach to ensure that vaccination is offered at every opportunity and to continue to opportunistically vaccinate those from the age of 14 years old, as per the current contractual requirements.
The GP HPV campaign will run from Monday 21 July 2025 to Tuesday 31 March 2026.
A summary of the actions that practices are required to undertake to support the vaccination of eligible males and females can be found in annex A of this letter.
Actions listed under ‘proactive systematic checks for practices’ are activities that practices are expected to carry out as part of the HPV catch-up campaign.
Funding and vaccine ordering
Funding for participation in the national campaign is included in global sum payments. Practices are also eligible for an item of service payment of £10.06, in accordance with the GP contracts, for each HPV vaccination administered.
The HPV vaccine for the national programme continues to be available for practices to order through ImmForm.
Further information
You can find further information to support general practice in the FutureNHS vaccinations and screening workspace (FutureNHS login required), including the HPV vaccination communication toolkit.
Thank you again for supporting this vital campaign and helping to protect young people.
Yours sincerely,
Caroline Temmink, Director of Vaccinations, NHS England
Annex A: Summary of requirements for practices
The practice requirements for the 2025/26 campaign are to:
- ensure the named practice immunisation lead is engaged, plans and oversees the practice’s participation in the catch-up campaign, including informing the local commissioner of the outcome of the campaign
- ensure the named practice immunisation lead takes responsibility for improving practice staff awareness and communication to eligible patients on the importance of the HPV vaccination for adolescents and young people in the agreed age group
- undertake the proactive systematic checks and actions outlined below
Proactive systematic checks for practices
Practices should:
- check that all patient immunisation records have been updated following notifications received from either SAIS or local Child Health Information Services (CHIS) teams, once an HPV vaccination has been given to their registered cohort in a school or a community catch-up clinic setting. This will ensure HPV vaccination history is as accurate as possible
- invite the eligible unvaccinated cohort (ages 16 to 24). All females up to their 25th birthday will be eligible, as will males born on or after 1 September 2006
- continue to update digital records for patients who do not respond or who fail to attend scheduled clinics or appointments and continue to offer HPV vaccination opportunistically
Actions for practices:
- ensure that all clinical records for the registered adolescents and young people’s cohort have been updated following notification from the SAIS provider before the targeted invites are sent out. This will support the reconciliation of HPV vaccination data for completeness of records and support data quality
- invite the eligible unvaccinated cohort (ages 16 to 24). All females up to their 25th birthday will be eligible, as will males born on or after 1 September 2006
- send invites directly to the eligible age groups by letter or text message
- use the communication resources available from NHS England to support the invite process and share information about the benefits of the HPV vaccine to all eligible cohorts, using UK Health Security Agency leaflets to facilitate the informed consent process
- consider options to offer vaccinations more flexibly to the eligible unvaccinated cohort (for example, by offering a range of times across the week, including enhanced hours appointments on evenings and weekends)
- include a flag on the GP IT system, where HPV vaccination status is known, to raise the offer of vaccination when a young adult attends the practice for other reasons
- consider contacting your local Child Health Information Services (CHIS) for HPV vaccination history checks
- ensure that eligible individuals receive the correct dose. Immunocompetent people aged 14 to 24 who have not yet been vaccinated should receive a 1-dose vaccination schedule. Those who are immunosuppressed should receive a 3-dose HPV course (in line with the Green Book guidance)
- Implement a ‘make every contact count’ (MECC) approach to maximise the catch-up opportunity. Every point of patient contact (for example, booking, attending the practice, text and written communications) should promote vaccination. When possible, vaccines should be offered on the same day and when this is not possible support should be given with booking an appointment
- consider other adolescent vaccination checks such as MenACWY, Td/IPV and MMR
- continue to vaccinate those aged 14 to 15 years old, either opportunistically or by request
Publication reference: PRN02085