Stoptober 2026

Smoking remains the single biggest cause of preventable ill health and death, and costs society an estimated £21.3 billion per year in England.

Stoptober is a great opportunity to promote the range of national and local support available and, as a result, increase successful quit attempts.

The 2026 campaign will continue to focus on the core message of ‘Let’s quit smoking together this Stoptober’, first introduced last year in 2025. This conveys strength in numbers - it allows us to reassure people that when quitting, they’re part of a large and supportive community of people like them. It also refers to the vast range of support that’s available to help people quit successfully. Ultimately, our aim is to let the smoker know that they are not alone in their quit attempt.

Whilst Stoptober officially starts on 1st October, we recommend raising awareness of the campaign and encouraging smokers to prepare for their quit attempt around 2 weeks in advance (17th September).

Please note that we will provide a suite of refreshed Stoptober 2026 assets, but these will only be available in digital format.

With your help, this year we can encourage the remaining 5.3 million smokers in England to give quitting a go.