From 1 October 2026, a new UK Vaping Products Duty begins and duty stamps start appearing on retail vape packaging. Here’s what the change means in Wales — and what it does not tell you about a product.
FREE NHS SUPPORT IN WALES
Help Me Quit: free support to stop smoking
Help Me Quit is the national NHS stop-smoking service for Wales. You can speak to an advisor, get support locally or by phone, use the app, and access stop-smoking treatment.
It is free, and you do not need a GP referral.
Ready to get support?
Choose the option that works best for you. Help Me Quit support is free and available in Welsh and English.
CONTACT HELP ME QUIT
Quick ways to get in touch
You do not need a GP referral. Pick whichever contact method feels easiest.
Call
Text
Online
Support is available in Welsh and English.
WHAT YOU GET
Support built around your quit attempt
You do not need to know which treatment you want before you contact the service. An advisor can talk through the options with you.
A stop-smoking advisor
One-to-one, group, telephone and local support options are available across Wales.
Free stop-smoking treatment
Help Me Quit can provide free nicotine replacement therapy and, where suitable, access to prescription stop-smoking medicines.
Support near you
Services are available through community venues, hospitals and community pharmacies, as well as by telephone.
A free 24/7 app
The bilingual Help Me Quit app offers a quit plan, craving tools, progress tracking, savings tracking and links into specialist support.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
After you contact Help Me Quit
1
Talk through your smoking
You talk about what you smoke, when you smoke, what makes quitting difficult and what you have tried before.
2
Choose a plan
This might include a quit date, behavioural support and medication or nicotine replacement therapy.
3
Get follow-up support
The service helps you manage cravings, difficult moments and any changes you need to make to the plan.
You do not need a GP referral and Help Me Quit says there is no waiting list.
Prefer to use your phone?
The Help Me Quit app is free and designed for people in Wales who want flexible support, including people who are only starting to think about quitting.
What the latest service data show
In 2025–26, NHS smoking cessation services treated 15,471 Welsh resident smokers, equivalent to 5.9% of the estimated smoking population. 3,606 people had a carbon-monoxide-validated quit recorded at four weeks.
These are service activity and four-week outcome measures. They are not a count of every quit attempt in Wales and they do not measure permanent abstinence.
Trend caution: CO validation was suspended by Welsh health boards from 2020–21 to 2023–24 because of COVID-19 transmission risk, and resumed across all health boards from April–June 2024. CO-validated quit figures should therefore not be read as one continuous trend across that break.
Welsh Government 2025–26 results ↗
Welsh Government methodology and quality notes ↗
You can contact Help Me Quit even if you have tried before
Another attempt can use a different plan, different treatment or more support. You do not have to do exactly what you did last time.