Inflation may have peaked, but it’s no reason to celebrate
3 February 2023
|
3
min read
Economic figures are moving in the right direction; but they only scratch the surface of what’s happening in deprived communities.
Impact on Urban Health
Yes, it looks like inflation may have peaked. GDP is better than predicted. Wages are rising. But the headline data masks the deep social inequalities that are doing tremendous harm to the health of thousands of families and driving consistently weak economic performance.
Today, if you walk from leafy, affluent Dulwich Village in London to built-up, poorer Queens Road in Peckham just 2.5 miles away, there is a 12 year drop in average life expectancy. That’s the difference between meeting your grandkids and not. And that trend is repeated up and down the UK.
Where people live and work have an impact on wellbeing and long-term health – not just the money in their pockets. There is overwhelming evidence that the acute financial, job and housing pressures that people were experiencing long before the cost-of-living crisis are making people sick and less economically active.
As a result, about 15 million people in England have a long-term condition or chronic diseases. 2.5million working age adults are now considered economically inactive, with 88% of economically inactive people reported long-term sickness as the reason they are not seeking work.In 2021, the CBI estimated there was an eye-watering £300bn in lost economic output annually as the result of poor health in the UK, excluding direct healthcare costs.
88%
of economically inactive people reported ‘long-term sickness’ as their reason for not seeking work.
£300bn
the estimated amount of lost economic output annually as the result of poor health in the UK, excluding direct healthcare costs. [Source: The CBI]
For many, this has created a cycle of poor mental, physical, and financial health that is incredibly difficult to escape. This means that those worst hit by any inflation are at the bottom of the income spectrum as well as the worst off in health.
The marginal drop in inflation makes no substantial difference; we know that inflation affects their basket of goods in ways that are harsher than that of the national average. Incomes and real cash in people’s pockets continue to erode, especially for the working poor, those in frontline roles, and people from minoritised backgrounds.
The picture is hugely challenging, and policymakers, employers and housing providers can’t afford to be complacent. For better outcomes, policies on housing, work and finances must be made with involvement from communities and with health as the guiding principle.
The picture is hugely challenging, and policymakers, employers and housing providers can’t afford to be complacent. For better outcomes, policies on housing, work and finances must be made with involvement from communities and with health as the guiding principle.
Barbara ReichweinProgramme Director
The solutions to fight health inequalities and the rise in long-term sickness require continued, collective, practical action from the government, businesses, employers, and community organisations. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because a healthy economy needs health people.
Rishi Sunak has pledged to halve inflation this year – but this means little to deprived communities without practical, systemic action across all sectors to tackle inequalities at the same time. The health inequalities white paper that has been shelved for almost a year would be the best way for this process to begin.
More from our financial foundations for adult health programme
