The health impacts of work, finance and housing

We are supporting improvements to wider social aspects of how people live, work and age. 

As part of our multiple long-term conditions programme, our social risk factors strand will do two things. First, it will test specific interventions to help us achieve our goal. In doing so, we can build an evidence base for what works to improve meaningful work, financial health and housing. It will also investigate if these changes improve people’s physical and mental health. 

Priorities within the social context

From our work with King’s College London, we know that people living in the areas with the highest levels of deprivation develop long-term conditions earlier than those living in the most affluent areas. This means someone’s social circumstances can either slow down or speed up progression.

We have decided to focus on three social risk factors that impact health. These are: meaningful work, financial health and housing. 

Research shows that these key factors can affect the health of working-age adults and are amenable to change. These areas are our best opportunity to test if and how addressing the wider social context can:

– slow down the progression to many long-term conditions;

– and, impact the health of people in a local area.

Insights from research

We have recently published two pieces of research. These were to help inform the social risk factors strand, and identify areas for action.

Our research with Rocket Science highlights the importance of changes made by employers to the workplace. Changes would support the health of both those with long-term conditions and the wider workforce.

Our research with Demos shows people only seek financial support when they are in a financial crisis. At this point, the stress of the situation can trigger further health problems. 

We are currently developing how to intervene in housing, which we will share in 2020.