Our strategy: financial foundations for adult health

The problem

Poverty and financial insecurity is a cause and a driver of ill-health for working-age adults from Black and minoritised communities in Lambeth and Southwark.

Our vision is for adults from Black and minoritised communities in Lambeth and Southwark to have the resources to have good health, avoiding the long-term illnesses caused and exacerbated by financial stress.

Our health and wealth are intertwined. We know that financial security and stability are important drivers of good health, and inequalities in health and wealth are stark in urban areas. Where we work in Lambeth and Southwark, our research has shown [PDF] that people who are struggling financially report far lower levels of good health (43%) than those who describe themselves as financially comfortable (80%).

In our local area, rates for long-term illnesses are higher for Black and minoritised communities, who are also more likely to be living on a lower income, living in unsuitable housing, and in unhealthy jobs. In the communities we work with, outgoing costs frequently exceed income, causing constant stress and straining household resources.

And we know that this is not natural, or inevitable; that these facts are the results of systems and structures, which can and should be redesigned for better health. For thousands of adults in Lambeth and Southwark, as well as for millions across the country, the current systems and structures are not working for them and are often working against them.

Ill-health affects people’s ability to work and manage their finances, which in turn, has an impact on their financial circumstances leaving fewer resources to support good health. This forms a cycle of ill-health and financial insecurity that is hard to escape. And it is not just being in debt or arrears that causes stress. It is also the barriers people face seeking support for when they are in debt, as well as when they are trying to overcome it.

Therefore, we work closely with local people, researchers, and voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations to invest in partnerships and initiatives promoting economic inclusion, and support financial security our work seeks to shift power to communities and change structurally unequal systems so there is greater equity in access to building wealth and good health.

We believe that it is possible to build the financial foundations of adult health in a way that is more equal, more just, and more generative. There will be no health equity without economic justice.