As a health equity organisation, we have over a decade of experience supporting disadvantaged communities across Great Britain to reduce health inequalities. We have raised over £132 million to support more than 3,000 grassroots and community organisations, reaching almost 800,000 people in Britain’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Our response to today’s budget is predicated upon the priorities of people in these neighbourhoods.
This first budget of the new government was an opportunity to put health inequalities at the centre of government policy. People in the most disadvantaged communities have been adversely affected by over a decade of rising prices, stagnant wages, declining public services and, consequentially, worsening health outcomes and falling life expectancy. We welcome many of today’s announcements which will help to improve the foundations that protect health.
Young people - Young people have increasingly been shut out of decent work and evidence shows that this adversely impacts their mental health. Increasing the minimum wage for 18-20 year olds with a view to closing the gap to the national living wage altogether is a very welcome step towards fairer pay for young people. People’s Health Trust will soon be launching a funding programme to invest in young people experiencing common mental health problems and support them into good work.
Children - Tripling funding for breakfast clubs so that children in thousands of schools can access them is also vital to protecting health. Enabling every child in a low-income household to receive a meal at school is one of the simplest ways to support improved health for families on low incomes.
Income - increasing the National Minimum Wage, reducing the cap on Universal Credit deductions, raising the Carer’s Allowance Weekly Earning Limit as well as increased funding for the Household Support Fund are all steps which will support those experiencing some of the sharpest health inequalities. The latter, in particular, is a lifeline for people least able to afford essentials like rent, decent food and heating which are essential to good health.
We would have welcomed a stronger approach within the budget to:
Housing – Decent, warm homes are a key determinant of health. We very much welcome the Government’s Renter’s Rights Bill but recognise that it is enforcement which will make this work. We were pleased that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government shared our view when she announced her intention to secure ring-fenced extra funding for housing enforcement and were disappointed not to see any mention of spending on this critical area within the Chancellor’s budget.
Warm homes - People’s Health Trust recently spoke with dozens of community organisations working with older people across the country about the recent changes to the eligibility of Winter Fuel Payments. We know that cold homes are the leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and serious respiratory conditions. We called for a reversal to these changes and a full equalities impact assessment, assessing the real health impacts of the change. Rises in the basic and new State Pension and maintaining the triple lock are positive developments to soften this landing, but around 2.5 million older people on low incomes will fall short of qualifying for the Winter Fuel Payment this year, placing their health at increased risk this winter.
Transition to prevention - Like many organisations, we support a cross-departmental approach towards health prevention and would have liked to have seen budget dedicated to making this important step a reality if we are to make any kind of significant change to health inequalities.
