Health at the heart of local growth

Key points

• Improving people’s health, especially in the UK’s most deprived communities, is an economic necessity. Poor health reduces people’s ability to participate in the labour market and drives economic inequalities between local areas. Addressing ill health is essential to boost productivity, support inclusive growth and strengthen the economy as a whole.
• This briefing shares some of the ways public health and economic development teams can work together to incorporate health into local growth strategies. It focuses on three interconnected ‘pillars’ for improving local economic growth: employment support and skills development; employers’ role in good work and local procurement; and investment and infrastructure.
• Long-term sickness has become the main driver of economic inactivity in the UK. Working-age people in more deprived areas are more likely to die prematurely and more likely to spend a greater proportion of their working lives in poor health. These inequalities are projected to persist through to 2040 based on current trends.
• The government has committed to ‘raising living standards across every part of the United Kingdom’. But investment in economic development – in areas such as housing, skills, transport and regeneration – will only improve local economies if strategies and interventions recognise two crucial factors: improving physical and mental health, and reducing inequalities.
• Addressing high levels of economic inactivity due to ill health is a major priority for the government, strategic authorities and local authorities, through the Get Britain Working strategy and the Connect to Work programme. These approaches need to be part of broader system-wide action to keep people in work and to prevent ill health and inequalities in the first place.