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‘Wealth redistribution will save lives’

The UKPHA has called on the chancellor to introduce a redistributive tax policy, following the publication of research indicating that even a minor shift in wealth could prevent 10,000 premature deaths each year.

‘The government is committed to eliminating child poverty in the UK,’ said UKPHA chair Geof Rayner. The Working Families Tax Credit and benefits increases have helped, he said, ‘but the wages of senior bosses are actually going up by 10-12 per cent, so relative poverty is still increasing in Britain.’

The chancellor has to make sure that ‘fair play’ is involved, ‘not just in terms of bottom-end incomes, but also the relative scales between people at the top and those at the bottom’, he said.

Findings issued by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the ‘health gap’ between the richest and poorest parts of Britain suggest that even a modest redistribution of income and wealth would have a significant impact on mortality rates in the most disadvantaged areas.

Research from the universities of Leeds and Bristol, using data from every parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales, found that the highest number of ‘excess’ deaths occur in the poorest areas. It also found that more children die in areas where child poverty is highest.

The study suggests that:

• Returning inequalities in income and wealth to their 1983 levels through redistribution would prevent about 7,500 annual deaths among the under 65s.
• Achieving ‘full’ employment (where no one was receiving long-term unemployment benefit) would prevent about 2,500 premature deaths a year.
• Reaching the government target of eradicating child poverty within a generation would save the lives of about 1,400 children under 15 each year.

‘In terms of numbers of lives saved, a mild redistribution of income would be the most valuable policy to implement,’ said Richard Mitchell, one of the authors of the study. ‘Our report suggests that the growth in inequalities in health can be slowed by successful social policies.’

Mary Shaw, another co-author of the report, added: ‘Improving conditions for today’s children will improve the life chances of succeeding generations. In that sense, the estimates we have made of the number of lives that could be saved are conservative.’

Rayner added that a government commitment to develop a health inequalities target needs to become a reality. He said: ‘We hope to see the development of the health inequalities target over the next six months, and the UKPHA wants to work with the government to make sure the target is one that is a real aspiration but also achievable.’

Inequalities in life and death: What if Britain were more equal is published by The Policy Press and available from Marston Book Services, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4YN (01235 465500) price £13.95, plus £2.50 p&p. Details can also be accessed on: www.social-medicine.com/jrf/appendix.html