Cost-of-living crisis will harm Londoners’ health and requires urgent action

A new Marmot review on the cost-of-living crisis in London launched on 20th January, 2023, lays out what needs to be done as a matter of urgency to support the health of Londoners, over half of whom are already 'financially struggling' or 'just about managing'. ' The Rising Cost of Living: A Review of Interventions to Reduce Impacts on Health Inequalities in London' Those affected include children, women, people living with disabilities and long-term conditions, people from minority ethnic groups, lone parents and people who are socially excluded, such as rough sleepers, undocumented migrants and sex workers. Despite being the richest city in the UK, London has the highest rate of poverty of any region in England, with more than a quarter (27%) of the capital's residents living in poverty in 2021, after taking housing costs into account. The pandemic widened inequalities in life expectancy between the richest and poorest communities in London and across England, with life expectancy of both men and women falling further and faster in the poorest communities. In 2020, London saw the largest increase in preventable deaths of any region in the UK, which disproportionately affected the most deprived communities. These same communities are the most at risk from the cost-of-living crisis. Professor Sir Michael Marmot CH, Director, UCL Institute of Health Equity, said:  "Income inequalities are wider across the capital than the rest of the UK with people in the top 10% of society earning over ten times more than people in the poorest 10% - and those people earn 30% less than the rest of the UK.