25 June 2010 Last updated at 11:06 ET

Welfare cuts put added health strain on population

Drinking and smoking are two causes of poor health

Cutting welfare budgets could cost lives, say researchers.

Analysis of European data showed that a £70 reduction in welfare spending per person is associated with a 2.8% rise in alcohol-related deaths and 1.2% rise in deaths from heart disease.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, the UK research team said ordinary people may be paying the ultimate price for budget cuts.

One expert added that social support was vital for health.

The study comes after the government announced sweeping budget cuts, including reductions in tax credits for families, housing benefit and maternity grants.

To pick out the effects of welfare funding on health, researchers looked at government spending in 15 European countries, including the UK, from 1980 to 2005.

Generally the trends showed that when social spending - including support for families and the unemployed - was high, death rates fell, but when they were low, rates rose substantially.

In fact, for every £70 drop in spending per person there was a 1.19% rise in overall deaths.

The biggest effect was seen in illnesses linked to social circumstances, such as heart disease.

And a more in-depth look showed that this link was specific to social welfare spending and independent of healthcare spending.

The analysis also showed that reducing other forms of government spending, such as on the military or prisons, had no such negative impact on the public's health.

There are currently around 200,000 heart disease deaths each year in the UK and around 9,000 deaths from alcohol.

Ringfenced budgets

Study leader Dr David Stuckler, a lecturer at the University of Oxford, said that although governments may feel they are protecting population health by safeguarding the healthcare budgets, welfare spending may actually be more important.

In addition, he warned that the added burden of poor health linked to welfare cuts could place more strain on the NHS.

"So far the discussions around budget cuts have largely focused on economics.

"But social circumstances are crucial to people's health and our study shows there could be quite significant harms.

"If we want to promote a sustainable recovery in Britain, we must first ensure that we have taken care of people's most basic health needs."

Professor Alan Maryon-Davies, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: "Health is much wider than the health service and social support is crucially important.

"It would be tragic if we find ourselves in this recession dismantling the welfare state."

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "We are committed to reforming the welfare system to make work pay.

"We know that work itself is the best way out of poverty."

Your comments

Society has a duty of care to its citizens - however I feel many people abuse the welfare system to extremes. Some young single parents are in this position because they know it is probably their best option to get a house and a variety of benefits to live off. People should not be left to starve but if they don't work they should be living a very basic life or at least made to contribute to society in a voluntary capacity in return for benefits.

Ian, Belfast

I am not concerned in the slightest. Welfare spending has been far too high. Having a situation where people can be better off by not working is ridiculous in the extreme.

Nick Stevens, Exeter

I am not concerned in the slightest about welfare cuts. I believe that the people who need it will still be getting it. A situation I know of allows a man to work only 15 hours per week whilst his partner, who could work part time, does not work, and the government tops his wages up to over the £22,000 mark to assist them. The fact is they are taking advantage of a system that is in place to help people in real need. I believe if these measures are taken it will actually free up more money for those who really need it.

Lee, Isle of Wight

I don't think anyone is happy about the cuts. I don't think the government likes introducing them, but they are needed. No government should be held accountable if some people decide to be stupid and drink themselves to death with the little money they've got, instead of trying to improve their lives.

Stoyana Boykova, Luton

I am extremely concerned about my autistic adult son's benefits and also my severely physically disabled friend. Neither can work and both are disabled from birth. Life is very hard for them both and it is right they should have a reasonable standard of living despite the fact they cannot work.

JB, Barrow-in-Furness

It is sad the government paints us all with the same brush. My wife is disabled with a disease that slowly eats at her physical and mental health. Sadly, I am in the position where I can't work because I have to act as her carer. If I don't do this she will have to have fairly frequent long term stays in hospitals (a bigger tax burden). For either of us it is a degrading existence to live off hand outs.

Kevin Strange, Colchester

It is better to have a large welfare budget than the alternative. Depression will increase, crime will increase, drug taking, stress, poor health, social division, and for what? The jobs aren't out there.

Sandra, Gloucester

Being very healthy for most of my life and paying into the system for many years, I have taken very little from the NHS or the welfare state. Now in my mid 50s, a previously unknown genetic disorder has resulted in me requiring both NHS and mobility assistance. I am faced, if I live long enough, with possible cuts to my mobility allowance, etc. Have I now become a liability?

Anon, Wakefield.

This comes as no surprise to those of us who are unable (not unwilling) to gain employment. Cuts in welfare spending make our lives more difficult; constant scrutiny and reassessment of claims for benefits put those of who are least able to cope with stress under even more, which makes our illnesses worse.

JM, Bristol