BMJ article published “Unfair welfare: disability cuts will widen England’s north-south divide”

Health Equity North directors and member representatives have published an article in The BMJ, about how potential cuts to disability will widen England’s regional divide.

The article, co-authored by Professor Clare Bambra, Professor of Public Health at Newcastle University, Dr Luke Munford,  Senior Lecturer in Health Economics, The University of Manchester, Hannah Davies, Executive Director and Dr Natalie Bennett, Research Fellow – Health Inequities, University of Manchester, explains how welfare cuts will hit the most deprived areas and the North of England hardest, with long term health and economic harms.

“In her Spring Statement in March 2025, the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced several changes to personal independence payments (PIP)—a non-means tested benefit to help with the additional costs of living with a disability or long term health problem. The government’s proposals, which also impact on the carer and health related aspects of universal credit, are being framed as a strategy for economic growth and increased workforce participation. Beneath this rhetoric, however, lies an unavoidable truth: regions already weakened by austerity stand to lose tens of millions more from their economies and the most deprived and vulnerable communities will be disproportionately affected.”

You can read the full article here.