What we’re calling for
Changing the law to close
the life expectancy gap
We’re campaigning to make the nation’s health a national priority – not just for now but securing meaningful change that lasts beyond each parliamentary term.
If the government plans to stick to its promise and halve the gap in healthy life expectancy, then we need a change in the law that makes action on health inequalities explicit; a legal framework that ensures health is considered in every decision, across every government department, not just in the Department of Health and Social Care. Because our health isn’t just shaped by the health and social care services that we access, but by the world around us.
This would require the government to take coordinated action across the building blocks of health, set clear goals, and make sure health is baked into policy decisions from the start.
That’s why we are calling on MPs to amend the Health Bill currently going through Parliament, to strengthen duties and require government to publish a cross-government strategy with clear targets and accountability.
Alongside 26 organisations from our coalition, we wrote an open letter to Minister Karin Smyth outlining our call to change the law to close the life expectancy gap.
Cementing action on health inequalities in the law by:
Creating a shared responsibility to improve health and reduce inequalities
Improving health shouldn’t sit with just one department – it’s something the whole government needs to take responsibility for. A clear, shared duty would make sure every part of government is working towards the same goal, with policies that support better health rather than pull in different directions. It would also help central government work more effectively with new strategic authorities, giving them the support they need to tackle inequalities locally.
Producing a clear, joined-up plan across government
We need a cross-government strategy that brings everything together – setting priorities, aligning action, and keeping progress on track. Modelling this on the Environment Act framework would give it real structure and staying power, helping ensure that improving health and tackling inequalities isn’t a one-off effort, but a long-term, coordinated plan.
Enforcing long-term targets
To make meaningful progress, the government should set clear, long-term targets focused on what matters most: preventing early deaths, reducing long-term health conditions, and improving mental wellbeing throughout people’s lives. These targets would help keep attention on the bigger picture, while giving a clear sense of what success looks like.
Being open and accountable about progress
It’s important that progress is visible and that government is held to account. That means regularly reporting to parliament and the public, as well as drawing on independent experts to provide challenge and insight. Being transparent about what’s working, and what isn’t, will help build trust and keep momentum behind the agenda.
Considering health in every major decision
Big policy decisions – from housing to transport to jobs – can have a huge impact on people’s health. By rolling out Health Impact Assessments across major policies, as is already happening in Wales, we can make sure those impacts are considered upfront. This helps avoid decisions that unintentionally widen inequalities and instead supports choices that improve health over the long term.
Working with our members to fix the building blocks of health
We’re also campaigning to ensure that the building blocks of health are in place so everyone can live a long and healthy life.
We do that by supporting and amplifying our members’ campaigning across the building blocks of health, and in the past have funded a series of partnership policy posts within our member organisations to develop evidence-based policy solutions that helped shape our campaigning.
Our members campaign to:
- Extend employment support
- Reform Statutory Sick Pay
- Improve access to work and occupational health
With our support, Learning & Work Institute developed policy solutions to ensure that jobs help and not hinder health, covering ways to support disabled people and people with long-term conditions to move into and remain in work, how local governments can create healthier working lives and creating healthy home and hybrid working.
We also backed Race Equality Foundation’s Too Poor to Be Sick campaign, shining a light on how insecure work hits the health of Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic communities.
Our members campaign to:
- Build stronger communities through place-based funding, better engagement with residents in decision-making affecting public services, and supporting community development initiatives.
- Invest in walking, wheeling and cycling to create healthy highstreets
- Restore public health funding
- Update planning laws to promote health
Our members campaign to:
- Build new social housing for the most in need
- Ensure decent homes
- Guarantee secure, affordable tenancies
With Crisis, we funded a policy post exploring affordability in the private rented housing sector that then underpinned their campaigning for affordable rents in the UK. As part of this, we supported their call to raise Local Housing Allowance so that it continues to cover at least the bottom 30% of rents.
Our members campaign to:
- Achieve WHO air quality standards
- The right to breathe clean air to be enshrined in UK law
- Improve access to nature for everyone
With our funding, Global Action Plan developed an ambitious policy framework for clean air and launched Clean Air Day, the UK’s largest air pollution campaign.
We also backed The Wildlife Trusts’ Access to Nature for All campaign, helping get more people into green spaces and supporting communities working to tackle health inequalities through nature.
Our members campaign to:
- Remove the two-child benefit limit and household benefit cap
- Ensure Universal Credit meets the cost of essentials
- Ensure that reforms to the welfare system do not further entrench health inequalities
With our funding, The Food Foundation took part at the Liberal Democrats and Labour 2025 party conferences: where their young Food Ambassadors spotlighted how food inequality impacts our health, money, environment, and childhoods.
Our members campaign to:
- Guarantee free and nutritious school meals
- Reinvest in Sure Start
- Improve school food standards
- Provide young people with mental health support in their communities
With our funding, we backed Centre for Mental Health‘s Future Minds campaign through a headline event at Labour’s 2025 party conference, community mobilisation, and a creative media push amplifying young voices on mental health inequality.
