Health and work: a local perspective - insights from Chapeltown and specialist employment advice

There is a summary of the report below. Click here 2 MB to access a pdf version of the full report, or here to access an editable Google doc version.

Summary

Local context matters for shaping both health and employment outcomes. People across the UK face varying employment challenges -  from weak local job markets to insecure, low-paid, inflexible or exploitative work, with some employers unwilling to make reasonable adjustments. These challenges can worsen existing health problems and inequalities, creating a cycle that’s difficult to break.

Citizens Advice, with its strong network of local offices across England and Wales, supports thousands of people each year through these challenges. In 2024 alone, we helped over 92,000 people with employment issues. Our frontline local Citizens Advice offices - embedded in communities - are uniquely placed to observe how poor employment conditions and lack of opportunities intersect with health inequalities across different geographic areas.

This report takes a closer look at Chapeltown, an area in the city of Leeds that experiences multiple forms of deprivation, to explore these issues further. We’ve chosen this area for our first local deep dive because Leeds contains some of the deepest pockets of poverty in the country, which contribute to widening health inequalities across the city.

The report highlights how structural inequalities intersect and compound, reinforcing unequal health outcomes across regions. It also underscores the vital role of local advice services in helping people, especially in underrepresented areas, navigate workplace issues - and the positive impact this support can have on improving health outcomes.

This report has been authored by Emily Lynn. It is part of a larger research project on health inequalities funded by the Health Foundation.