Improving Lives? Monitoring the impacts on health and health inequalities of post-2010 Welfare Reform and economic change in Scotland

This report:

• details social security changes in the UK (Chapter 1)
• examines changes in income, employment, and social security alongside trends in health and health inequalities in Scotland (Chapters 2 and 3)
• discusses the implications of the findings from the above (Chapter 4).

It is the fourth in a series investigating the role of post-2010 Welfare Reforms on health and its determinants in Scotland.*

Changes to the economy and to social protection can have a substantial impact on the health of the population. Good work can help improve health. Job insecurity, lack of work or poor-quality work can damage health. Many low-income households (including many working families) rely on social security to provide sufficient income to live and maintain their health and wellbeing.

* The third report, Working and hurting - Publications - Public Health Scotland, was published in 2018.