Money and Health (Mental and Physical)

Mental health is an area that cuts across the Money and Pension Service (MaPS)’s financial wellbeing strategy, and many sources of evidence demonstrate that people who experience mental health issues are particularly susceptible to experiencing financial difficulties.

With 1 in 4 people experiencing mental health challenges each year, understanding the relationship between financial wellbeing and mental health is an urgent priority. Previous work in this area has established the dual relationship between financial difficulties and mental health, which may have been exacerbated in the recent context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the costs of living crisis.

The purpose of this work is therefore to conduct a rapid evidence review of recent, relevant studies which consider the links between financial wellbeing and mental health in the UK.

Output: Final report on MaPS

CPFW Report: Money and Mental Health

Aston press release June 2023

Partners: Money and Pension Service

Team: Hayley James and Andy Lymer

Building on our report on the relationship between mental health and financial wellbeing, we have produced another piece of evidence review for Money and Pensions Service which considers the relationship between physical health and financial wellbeing.

This review echoes established findings on socio-economic health inequalities, where those with lower socio-economic status are more likely to experience poor health and have shorter lifespans due to poverty and deprivation at the household and local area level. We highlight how this sets the long-term context for interactions between physical health and financial wellbeing in the short and medium term. Experiencing poor physical health creates a burden of direct and indirect costs, while experiencing poor financial wellbeing affects physical health through increased stress and insecurity, limiting opportunities for health-supporting behaviours like eating well and exercising, while also leading people towards health-limiting behaviours like smoking and drinking.

However we found only limited evidence on the impact of interventions operating at the intersection of health and financial wellbeing, with little evidence as to how these play out across different groups over time. We think there’s a need for more research and particularly interventions which address the complex relationships between financial wellbeing and both physical and mental health for everyone in the UK, something we’re going to be working on more as a centre.

Output: Final report on MaPS

CPFW Report: Money and Physical Health

Aston press release Aug 2024

Partners: Money and Pension Service

Team: Hayley James, Alexus Davies and Andy Lymer