Close
Health Justice Partnerships are collaborations between health services and organisations specialising in welfare rights.
Welfare rights include those relating to: benefits, debt, housing, employment, immigration, education and community care. In Health Justice Partnerships, advice on these issues is integrated with patient care. This helps to tackle social and economic circumstances that are strongly harmful to health and are root causes of health inequality.
Health Justice Partnerships exist across the UK. Some are local, covering a small area or single site. Others serve wider counties and regions. They exist in many types of health services, including:
- GP practices
- Hospitals
- Mental health services
- Hospices
- Maternity services
- … and more
They bring together health teams with welfare rights professionals, to address complex individual needs and work towards health equity and social justice. Examples can be found across the world, including in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Canada.
Read our case studies on Health Justice Partnerships across the UK.
How do they work in practice?
Health justice partnerships are very diverse projects and can be designed in different ways to fit with the local healthcare setting. An overview of approaches and case studies can be found in our 2018 report: The Health Justice Landscape in England and Wales.
See our case studies page for spotlights on individual services.
Welfare rights advice can be provided by:
- Local authorities (money advice or welfare rights units)
- Charities (diverse local providers)
- Law centres and other specialist advice agencies
In practice, welfare rights teams will often:
- Take referrals from healthcare professionals
- Offer advice appointments for patients in their place of care
- Become members of multi-disciplinary care teams
Visit the Information for Practitioners page for more information and guidance.
What can Health Partnerships Achieve?
Health Justice Partnerships can:
- Improve access to seamless support and a patient-focused service for legal advice at a time and place of need.
- Enable the health service to respond more effectively to people’s needs, tackling poverty and the social determinants of health that impact on health and create health inequalities.
- Improve social and economic circumstances by resolving problems with income, debt, housing, and other welfare rights issues.
- Support health and wellbeing, especially improving mental health by relieving pressures and anxieties caused by poverty and social welfare problems.
- Support healthcare teams with the administration created by welfare problems, enabling them to focus more on caring.
- Act on social policy, addressing discriminatory or harmful practices affecting the health of whole communities.
Please see the Research page for more information and evaluations of Health Justice.
Why are Health Justice Partnerships Important now?
The cost-of-living crisis is creating acute hardship for people already in the most difficult circumstances. People with poor health and disabilities are more likely to experience welfare rights issues because they may have additional support needs or be unable to work. It can be very difficult for people to obtain the support they are entitled to; evidence shows that people with welfare needs are often unaware of their legal rights and don’t know how to access the advice necessary to enforce them.
Health justice partnerships are a critical intervention in the fight against health inequalities. The law can be a powerful tool to change people’s circumstances for the better and contribute to improved health and wellbeing. However, welfare rights advice services have been impacted by cuts to local authorities and legal aid spending, and are now in short supply. It is therefore critical that they are targeted towards people in need, and partnerships with healthcare can help to reach vulnerable groups more effectively.
Welfare rights issues are harmful to health if left unresolved. Avoidably, people will live in poverty, poor conditions, and stressful circumstances. This can cause significant anxiety and can directly impact mental health and wellbeing. It can also lead to social isolation and lack of adequate food and warmth, affecting both physical and mental health.
Integrated working between healthcare and other sectors is developing rapidly in local areas, through Social Prescribing and the move towards Integrated Care Systems. This presents opportunities to integrate welfare rights advice services within new models of care.
Links to relevant health and legal policies in the UK can be found under Useful Links on the Information for Practitioners page.
Scotland’s Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships
Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships are government-funded partnerships between welfare advice and healthcare services in Scotland. Funded by the Scottish Government since 2021, Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships offer in-house welfare rights officers across GP practices in Scotland. Support covered by the service includes advice on welfare benefits, debt resolution, housing, employment, and in some cases, representation at tribunal hearings.
The service aims to reduce pressure on GPs and primary care services by directing individuals to advisors who can support them with welfare needs, while healthcare professionals can focus on clinical needs. Offering early intervention to welfare rights issues, Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships also offer confidential support and agency to those who would otherwise be unable to access welfare advice.
More information and resources for practitioners can be found on the Improvement Service website.
Healthier Wealthier Children is another project in Scotland that aims to support pregnant women and families with young children with financial worries. Started in 2010, the project is a collaboration between welfare advice services and antenatal and community child heath services, including midwives, health visitors, oral health and breastfeeding advisors, parenting support workers, and early education staff.