Reducing health inequalities

The costs of smoking fall most heavily on communities that are struggling against poverty and inequality. On this page you can find out more about:

• Our Engagement Team
• Our work engaging with communities
• Smoking and mental health
• Children, young people and families
• Money advice

Smoking is a major contributor to health inequality.

• The harm caused by tobacco is a major factor in the life expectancy gap between those living in the most and least deprived areas.
• Smoking rates in the most deprived communities are five times higher than in the least deprived
• Almost half of adults who are permanently sick or disabled, or who are unemployed and seeking work, smoke tobacco. 
• Smoking rates are particularly high amongst people with mental health issues, the prison population and care experienced people. 

Addressing smoking can contribute to reducing poverty and tackling health inequalities…

• Smoking is a social justice issue. Smoking is highly addictive, most people were still children when they started - most people who smoke say that they want to stop.
• Around 69,000 households in Scotland could be lifted out of poverty if smoking costs were removed.
• If the smoking rate in the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland fell just 1%, those communities would save around £16 million a year in tobacco costs.

Our Engagement Team

ASH Scotland's Engagement Team provides a wide range of support, resources and training to enable organisations to address smoking and improve the health and wellbeing of the communities they support. 

Browse our Training, Resources and Support Brochure to see how we can support you. 

Contact our Engagement Team to arrange a conversation about how we can help by emailing enquiries@ashscotland.org.uk.  

Our work engaging with communities

Community organisations are well placed to support people to improve their mental, physical and financial wellbeing through addressing smoking.

ASH Scotland’s Engagement Team provide support to communities in areas of high deprivation to respond to the impact smoking has in their communities, whilst contributing to reducing poverty and tackling health inequalities. Our team:

• ​Engage with local partners, with a vested interest in ending poverty and reducing inequalities.
• Shape understanding and test ways to address smoking in a compassionate, supportive and person-centred way.
• Award small grants and package of tailored support to community organisations to address smoking.
• Deliver training and learning to increase people’s confidence and knowledge in raising the issue of smoking in community settings.
• Signpost and link organisations with local Quit Your Way services, where people can get free expert support to quit. People are 4x more likely to succeed with support.

*New* eLearning: Smoking in Scotland's areas of high deprivation

The relationship between smoking and poverty is complex and is linked with issues such as mental health and inequalities. ASH Scotland’s new eLearning module looks at:

• The impact of smoking and health inequalities.
• The links between smoking and poverty.
• How to sensitively raise the issue of smoking with people you support.

To access the module simply register for a free account at www.ashscotlandmoodle.org.uk . This module takes around 45minutes to complete. It is for anyone who works or volunteers in a community setting. 

Smoking & Poverty report (2019)

Our “smoking and poverty” collaboration with the Poverty Alliance, explored how we can encourage and support better partnership working between health interests and anti-poverty campaigns. It included recommendations for improving the language and assumptions we use to help health and anti-poverty interests find common ground. For more information download the summary report (4 pages) or the full report (28 pages).

Our work addressing smoking and mental health

There are strong links between smoking and mental health - and in the UK, around a third of all tobacco is used by people with mental health issues.  

There is now consistent evidence to show that stopping smoking is associated with improvements in depression, anxiety, stress and psychological quality of life compared with continuing to smoke. 

Find out more about our work on smoking and mental health here.

Our work with children, young people and families 

We have a range of support and resources available to anyone who works or volunteers with children, young people and families. Find out more here or explore these links: 

• Scotland's Charter for a Tobacco-free Generation
• Resources for schools
• Working with young people and vaping
• Supporting young carers
• Smoke-free homes
• Resources for parents and carers
• Smoke-free campuses

Our work with money advice settings

To reduce the financial impact of smoking, ASH Scotland has worked with money advice services to produce resources to help anyone providing debt or financial advice to raise the issue of smoking in a constructive, non-judgemental way.

Find out more about our previous work with money advice settings here.

In the next year our Engagement Team will be working to develop and deliver work on the financial impact of smoking, please email cbennett@ashscotland.org.uk for more information or if you would like to get involved. 

elearning: Raising the issue of smoking in a money advice setting

This module is designed for money advice organisations, foodbanks and community organisations who offer any type of financial advice and support. It enables advisors to feel confident in having non-judgemental conversations around the financial costs of smoking and highlight the benefits of stopping smoking and saving money. It takes aroudn 45 minutes to complete.

To access the module register for a free account at www.ashscotlandmoodle.org.uk.