We can all play a role in fixing this together

We know from our conversations with communities that there are loud, clear, and real concerns about heath and health inequities. And that Black, Middle Eastern, South and East Asian, Gypsy/Roma/Traveller, and Jewish communities especially face deep-rooted health inequities.

Institutions such as The King’s Fund, the Health Foundation, the Nuffield Trust, and the Centre for Health and the Public Interest have consistently evidenced how health inequities — shaped by social, economic, and structural factors — reflect and perpetuate structural racism.

These inequities are deeply embedded across systems. They are not the result of isolated actions by individual organisations. But rather, they stem from long-standing structural dynamics — including unequal access to resources, underrepresentation in decision-making, and discriminatory policy environments — that disproportionately impact racialised communities and limit opportunities for equitable health outcomes.

This has been recognised by health statutory bodies: NHS England and individual NHS Trusts (through the Workforce Race Equality Standard and local anti-racism frameworks), the Care Quality Commission (in its State of Care reports), and Public Health England (in its COVID-19 Beyond the Data review) among others.

The impact of these inequities is deeply concerning. Babies from Black and Black British communities continue to have the highest rate of infant mortality. Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities experience considerably higher rates of mental health difficulties and dramatically lower life expectancy compared with the general population in Ireland and the UK. And the risk of developing diabetes is up to six times higher in South Asian communities, who also face higher mortality from the disease. When we say that not every community has the same starting point, this is what we mean.

When we launched our strategy, It Starts With Community, we promised to support communities to live happier, healthier lives. We doubled down on this, last year, when we promised to put community agency, power, and control at the heart of our funding in England. Tackling health inequities is where these commitments overlap.

So, what are we doing about it? We’re looking for ten established organisations to create with us a partnership to help tackle health inequities stemming from racism, discrimination, and systemic injustice. These organisations will already have a clear track record of working to address structural racism and discrimination – and of directly involving communities with lived experience and expertise of these issues.

We’re looking to invest £50 million into this partnership – funding the ongoing work of these organisations as they continue to tackle health inequities affecting their communities. At the same time, this partnership will work together to develop future funding initiatives – for which we’ve set aside an additional £40 million for the first year – aimed at addressing this issue in new and innovative ways. Partners will lead this work, bringing expert knowledge and lived experience of health inequities.

An older man stands among a group of peers. He is speaking to another old man, gesticulating. — We will commit an initial £50 million to 10 partner organisations

Going forward, we’ll be working together to design other future funding initiatives co-designed to achieve greater health equity. Organisations outside of the partnership, but which are doing valuable work in this space, will be able to apply for these funding initiatives in the near future.

That’s the ‘what’ – as for the ‘who’: we’re looking for organisations that can bring different areas of experience and expertise to the partnership, with a clear track record of:

leading work to tackle structural racism and discrimination, and health inequities
involving people with lived experience of racism and discrimination in their decision making, governance and staff (we’d expect at least 75% of staff come from at least one of the target communities we’ve identified, and that members of these communities are appointed at board level)
having the confidence to drive wider conversations in this area and build a collaborative partnership

We’re especially keen to hear from groups that recognise and respond to the ways in which people’s different lived experiences overlap and intersect.

We want to build a coalition of established experts with a demonstrable track record of impactful work in this space. For newer, less experienced organisations it may be that this initial partnership isn’t right for you. But there will be plenty more opportunities to get involved with our work in the near future. This is one of our core missions. We’re not going away anytime soon. And we’d always encourage interested organisations to consider our full range of open funding programmes. Similarly, larger organisations that do not want to apply for funding can still be involved. We welcome organisations that can bring knowledge and influence to this work. To find out more, send us an email: HealthInequities.EnglandPartnership@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

A young woman and two girls prepare ingredients for cooking. They are smiling. — Successful partner organisations will have a clear track record of working to address structural racism

This new and exciting partnership opens for applications on October 15th.

Health Inequities: Structural Racism and Discrimination Partnership

If we’ve got your attention and you’re thinking of expressing an interest in working with us, we’d ask that you first attend one of our webinars:

For us, this is about connecting communities. Convening. Sharing. Learning from each other. Building trust. To ultimately and effectively transform the systems, structures, and decision-making processes at the root of these inequities. We recognise and value the experience, expertise, and dedication of groups already operating in this area. We want to support organisations and communities through this call.

Ultimately, we want to build on and complement the great efforts across our NHS and wider public sector. This isn’t about pointing fingers. It’s about working together to strive for health equity, to ensure everyone is supported, at their own starting point. We know this won’t be simple. There’s no quick fix. But we know we can all play a role to play in helping to address this.

Funding in your area

Further reading