Fair and Healthy Sheffield Plan

It’s very clear from our Sheffield City Goals that fairness and health really matter to us as a city. One of our goals says we want to ‘shape our city around fairness, wellbeing and combating poverty.’ 

The aim of the plan is to close the unfair gaps in length and quality of life by improving the health and wellbeing of those worst off the fastest.

Right now, things are not fair. Some people in Sheffield die younger and have worse health than others. That includes people living in poverty, those with disabilities, people with serious mental illnesses, people from some ethnic minority groups, people experiencing homelessness and people who are seeking asylum or are refugees. 

These differences don't happen by accident. They happen because of the conditions we’re born into and that we live in. This includes facing racism and discrimination, living in poverty, not getting a good education, having low-paying and insecure jobs, living in poor housing, the quality of food we can access, the support we get from family and friends, the state of our local area, and how easy it is to access health and social care. Global warming also affects our lives.

We know it doesn’t have to be this way, and there are things we can do to create a different future.

Child catching a bubble in a park

What’s in the plan?

The Fair and Heathy Sheffield plan is made up of eight building blocks and four radical shifts. 

The eight building blocks are the foundations that need to be in place for everyone to live a long and healthy life. They include tackling racism and discrimination, giving every child a good start in life, ensuring everyone has a decent standard of living, helping people to reach their full potential and have control over their lives, providing good work for all, developing healthy places and communities, ensuring fair access to health and social care services, and addressing the climate and environmental crisis. 

The four radical shifts are how everyone in the city needs to do things differently to make Sheffield fairer and heathier. These radical shifts are: brave and compassionate leadership and a thriving workforce that can take action, working together across sectors and with communities, greater and fairer investment in creating health and wellbeing and preventing illness, and measuring and reporting what matters and being answerable for our commitments. 

How are we going to make it happen?

Making this plan work needs everyone in Sheffield to come together, do their part and take action. No single group or organisation can do it alone. We need partnership groups across the city, the Council, the NHS, the Universities, the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise sectors, businesses of all sizes, and local communities to get involved. 

And we need you too—whether you live, work, or volunteer in Sheffield, think about how you can help make Sheffield fairer and healthier. What can you do to contribute?

The Health and Wellbeing Board has a yearly plan that explains what we will do to make Sheffield fairer and healthier. This plan focuses on the areas where the Board can make the biggest difference.

This is a big job, and it will take time, so the plan will last for 10 years from 2024 to 2034. We will regularly check our progress and the impact we’re having to make sure we’re on the right path. Every three years the Health and Wellbeing Board will also review where we need to focus our efforts within this plan.

You can download a summary of the Plan below:

The Building Blocks