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According to an analysis by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), smoking costs society £17 billion a year - nearly £5 billion more than previously estimated. ASH calculated the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, social care and fire damage due to smoking.
The huge rise comes from a reassessment of the impact of smoking on productivity. ASH said: “Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to become ill while of working age, increasing the likelihood of being out of work and reducing the average wages of smokers. Smokers are also more likely to die while they are still of working age, creating a further loss to the economy.”
According to ASH, productivity costs to the economy from smoking have hit £13.2 billion. That includes £6 billion of smoking-related lost earnings, £5.7 billion from smoking-related unemployment and £1.44 billion from smoking-related early deaths.
The charity claimed healthcare costs amount to another £2.4 billion, while “social care”, which “includes the cost of care provided in the home and, for the first time, residential care costs”, accounts for £1.19bn. It said “fire costs” made up nearly £283m, with “smoking-related fires are the leading cause of fire-related deaths, and the costs of property damage, injuries and deaths”. ASH said 6.1m people smoke in England, spending a combined £11.95bn a year - or just under £2,000 each.
Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH, said: “Smoking is a drain on society. It’s a cost to individuals in terms of their health and wealth and a cost to us all because it undermines the productivity of our economy and places additional burdens on our NHS and care services. The Government have delayed the tobacco control plan it promised last year which is now urgently needed with only eight years left to achieve the goal of England being smokefree by 2030.”
Source: Mirror, 14 January 2022
See also: ASH Press Release: Smoking costs society £17bn – £5bn more than previously estimated
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According to figures published today (14th January), smoking in the North East costs the region over £887 million a year in healthcare, social care costs and lost earnings. That works out at around £2.5 million a day and follows the analysis of national data for charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), which revealed the annual bill for England was £17 billion.
Smoking costs the NHS £124.9 million in smoking-related healthcare. The social care cost is £66.9 million, with smokers needing social care at a younger age than non-smokers for everyday tasks such as dressing, walking and using the toilet due to smoking. This includes the cost of care to local authorities, care provided in the home, and residential care costs for the first time. Meanwhile, £684 million a year is lost in earnings and employment prospects.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Smoking is our biggest preventable killer and a tragedy to the tens of thousands of families who lose a loved one every year. […] It is a scandal that tobacco companies are still making enormous profits from peddling this killer addiction while the NHS and local authorities are expecting to pay for their damage. It is time that tobacco companies are made to pay for the cost.”
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health has called on the Government to include a set of new measures in its forthcoming Tobacco Control Plan. These include a “polluter pays” amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, forcing tobacco manufacturers to pay for measures to reduce smoking and support people to quit, and tough new regulations to protect children and young people from becoming smokers and help smokers quit, including consulting on raising the age of sale for tobacco from 18 to 21.
Source: Chronicle Live, 14 January 2022
See also: The Shields Gazette - Smoking runs up £55m tabs in South Tyneside
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Durham Constabulary has issued a warning to parents after police in Darlington learned that children under 12 are being supplied e-cigarettes and vapes.
Darlington Police has revealed it will be working alongside Trading Standards to clamp down on the issue after it was brought to officers’ attention. The legal age to buy vapes and e-cigarettes is 18 – the same as purchasing actual cigarettes. Alerting parents on social media, a spokesperson for Darlington Police said: “If you are aware that your children have one of these and are under the age of 18 years, please give appropriate advice to your child. These can affect your child’s health and are becoming highly addictive.”
Source: Gazette Live, 13 January 2022
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On Thursday (13 January), Taiwan’s cabinet initiated an amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, aiming to ban e-cigarettes and flavoured cigarettes and increase health hazard warning content on cigarette packages.
The bill also proposes to raise the smoking age from 18 to 20, stating that according to an American study, as people get older, their chances of becoming addicted to tobacco will decrease.
According to the bill, unapproved new tobacco products, such as heated tobacco products, will have to be submitted to the authorities in the central government for health risk assessments, and only when they are sanctioned can they be manufactured or imported.
The areas where smoking is banned are proposed to be extended to include college campuses, kindergartens, daycare centres, and family childcare homes, with bars and nightclubs being listed as no-smoking facilities but allowed to install smoking rooms.
Source: Taiwan News, 13 January 2022
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Yesterday (13 January), the House of Lords debated amendments to the Health and Care Bill at Committee Stage. This included Amendment 66 which expands Integrated Care Board’s statutory responsibilities with respect to inequalities to include addressing modifiable behavioural risk factors like smoking, obesity and alcohol. Several Peers spoke in support of the amendment. Timings below.
Lord Young of Cookham 12.34.30
Lord Rennard 12.54.50
Lord Faulkner of Worcester 13:12:28
Lord Crisp 13:56:10
Source: Parliament Live TV, 13 January 2022
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ASH has today launched its brand new and improved Ready Reckoner, complete with updated data and estimates on the cost of smoking to society in England, and improved functionality and a new look.
The new Ready Reckoner uses a new methodology which has resulted in some changes:
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The national cost to society is now estimated to be £17.04bn compared to £12.5bn in the 2019 version, largely thanks to new analysis on the impact of smoking on productivity.
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The Reckoner uses a new model for calculating the cost of smoking, meaning estimates around social care costs, and NHS costs are not comparable with previous versions.
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Due to weighting and rounding of data taken from the Annual Population Survey 2019, regional and national figures may not equal the sum of the corresponding local authority estimates.
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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