Rising rates of life expectancy are grinding to a halt in England after more than 100 years of continuous progress, a leading health expert has said, adding that poor living and working conditions could be among the factors responsible.

University College London (UCL) expert Sir Michael Marmot said he was “deeply concerned” by the situation, calling it “historically highly unusual”. He said it was “entirely possible” austerity was to blame and said the issue needed looking at urgently. Using Office for National Statistics projections for babies born since 2000, Sir Michael, who has advised both the Government and World Health Organisation on health inequalities, showed the rate of increase in life expectancy had nearly halved since 2010 in England.

Between 2000 and 2015, life expectancy at birth increased by one year every five years for women and by one year every 3.5 years for men.

But this compares to one year every 10 years for women and one for every six for men post-2010.

Sir Michael, who is director of the Institute of Health Equity at UCL, said this showed the growth in life expectancy was “pretty close to having ground to a halt”. He explained social factors such as education, employment and working conditions and poverty all affected life expectancy by influencing lifestyles. And as austerity was placing pressures on these factors, they may in turn be influencing life expectancy – something reflected in the large gulf between how long the richest and the poorest can expect to live. The health consequences of the sharp growth in insecure work were highlighted last week with the publication of the government commissioned Taylor Report. More unions have added their voice to the TUC’s call for “a proper crackdown on bad bosses who treat their staff like disposable labour” going beyond the Taylor Report’s recommendations, adding ‘good work’ couldn’t be left employer goodwill.