New analysis found women with no qualifications had a premature mortality rate 2.5 times as high as those with a degree or higher. Men who are long-term unemployed or who had never worked had a rate 3.5 times as high as those in higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations.

Freya Tracey, principal data analyst at The Health Foundation, called for a cross-Government approach to reduce inequalities, adding: ‘The Government's approach to devolution must include supporting local areas to deliver prevention to reduce health inequalities. Without sustained action, inequalities will continue to cut lives short.'

The think-tank found higher qualifications and certain occupation types did not fully protect people from the effect of living in deprived areas. While higher education or occupation mitigated the impact of deprivation on the risks of an early death, men with a degree or higher and men in higher managerial and professional occupations who live in the most deprived areas of England had a risk of dying early still about twice as high as their peers in the least deprived areas.

The size of socioeconomic inequalities also differed between regions and was less pronounced within London than within most other areas.

In the North West, for example, the inequality divide between different groups was substantially higher than the capital.