Deprivation and Inequality
We live in a world and country with significant disparities in the resources, wealth and access to services. Many young people will be without the basic means they need to thrive or face exclusion relative to their peers. Data is available about poverty and deprivation at a community and household level.
There is no single, universally accepted definition of poverty, deprivation or inequality. As the data returned from different definitions can significantly vary the rates of people experiencing poverty they are often debated and politicised decisions.
Poverty measures tend to look at experience before or after housing costs are deducted with poverty calculated based on these different definitions of income. There are two key measures used. Relative poverty – those living in households with income below 60% of the median in that year – or in absolute poverty – those living in households with income below 60% of a specific figure.
Often, charities and academics will focus on whether someone’s resources meet their needs. This accounts for differences among households such as costs of childcare and disability, savings and access to assets. The focus is more on whether their resources allow them to participate in their community.
Key places to start
The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a powerful tool measuring deprivation encompassing a wide range of aspects of an individual’s living conditions. It brings together official statistics on seven key domains of deprivation (Income, Employment, Education, Health, Crime, Barriers to Housing & Services, and Living Environment). It is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in England.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS)’s Personal and household finances section has regularly updated analysis of income, employment, income deprivation, etc.
Things to consider
Debates about the measurement of poverty, deprivation and inequality can affect the figures collected and returned. The House of Commons Library research briefing on Poverty in the UK gives a summary key issues and tips for interpreting the figures.
These tools and publications bring together multiple data sources. They often have to make decisions about what features to give more or less weight, what to exclude or include. This can affect the scores given to a local area. Always become aware of the key original sources and the weighting that they give to each source indicator. There may also be varying levels of completeness and confidence in different sources.
Barry is trying to understand the needs of disabled young people in his local area. The IMD shows an area of high deprivation surrounded by low deprivation, and private rental market summary statistics show high rents. He explores recent Office for National Statistics publications and finds that disabled adults reported being more affected by the cost of living rises. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s reports confirm that families with disabled adult are much more likely to be in poverty. He plans a consultation with local disabled adults in touch with his service to consider how they are managing their income and what support they may need.
Other sources of information
For national headline picture of poverty, see summaries by the House of Commons Library, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Child Poverty Action Group.
There are a range of useful and relevant reports on the Office for National Statistics website. For example, the Understanding Towns publication explores job density and income deprivation for urban areas with a population between 5,000 and 225,000.
In 2022 the Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain publication specifically explored the impact of increased cost of living in a short period broken down by age, parental status, disability etc.
Data sources
What this is:
Most local authorities will have a local economic development or regeneration strategy or similar plan, setting out key challenges to the local economy as well as plans to tackle these. This plan can be a good source of data on poverty and inequality in your local area, as well as local employment and skills challenges.
Who it includes:
It will generally cover the whole local community.
Where it covers:
Local authority.
When updated:
Varies by local authority
How to use:
The strategy for your local area may be available as a published report / pdf, or as a website-based interactive document. This may be a standalone document or part of the overall strategic plan for the area.
It will generally be published on your Local Authority or Combined Authority websites. Search for the name of your local area and “Economic Development Strategy” or search the local authority website for “economy” or “growth”.
Bear in mind:
Local authorities have access to a wide range of data, including specially commissioned research. However, it may not always be clear where the data they use comes from or how recent it is. If possible, check the references in the document as these may help you find the original data source.
What this is:
The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) brings together official statistics on seven key domains of deprivation: Income, Employment, Education, Health, Crime, Barriers to Housing & Services, and Living Environment.
Different measures are combined to produce an “index” or ranking of relative deprivation in each domain. These indices are combined to produce the Index of Multiple Deprivation, an overall picture of relative deprivation that highlights the most deprived places.
This is a high-quality statistic based on a range of official sources.
Data can be presented at a very local level – “Lower Super Output Areas” (LSOAs) with an average population of 1,500. This data is combined to rank every LSOA in terms of relative deprivation, and you can also access individual statistics under each heading, as well as subcategories like the Index of Deprivation Affecting Children and Infants (IDACI).
Who it includes:
The whole UK population
Where it covers:
Data is accessible as “Lower Super Output Areas” (LSOAs) with an average population of 1,500 but summaries for local authorities are available. Data can also be shown by region and ward.
When updated:
The most recent data is from 2019, previous release was in 2015. No plans for an update have yet been announced
How to use:
The data can be viewed as a map; options allow you to search by local authority, postcode, ward or Lower Super Output Area level, and shows a colour coding of relative deprivation for each area.
A dedicated website gives you can access the IMD data, and download spreadsheets including combined scores for deprivation affecting children and infants, and local authority summaries can also be downloaded.
Bear in mind:
The IMD allows you to compare local areas to each other. It does not give you the underlying data which would show you actual levels of e.g., income or education.
Data is presented for each area, and it’s not possible to break it down to different groups of people by age, ethnicity or other characteristic. A challenge with the IMD is that LSOAs do not always map easily onto real places or communities – although summaries are available at the level of local authorities and clinical commissioning groups.
The most recent data is from 2019.
See moreWhat this is:
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is an independent social change organisation working to solve UK poverty. They publish an annual report which looks comprehensively at trends in poverty across all its characteristics and impacts. The report explores why the issue is important, the latest data, examine past trends and then looking forward to future prospects.
They have an interactive data website which sets out the trends and impacts of poverty across the UK.
Who it includes:
The whole UK population, though the needs of young people and families are specifically addressed.
Where it covers:
It is a national report, though it also describes differences between regions.
When updated:
Annual report.
How to use:
The report, toolkit and summary of findings are all available to download. They provide signposting to underlying data sources and relevant further information.
On the interactive website you can search by key term or filter by child poverty, geography, ethnicity and other issues.
Bear in mind:
On the interactive data website, you can filer by geographic area by nation and by chart type. Remember to reset filters after looking.
When looking at particular sections you can learn more by clicking ”Show all”.
See moreWhat this is:
Data on employment, benefits, housing, debt and poverty within a local authority area. High quality data drawn from a range of official sources, combined in a simple report by LGInform.
Who it includes:
Whole population of UK.
Where it covers:
Local authority.
When updated:
Annually (mostly).
How to use:
Local authority profiles are available on the LGInform website.
Bear in mind:
This data relates to the whole local authority area. You cannot use it to find out about specific groups of people, for example by age or ethnicity, or more local areas.