Indices of Multiple Deprivation

Poverty and deprivation in the UK

The Index of Multiple Deprivation is a UK government statistical study of deprived areas in UK local authorities.• It measures poverty and deprivation

across seven different dimensions or ‘domains’

• Poverty can be defined as a lack of financial resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged or approved in the society to which we belong

• Deprivation can be defined as a lack of resources of all kinds, not just financial. It can encompass a wide range of an individual’s living conditions, not just lack of money

Income

Employment

Housing & Barriers to

Services

Living EnvironmentCrime

Health and Disability

Education and Skills

The Seven Domains of Deprivation

The index of Multiple Deprivation is considered to be one of the most significant pieces of research into poverty and deprivation currently available. It is widely used by local authorities to prioritise and allocate resources and services in your area.

Low income is a central component of the definition of multiple deprivation

• While people experiencing some forms of deprivation may not all have low income, people experiencing multiple or very severe forms of deprivation are likely to have very little income and few other resources

• Because income is so important (along with employment), it is ‘weighted’ when calculating the index of multiple deprivation

Income23%

Employment23%

Health Deprivation & Disability

14%

Educa-tion, Skills and

Training Depri-vation14%

Barriers to Hous-

ing & Services

9%

Crime9%

Living Environment Deprivation

9%

These domains are combined, with appropriate weighting, into a single measure of multiple deprivation

It has an IMD score of 0.94

The index of multiple deprivation ranks and scores tiny geographical areas called Lower Super Output Areas or LSOA’s• Lower Super Output areas contain

approximate populations of 1,000 to 1,500 people

• There are 32,482 Lower Super Output Areas or LSOA's in England.

• An area is characterised as deprived relative to other areas on the basis of the proportion of people in the area experiencing the type of deprivation in question – in other words it is given a ‘rank’

• Each LSOA area is ranked where 1 is the most deprived and 32,482 is the least deprived.

Example: Lower Super Output area E01016664 in the local authority of Wokingham

This gives it a rank of 32,474 – which means it is one of the least deprived

areas in England

The full rank of LSOA 32,482 can be grouped into Deciles to make comparison easier

Example: LSOA E01000008 in Barking and Dagenham local authority

It has an IMD score of 45.22...

..which gives it a rank of 3,172.

This puts in Decile 10 which means the area is in the most deprived 10% of areas in England.

The ranks and scores can then be plotted on a ‘heat map’ and colour coded to indicate the level of deprivation

You can do this for Index of Multiple Deprivation or for one of the seven domains such as Income deprivation or Employment Deprivation

Inequalities in income and wealth translate into residential segregation

Differences in house prices, rents and tenure along with the labour market act as a sifting process:

while the relatively affluent can choose to live in certain kinds of neighbourhoods, the less affluent cannot

The rationed nature of social housing exacerbates this trend with the most needy and vulnerable who qualify for housing

The result is that the most vulnerable and those with the least choices are concentrated together in ‘undesirable’ areas

IMD data is used by local authorities to prioritise and allocate resources based on need

• Different domains can also be separately mapped – for example a map focusing on the health domain may reveal some areas of high need that may not be considered deprived on the overall index of multiple deprivation

• Local authorities use such data to allocate resources efficiently for programmes such as regeneration, neighbourhood renewal or to identify disadvantaged pupils for additional support or allocate grants to community groups

• It can also be used for targeted interventions at the neighbourhood level