Checking the Index

Essex hit the headlines last month, when the English Indices of Deprivation were published, as it provides the location for England’s most deprived area, Jaywick. Closer inspection reveals that although the East of England does indeed play host to the most and least deprived areas, the vast majority of deprivation occurs in the North of England. Other key findings from the latest release of the include the fact that over 5 million people lived in the most deprived areas in the UK in 2008, of whom around 38% were income deprived. However, the Indices also take into account several other kinds of deprivation: employment, health and disability, education skills and training, barriers to housing and other services, crime and living environment. This issue of the Indices uses data largely drawn from 2008 and updates earlier releases from 2004 and 2007. The Guardian has a useful article on mapping the really very small areas that the Indices work with (Lower Super Output Areas).