An article used newly released experimental estimates of the proportion of households in poverty to explore spatial patterns of the proportion of households in poverty. It focused on how poverty was distributed within regions and local authorities. There were wide variations in the patterns of the proportions of households in poverty in each region. The north east had the highest proportion of households in poverty, while London had the largest spread – that is, it had both areas with very low and high proportions of households in poverty.
Source: Robert Fry, <:'Understanding household income poverty at small area level', Regional Trends 43, Office for National Statistics
Links: Article
Date: 2010-Nov
The government published a statement on the future of the Post Office. It said that the Post Office was more than a commercial entity and served a distinct social purpose – consequently there would be no programme of post office closures. The government supported the expansion of accessible and affordable personal financial services available through the Post Office: but it rejected the idea of a state-backed Post Office bank on the basis that it would be 'time consuming and extremely expensive'.
Source: Securing the Post Office Network in the Digital Age, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Statement | Hansard | DBIS press release | CCBS press release | Labour Party press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Nov
A new book examined efforts by New Labour governments to renovate the social, political, and economic cultures of poor neighbourhoods. It said that New Labour had relied on 'problematic assumptions' about the nature, scope, and meaning of community and its relationship with individual social agents.
Source: Andrew Wallace, Remaking Community? New Labour and the governance of poor neighbourhoods, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Nov
A qualitative study looked at the early effects of the 2008-09 economic downturn on the welfare-to-work system in deprived areas. The areas considered seemed to be sheltered from the early effects of the downturn: but respondents felt that they might be more vulnerable to anticipated changes in public spending. The welfare-to-work system appeared to be better structured to cope than in previous recessions: but some respondents lacked awareness of the full range of support available, and suggested that the range of initiatives available could be made less complex. If there were a continued focus on the newly unemployed and the demands of processing high numbers of new benefits claims, longer-term and inactive benefit claimants might be 'crowded out'.
Source: Alex Nunn, Sukky Jassi, Tim Bickerstaffe and Penny Wymer, Early Effects of the Economic Downturn on the Welfare to Work System in Deprived Areas, Working Paper 83, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Working paper | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A report summarized the outcome of a programme that sought to understand why some deprived areas within city-regions in the north of England had prospered while others had remained deprived, even when the surrounding economy had been performing strongly. It explored how deprived areas could be better linked to areas of economic opportunity; considered the roles of local, sub-national, and national bodies; and drew lessons for policies targeted at deprived neighbourhoods.
Source: Rebalancing Local Economies: Widening economic opportunities for people in deprived communities, Institute for Public Policy Research/Joseph Rowntree Foundation/The Northern Way
Links: Report | Charity Times report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined the confluence of environmental characteristics that potentially functioned as key mechanisms to account for the socio-economic gradient in health outcomes. At the national level, multiple environmental deprivation increased as the degree of income deprivation rose. Area-level health progressively worsened as the multiple environmental deprivation increased. There was a need to consider the social and political processes that led to income-deprived populations bearing a disproportionate burden of multiple environmental deprivation.
Source: Jamie Pearce, Elizabeth Richardson, Richard Mitchell and Niamh Shortt, 'Environmental justice and health: the implications of the socio-spatial distribution of multiple environmental deprivation for health inequalities in the United Kingdom', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Volume 35 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
An article examined the link between urban deprivation and health. Although deprivation was a fundamental determinant of health – and, therefore, an important driver of mortality – it was only one part of a complex picture. As currently measured, deprivation did not explain the higher levels of mortality experienced by Glasgow (a city in Scotland) in relation to two very similar cities in northern England.
Source: David Walsh, Neil Bendel, Richard Jones and Phil Hanlon, 'It's not "just deprivation": why do equally deprived UK cities experience different health outcomes?', Public Health, Volume 124 Issue 9
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Sep
A study found that what people thought about their neighbourhood was much more strongly influenced by deprivation than by the degree of ethnic mixing in the area. Although initiatives to promote cohesion were valuable, policy should give priority to improving disadvantaged areas.
Source: Liz Twigg and John Mohan, Exploring the Goodhart Thesis at the Local Scale: Neighbourhood social heterogeneity and perceptions of quality of life in the British Crime Survey, Economic and Social Research Council
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Sep
Researchers considered the extent to which address-based discrimination by employers existed, and its potential contribution to high rates of worklessness in deprived areas.
Source: Alex Nunn et al., Postcode Selection? Employers' use of area- and address-based information shortcuts in recruitment decisions, Research Report 664, Department for Work and Pensions Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Jul
A study examined how people living in six economically vulnerable areas had perceived the early stages of the economic downturn.
Source: Elaine Batty and Ian Cole, Resilience and the Recession in Six Deprived Communities: Preparing for worse to come?, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2010-Jul
An article examined spatial disparities in average income, in particular how it was distributed within regions and local authorities. There was a wide variation in patterns of average household income: London had the widest spread, and Wales the narrowest, based on net income before housing costs in 2007-08.
Source: Stephen Bond and Cecilia Campos, 'Understanding income at small area level', Regional Trends 42: 2010 edition, Office for National Statistics
Links: Article | ONS press release
Date: 2010-Jun
The government began consultation on proposals for the English indices of deprivation. Responses to this consultation would inform the decision as to whether the next update of the indices was based on the indicators and methodology used for the 2007 update or if a more detailed review was required.
Source: English Indices of Deprivation: Consultation, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2010-Mar
An article examined the effect of different levels of neighbourhood housing tenure mix and deprivation on transitions from unemployment to employment and the probability of staying in employment for those with a job. Living in a deprived neighbourhood was negatively correlated with labour market performance: but predominantly for home-owners and not for social renters.
Source: Maarten van Ham and David Manley, 'The effect of neighbourhood housing tenure mix on labour market outcomes: a longitudinal investigation of neighbourhood effects', Journal of Economic Geography, Volume 10 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Feb
An article provided a critical review of three important themes emerging from the growing body of literature on the geographies of poverty and welfare. First, it explored the spatial unevenness of poverty and the persistence of poverty in particular regions and places. Second, it explored the complex relationship between poverty and place, and the ways in which poverty was shaped by the local contexts of place. Third, the shifting relations between central and local welfare systems were examined within the context of recent welfare reform. It concluded by outlining new geographical agendas for research on these themes.
Source: Paul Milbourne, 'Putting poverty and welfare in place', Policy & Politics, Volume 38 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Feb
A report examined economic deprivation in the 39 New Deal for Communities areas. It considered how NDC areas were performing compared with other deprived neighbourhoods, and whether they were narrowing the gap with more affluent neighbourhoods.
Source: Kate Wilkinson and Michael Noble, Tracking Economic Deprivation in New Deal for Communities Areas, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Jan
A study identified the key factors that had undermined the ability of deprived neighbourhoods in a midlands city (Birmingham) to prosper – such as the role of economic restructuring, housing policy, international migration, and internal mobility. Predominantly white council wards lacked community structures such as churches, mosques, and youth groups that had helped ease the impact of economic decline in wards with high minority-ethnic populations.
Source: Alex Fenton, Peter Tyler, Sanna Markkanen, Anna Clarke and Christine Whitehead, Why Do Neighbourhoods Stay Poor? Deprivation, place and people in Birmingham, Barrow Cadbury Trust
Links: Report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Jan
An article examined the mechanisms in Scotland underlying the disproportionate siting of undesirable land uses (such as landfill schemes) in or near areas of economic deprivation.
Source: Elizabeth Richardson, Niamh Khortt and Richard Mitchell, 'The mechanism behind environmental inequality in Scotland: which came first, the deprivation or the landfill?', Environment and Planning A, Volume 42 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Jan