1

English Indices of Deprivation 2015 – Somerset Summary

Introduction

The English Indices of Deprivation 2015 are based on 37 separate indicators, organised across

seven domains1 (and sub-domains) of deprivation which are combined, using appropriate weights,

to calculate the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). This is an overall measure of multiple

deprivation experienced by people living in an area and is calculated for every Lower layer Super

Output Area (LSOA2), or neighbourhood, in England. Every such neighbourhood is ranked

according to its level of deprivation relative to that of other areas. The data can be used to assess

which parts of Somerset face particular challenges, down to very small geographical areas.

The Indices are published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

A full list of underlying indicators, domains and sub-domains is provided in the Appendix. Most

indicators in the 2015 Indices of Deprivation relate to the financial year 2012/13.

As well as identifying the most deprived parts of Somerset now, this briefing compares the 2015

figures with the previous Indices of Deprivation 2010.

Key messages

Somerset generally is better than the national average in terms of overall levels of deprivation.

Since 2010 there has been a slight shift towards greater deprivation in Somerset relative to the

rest of England, particularly in relation to the quality of housing.

The number of ‘highly deprived’ neighbourhoods in Somerset (categorised as being within the

20% most deprived in England) increased to 25 in IMD 2015, up from 14 at the time of IMD

2010.

Around 38,000 Somerset residents now live in a neighbourhood (LSOA) identified as one of

the 20% most deprived in England.

The highest levels of deprivation are found within the county’s larger urban areas.

The most deprived area of Somerset is the Lambrook / Halcon area of Taunton.

The least deprived area is in the Sampson’s Wood area of Yeovil, which falls within the 1%

least deprived in England.

Deprivation in Somerset

The overall pattern of multiple deprivation in Somerset according to the Index of Multiple

Deprivation (IMD) 2015 is shown in Map 1, following. A second map shows the pattern for the

previous IMD in 2010.

Urban areas and rural West Somerset continue to have the greatest proportions of deprived

neighbourhoods (LSOAs) in Somerset. However, compared to IMD 2010, relative levels of

deprivation in West Somerset now appear less pronounced; while there have been increases in

larger urban areas. 1 Domains of deprivation: Income; Employment; Health and Disability; Education, Skills and Training; Barriers to Housing and

Services; Crime; and Living Environment. 2 LSOA (Lower-layer Super Output Area) is a unit of geography for the collection and publication of small areas statistics. Each

LSOA equates to around 1,500 people, or 400 households. There are 32,844 LSOAs in England; 327 in Somerset.

2

Map 1: Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2015 in Somerset

Map 2: Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2010 in Somerset

3

Deprivation Profile by IMD Decile

A more detailed profile of overall deprivation of Somerset is available by considering how many

neighbourhoods fall into each IMD decile (that is, the 0-10%, 10-20%, 20-30%, 30-40% most

deprived neighbourhoods, etc.). See Figure 1, below.

Around one third of Somerset LSOAs sit within the 40% to 60% most deprived nationally (i.e.,

close to the national average), with numbers declining towards the extremes of deprivation.

Nevertheless, since 2010 there has been a noticeable shift in the profile towards greater

deprivation in Somerset, relative to the rest of England.

Neighbourhood Level Deprivation

Of the 327 LSOAs in Somerset, 25 are within the most deprived 20% nationally according to IMD

2015, up from 14 LSOAs at the time of IMD 2010. Sedgemoor has the highest number of LSOAs

in this category (11), followed by South Somerset (7), Taunton Deane (5) and Mendip (2). These

LSOAs have a combined population of around 37,900.

Nine Somerset LSOAs are now amongst the most deprived 10% nationally, up from five in IMD

2010. These are in parts of Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, Highbridge and Glastonbury. The

combined population of these areas is approximately 13,900.

Two Somerset LSOAs are amongst the most deprived 5% nationally (the same number as in IMD

2010). These are in the Taunton Halcon/Lambrook area, and have a combined population of

around 3,100.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Mostdeprived

10%

10-20% 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Leastdeprived

10%

Nu

mb

er

of

LS

OA

s

IMD Decile

Figure 1: Number of Somerset LSOAs in each IMD decile

IMD 2015 IMD 2010

4

By contrast, the least deprived neighbourhood in Somerset is the Sampson’s Wood area of Yeovil,

which ranks within the 1% least deprived nationally. According to IMD 2015, Somerset has a total

of 18 LSOAs ranked within the 10% least deprived in England (an increase on the 14 areas at the

time of IMD 2010).

Of the 25 most deprived neighbourhoods (LSOAs) in Somerset, nine are in Bridgwater, six in

Yeovil, four in Taunton and two in Highbridge. The additional areas are in Glastonbury, Chard and

Wellington (see Table 1, below). Maps of key urban areas follow.

Table 1: Somerset neighbourhoods (LSOAs) within the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods

in England

LSOA code LSOA description District National IMD Rank*

E01029292 Taunton Lambrook Taunton Deane 1,353

E01029293 Taunton Roman Road Taunton Deane 1,510

E01029106 Bridgwater Sydenham Central Sedgemoor 1,671

E01029297 Taunton Lyngford East Taunton Deane 2,163

E01029247 Yeovil Westfield South Somerset 2,659

E01029132 Highbridge South West Sedgemoor 2,738

E01029046 Glastonbury Central Mendip 2,998

E01029234 Yeovil Town Centre South Somerset 3,220

E01029105 Bridgwater West Street Sedgemoor 3,273

E01029100 Bridgwater Hamp East Sedgemoor 3,290

E01029239 Yeovil Sherborne Road South Somerset 3,326

E01029095 Bridgwater Eastover Central Sedgemoor 4,000

E01029109 Bridgwater Sydenham North Sedgemoor 4,239

E01029098 Bridgwater Hamp North Sedgemoor 4,250

E01029107 Bridgwater Parkway South Sedgemoor 4,292

E01029042 Frome Trinity, Cork Street, Nunney Rd Mendip 4,300

E01029177 Chard Jocelyn West South Somerset 4,302

E01029236 Yeovil Penn Mill North South Somerset 4,515

E01029099 Bridgwater Hamp West Sedgemoor 4,543

E01029311 Wellington North Taunton Deane 5,043

E01029097 Bridgwater Hamp South West Sedgemoor 5,637

E01029131 Highbridge South East Sedgemoor 6,228

E01029299 Taunton Lyngford West Taunton Deane 6,339

E01029237 Yeovil Birchfield South Somerset 6,441

E01029248 Yeovil Summerlands North South Somerset 6,485

* All neighbourhoods (LSOAs) in England are ranked between 1 and 32,844, with ‘1’ the most

deprived nationally

5

Map 3: Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2015 in Bridgwater

Map 4: Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2015 in Yeovil

6

Map 5: Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2015 in Taunton

Map 6: Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2015 in Highbridge

7

Changes since 2010 in the Most Deprived Neighbourhoods

Of the 14 LSOAs classified as being within the 20% most deprived nationally in IMD 2010,

12 remain within the 20% most deprived in IMD 2015. The exceptions are:

Shepton Mallet North LSOA (E01029062), which is now just outside the ‘20% most deprived’,

ranked 7,044 nationally.

an LSOA in the Williton North area (E01029344) which was merged with another LSOA as part

of a boundary reorganisation in 2011. The LSOA formed from the merger is also ranked just

outside the ‘20%’, at 7,162.

Of the 12 neighbourhoods within the 20% most deprived in both IMD 2010 and IMD 2015, three

have improved their national rankings: Taunton Roman Road (up 35 places), Bridgwater

Sydenham Central (up 240 places) and Highbridge South West (up 334 places). Note that the total

number of LSOAs in England is around 1% higher in IMD 2015.

Deprivation in Somerset by Domain

The domains within which deprivation is most prevalent in Somerset can be highlighted by looking

at which domains have the highest number of LSOAs within the most deprived 20% nationally.

Figure 2, below, gives details and shows changes from the previous Indices of Deprivation in

2010.

26

22

87

42

16

29

16

78

26

97

47

17

30

21

0 20 40 60 80 100

Living Environment

Crime

Barriers to Housing & Services

Education, Skills & Learning

Health & Disability

Employment

Income

Number of LSOAs

Figure 2: Number of Somerset LSOAs within the 20% most deprived LSOAs in England by Deprivation Domain

2015

2010

8

It is apparent that the most prevalent forms of deprivation in Somerset are Barriers to Housing and

Services (which relates to the financial accessibility of housing and local services) and Living

Environment (the quality of the local environment).

Most noticeable is a threefold increase since IMD 2010 in the number of Somerset LSOAs now

falling within the 20% most deprived nationally in terms of ‘Living Environment’.

Deprivation in Somerset by Sub-Domain

The sub-domains of Barriers to Housing & Services, Living Environment and Education, plus

supplementary indices of Income Deprivation Affecting Children (IDACI) and Income Deprivation

Affecting Older People (IDAOPI) give further indication of the type of deprivation most affecting

Somerset (see Figure 3)

Figures for the Barriers to Housing sub-domains indicate that it is largely geographical barriers, as

opposed to ‘wider’ housing-related barriers (overcrowding, homelessness, affordability), which are

a main driver for deprivation. Much of this can be attributed to the county’s dispersed population.

The Living Environment sub-domain figures indicate that this type of deprivation in Somerset is

mostly due to the Indoors Living Environment (the quality of housing3) as opposed to the Outdoors

Living Environment (air quality, road accidents).

3 Quality of housing: the underlying indicators for this measure are the proportion of social and private homes that fail to meet the decent homes standard and the proportion of houses that do not have central heating. These indicators are the same for both IMD 2015 and IMD 2010.

7

70

22

124

36

43

12

16

4

137

37

130

30

63

11

19

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Outdoors Living Environment

Indoors Living Environment

Wider Barriers to Housing & Services

Geographic Barriers to Housing & Services

Education: Adult Skills

Education: Children & Young People

Income Deprivation Affecting Older People

Income Deprivation Affecting Children

Number of LSOAs

Figure 3: Number of Somerset LSOAs within 20% most deprived LSOAs in England by Sub-Domain

2015

2010

9

Local Authority Level Deprivation

The Indices of Deprivation can be summarised in a range of ways to describe relative deprivation

among local authorities. Each of these leads to a different ranking of local authorities. The different

methodologies are:

Average rank: Population weighted average of the combined ranks for the LSOAs within a

local authority area.

Average score: Population weighted average of the combined scores for the LSOAs in a local

authority area.

Proportion of Lower-layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in most deprived 10% nationally

Extent: Proportion of a local authority’s population living in the most deprived LSOAs in the

country.

Local concentration: Population weighted average of the ranks of a local authority’s most

deprived LSOAs that contain exactly 10% of the local authority’s population.

Depending on the methodology used, Somerset is ranked as being between the 98th and 116th

most deprived upper-tier local authority in England (of 152 local authorities). Somerset can

therefore be considered to be within the 40% least deprived areas of the country overall

The rankings for Somerset’s districts (of 326 Lower-tier local authorities) are provided in Table 2,

below.

Table 2: District IMD 2015 rankings (of 326 LAs), where ‘1’ is the most deprived in England.

IMD Rank of average rank

IMD Rank of average score

IMD Rank of proportion of

LSOAs in most deprived 10%

nationally

IMD Rank of extent

IMD Rank of local

concentration

Mendip 160 179 181 202 203

Sedgemoor 146 144 139 138 138

South Somerset 180 186 175 186 180

Taunton Deane 193 189 138 177 163

West Somerset 56 106 200 190 208

Considering the first two methodologies (‘average score’ and ‘average rank’) in Table 2, there is a

consistent order of overall deprivation at district level; with West Somerset the most deprived,

followed by Sedgemoor, Mendip, South Somerset and Taunton Deane.

Conversely, the other methodologies are based on the number of LSOAs within the ‘10% most

deprived’ category, hence Taunton Deane and Sedgemoor become the lowest ranked, as these

areas exhibit the more extreme levels of deprivation.

10

Appendix: Indices of Deprivation 2015: Domains, Sub-Domains and Indicators

Income Deprivation Domain

Adults and children in Income Support families

Adults and children in income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance families

Adults and children in income-based Employment and Support Allowance families

Adults and children in Pension Credit (Guarantee) families

Adults and children in Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit families not already

counted, and whose equivalised income (excluding housing benefit) is below 60 per cent of

the median before housing costs

Asylum seekers in England in receipt of subsistence support, accommodation support, or

both

Employment Deprivation Domain

Claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance (both contribution-based and income-based), women

aged 18-59 and men aged 18-64

Claimants of Employment and Support Allowance (both contribution-based and income-

based), women aged 18-59 and men aged 18-64

Claimants of Incapacity Benefit, women aged 18-59 and men aged 18-64

Claimants of Severe Disablement Allowance, women aged 18-59 and men aged 18-64

Claimants of Carer’s Allowance, women aged 18-59 and men aged 18-64

Health Deprivation and Disability

Years of potential life lost

Comparative illness and disability ratio

Acute morbidity

Mood and anxiety disorders

Education, Skills & Training Deprivation

Children and Young People sub-domain

Key Stage 2 attainment: average points score

Key Stage 4 attainment: average points score

Secondary school absence

Staying on in education post 16

Entry to higher education

Adult skills sub-domain

Adults with no or low qualifications, aged 25-59/64

English language proficiency, aged 25-59/64

11

Crime

Recorded crime rates for Violence; Burglary; Theft; Criminal damage Barriers to Housing & Services

Geographical Barriers sub-domain

Road distance to: post office; primary school; general store / supermarket; GP surgery Wider Barriers sub-domain

Household overcrowding

Homelessness

Housing affordability

Living Environment Deprivation

Indoors Living Environment sub-domain

Housing in poor condition

Houses without central heating

Outdoors Living Environment sub-domain

Air quality

Road traffic accidents

Somerset Intelligence - October 2015 www.somersetintelligence.org.uk