Middlesbrough is the most deprived place in England. Hartlepool is also in the top ten though not Stockton, which allegedly attracted an offensive comment by a Cabinet minister in the House of Commons in November.
The first article in this North East Bylines series analysed the region on the basis of government and other data on homelessness, rough sleeping and food banks. We now turn to other authoritative sources, starting with the English Indices of Deprivation (IoD) published in 2019. Though the IoD are now four years old, they are the most recent to be published.
What is the IoD?
The IoD gets down to the local nitty gritty. It ranks 32,844 areas of England with average populations of 1,500 – Lower-layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in the jargon but referred to here as neighbourhoods – according to seven “domains of deprivation” each weighted to contribute a given percentage to the overall ranking.
The seven domains are income (22.5% of the overall ranking), employment (22.5%), education (13.5%), health (13.5%), crime (9.3%), barriers to housing and services (9.3%) and living environment (9.3%). The seven domains are further broken down into 39 indicators. There are two supplementary indices covering income deprivation among children up to 15 and among old people aged 60 and over.
Middlesbrough’s position as overall the most deprived local authority area in England is based on the fact that, taking all the domains together, it has proportionately more of its neighbourhoods in the 10% most deprived nationally (the top decile) than anywhere else in England. Forty-two of its neighbourhoods (49%) are in the top decile.
Middlesbrough is followed by Hartlepool (9th most deprived), Newcastle (19th), South Tyneside (21st), Redcar & Cleveland (23rd), Sunderland (28th), Stockton (32nd), Darlington (37th), Gateshead (39th), County Durham (51st), Northumberland (55th) and North Tyneside (61st most deprived).
These ranks define the positions of the 12 North East councils among 151 so-called upper tier local authorities – counties, London boroughs, unitary authorities and metropolitan districts. There are other ways of ranking local authorities against each other, not discussed here.
The figures, gloomy though they are, do not mean that the North East does not have some neighbourhoods among the least deprived in England. Every district has at least one in the least deprived decile, as is the case in Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Sunderland and South Tyneside. Northumberland has 19, the most in the North East, and altogether the region has 87. But if prosperity were spread evenly across the country it would have approximately twice as many.
Income
The income and employment (and unemployment) domains are closely linked and most heavily weighted in the overall IMD. They give a grim picture of the poverty in some parts of the North East, even before the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.
The definition of low income includes both those people who are out-of-work and those in work but who have low earnings and who satisfy the respective means tests.
Middlesbrough topped the 2019 income deprivation table, with more of its neighbourhoods in the 10% most income deprived than anywhere else in England. Hartlepool followed in 7th place and South Tyneside in 9th. After these three came Newcastle (19th), Redcar & Cleveland (24th), Sunderland (27th), Stockton (33rd), Darlington (41st), Gateshead (51st)), County Durham (68th), Northumberland (78th) and North Tyneside, the 84th most income-deprived of the 151 council areas in England by this measure.
North Tyneside’s position as least income deprived in the North East is consistent with its place as home to the region’s highest earners (below) and Northumberland’s second place is in line with its popular image as home to senior executives, wealthy retirees and football stars as well as some deprived post-industrial communities.
While the IoD is four years old, we know from other authoritative sources that the same places are still suffering the same problems. Nomis, the official labour market statistics, shows that in 2022 (latest available) gross median weekly pay (by place of residence, not place of work) for full-time workers was £555 in Middlesbrough, £593 in Hartlepool (higher than the regional figure of £580) and £645 in England as a whole. Highest pay in the North East was in North Tyneside with £619.
Employment
According to the 2019 IoD, Middlesbrough ranked 2nd most deprived in England for employment with Hartlepool 5th closely followed by South Tyneside (7th) Redcar & Cleveland (12th) and Sunderland (13th). North Tyneside ranked 75st most deprived, the best position in the region. Employment deprivation covers people who would like to work but are unable to do so due to unemployment, sickness or disability, or caring responsibilities.
Unemployment is not an exact mirror image of employment but comes close. Nomis shows that by June 2023 (latest available) the region as a whole was off the bottom of the unemployment table with the jobless rate for 16-64-year-olds for the previous 12 months averaging 4.2% and overtaking both London and the West Midlands. But it was still above the all-England figure of 3.9%. By the May-July 2023 period North East regional unemployment was up again to 5.2%.
Unemployment in South Tyneside in the 12 months to June 2023 stood at an astonishing 11.5%, more than double the rate in second worst Middlesbrough with 5.7%. This was to go back to levels not seen for a decade. Regionally, by the May-July 2023 period North East regional unemployment was up again to 5.2%.
Lowest unemployment in the region was reported to be 2.5% in Redcar & Cleveland, closely followed by Sunderland and Darlington, both with 2.6%. However, these levels come with a warning from Nomis: in the cases of Redcar & Cleveland and Sunderland as well as Middlesbrough and Stockton the figures are unreliable because the sample sizes were small. So perhaps it was Darlington that actually had the lowest unemployment.
The North East’s relatively low incomes, discussed above, are not surprising for, as Nomis also tells us, relatively few of us are in top jobs. Only 7.9% in the region are managers, directors or senior officials, the lowest of any region. The national average is 11% and in London it is 12.8%. It is a similar story for the next rank down in the jobs hierarchy – professionals – and only when we reach the third rank – associate professionals – does the North East come off the bottom of the table.
At the other end of the jobs hierarchy 11.7% in the North East are in elementary occupations compared with 9.4% nationally and only 6.5% in London. The region’s biggest sector is health and social work, accounting for 16.6% of the workforce, the largest in England. The national average is 12.9% and in London 10.6%.
Income Deprivation affecting children and older people
Middlesbrough again tops the table for neighbourhoods among the worst 10% for income deprivation affecting children. Hartlepool followed in 3rd place, South Tyneside in 9th, Newcastle 12th, Redcar & Cleveland 13th and Sunderland 18th. North Tyneside had the fewest neighbourhoods in this category, ranking 59th most deprived nationally – still within the top (most deprived) half of the table.
The position of older people is quite different. On this measure, seven of the 10 most deprived areas for this group are London boroughs, and the North East has none. Nevertheless, the region has several districts close to the top; Middlesbrough is 11th most deprived nationally, Hartlepool 15th and Newcastle 18th. Unlike most other measures, this one takes in 317 councils including lower-tier districts; Northumberland was least deprived in the region, ranking at 172nd.
*In the next part of this series we will look at the remaining domains of deprivation: education and skills, health and disability, barriers to housing and services, the living environment and crime.
