Indices of deprivation 2004

'The Indices of deprivation' 2004 (ID 2004) is a measure of multiple deprivation at the small area level, used by the British Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions.

It is unique in its inclusion of a measure of geographical access as an element of deprivation and in its direct measure of poverty (through data on benefit receipts). The IMD 2004 is based on the idea of distinct dimensions of deprivation which can be recognised and measured separately. These are then combined into a single overall measure. The Index is made up of seven distinct dimensions of deprivation called Domain Indices. These relate to:

• Income

The purpose of this Domain is to capture the proportions of the population experiencing income deprivation in an area.

• Employment

This Domain measures employment deprivation by considering people of working age who are involuntarily excluded from the world of work, either through unemployment. ill health or family circumstances.

• Health and disability

This Domain identifies areas with relatively high rates of people who die prematurely or whose quality of life is impaired by poor health or who are disabled, across the whole population.

• Education, skills and training

The purpose of the Domain is to capture the extent of deprivation in education, skills and training in a local area. The indicators fall into two sub-domains: one relating to lack of attainment among children and young people and one relating to lack of qualifications in terms of skills. These two sub-domains are designed to reflect the ‘flow’ and ‘stock’ of educational disadvantage within an area respectively. That is, the children/young people sub-domain measures the deprivation in the attaining of qualifications, while the skills sub-domain measures the deprivation in the resident working age adult population.

• Barriers to Housing and Services

The purpose of this Domain is to measure barriers to housing and key local services. The indicators fall into two sub-domains: ‘geographical barriers’ and ‘wider barriers’ which includes issues relating to access to housing such as affordability.

• Living environment

This Domain focuses on deprivation in the living environment. It comprises two sub-domains: the ‘indoors’ living environment which measures the quality of housing and the ‘outdoors’ living environment which contains two measures about air quality and road traffic accidents.

• Crime

This Domain measures the rate of recorded crime for four major crime themes – burglary, theft, criminal damage and violence - representing the occurrence of personal and material victimisation at a small area level.

Each Domain contains a number of indicators, totalling 37. Two supplementary indexes have been created as a subset of the Income domain. These relate to income deprivation affecting children and income deprivation affecting older people.

Geography

The Indices of deprivation are measured at the Lower Layer Super Output Area level. Super Output Areas were developed by the Office for National Statistics from the Census 2001 Output Areas. There are three levels, the lowest (which the Index is based upon) being smaller than wards and containing a minimum of 1,000 people and 400 households. The middle layer contains a minimum of 5,000 people and 2,000 households. The upper layer Super Output Areas have not been set.

In addition to Super Output Areas, Summary measures of the ID 2004 are presented at District level, County level and Primary Care Trust (PCT ) level.

References

• Indices of deprivation 2004