Deprivation and poverty
Indices of Deprivation
A national index of deprivation, known as the Indices of
Deprivation, is published by Central Government to help local
authorities identify the most disadvantaged areas so that resources
and funding are allocated appropriately.
Current Index
The latest index is the Indices of Deprivation 2010
(ID2010). This was published by Communities and Local
Government (CLG) on 24 March 2011. To see how Kent's levels
of deprivation (and areas within Kent) compare to other parts of
England on this latest index visit the ID2010 section of this website.
Previous Indices
Past versions of the Indices are also available. The
ID2010 updates the ID2007. Results of the ID2007 are
available from the ID2007
section. The ID2007 updated the ID2004.
Results of the ID2004 are available from the ID2004 section.
Households in poverty
A new dataset has been published by the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) that estimates the proportion of households in
poverty. The measure of poverty that has been used is the
proportion of households whose mean weekly income, after housing
costs, is below 60% of the England and Wales average. Data
comparing Kent levels of poverty alongside the national average are
presented in the bulletin
Households in Poverty (PDF, 326k). An
interactive mapping tool allowing you to view the proportion of
households in poverty with the ability to zoom in and out of areas
across England is available from the ONS
household poverty interactive map.
Statistics are also available on the number of households in fuel
poverty. A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it
spends more than 10% of its income on fuel costs. Separate data
sets are available that provide a count of
how many Kent households are in fuel poverty (PDF, 581k).
Family Poverty
Kent County Council is currently developing a Kent Family
Poverty Strategy in a bid to assist and reduce the numbers of
families who are classified as being in poverty. The
national data sets which have been used to inform this
strategy are available in
The Supporting Evidence report (PDF, 3Mb) and the analysis
of this data is presented in The
Research Analysis report (PDF, 475k). A link to The
Strategy will be added here when it is published.
Using the child poverty measure as set out by the Child
Poverty Act 2010 we are able to look at the number of
children living in poverty. Figures for the Kent County Council
area and the local authority districts as at August 2009
compared with the South East and England as a whole are presented
in
Children in poverty - 2009, (PDF, 516k).
Homelessness
The term "homelessness" is often considered to apply only to
people "sleeping rough". However this term also applies to those
households who, for various reasons, are at risk of becoming
homeless. Each local authority has a statutory obligation to
provide advice and assistance to those households.
For more information see our homelessness summaries on our housing pages.
Be notified of changes to this page without having to visit the
website: