Ending child poverty everybodys business Measuring and assessing child poverty at a local level A demonstration of the data available

Ending child poverty everybodys business Overview of the presentation The national picture – a summary Measurement at a local level – NI 116 Understanding the complete picture – the basket of indicators

Ending child poverty everybodys business The national picture – a summary Relative poverty: 2.8 million children, a decrease of 100,000 since 2007/08 Absolute poverty: 1.6 million children, a decrease of 100,000 since 2007/08 Low income and material deprivation: 2.2 million children, no change since 2007/08

Ending child poverty everybodys business The national picture – Certain groups have a greater risk of relative poverty Source: Households Below Average Income 2008/09 *Figures for ethnic groups are three year averages 22% of all children live in relative poverty 0.3 million 0.2 million 0.4 million1.1 million

Ending child poverty everybodys business The national picture – Comparing out of work and in- work relative poverty Children in out of work families are more likely to be in relative poverty than those where at least one parent is in work. About half of children in relative poverty are in families where at least one parent works. Source: Households Below Average Income 2008/09 *Figures may not sum due to rounding 200,000 (9%) 1,300,000 (46%) 800,000 (29%) 400,000 (16%) 64% 54% 16% CouplesLone Parents In work Out of work % of all children in this family type who live in relative poverty Number and proportion of children in this family type who live in relative poverty 14%

Ending child poverty everybodys business Measurement at a local level – NI116 How is NI 116 now defined and what does the headline indicator tell us? What other breakdowns are available? What are the limitations of NI 116? When will the next update be published?

Ending child poverty everybodys business Definition for NI 116 Revised indicator (Current NI 116) Proportion of children living in families in receipt of out of work (means- tested) benefits or in receipt of tax credits where their reported income is less than 60% of median income. Means-tested out of work benefits include: Income support, Income- Based Jobseekers Allowance Income is equivalised Previous indicator Proportion of children living in families in receipt of out of work benefits. Out of work benefits include: Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance, Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance, Pension Credit Used in the LAAs where targets were agreed for reward purposes only.

Ending child poverty everybodys business We can use NI 116 to explore the variation between authorities NI 116 allows us to see the variation that exists between Local Authorities. The least deprived authorities have NI 116 rates of around 10%. The most deprived have rates of over 40%

Ending child poverty everybodys business It can also show variation within authorities By looking at data at ward or LSOA we can see the variation within authorities. It shows that even authorities with low levels of deprivation overall can have pockets where deprivation is above the national average

Ending child poverty everybodys business Variation within the East of England

Ending child poverty everybodys business Breakdowns of NI 116 that are available Geographical breakdowns available: GOR, LA (Upper and Lower Tier), Parliamentary Constituency, Ward, LSOA Additional breakdowns: Whether claiming tax credits or IS/JSA Lone parent/ couple family Number of children Age of child

Ending child poverty everybodys business Making links with other data sources when certain breakdowns of NI 116 arent available Wards with a population containing more than 10% of certain minority ethnic groups are more likely to have higher NI 116 rates

Ending child poverty everybodys business Therefore NI 116 answers some fundamental questions What is the level of child poverty in my local area? How does that compare to other areas, where do we fit in nationally? Is deprivation uniform across the authority or are there pockets of deprivation?

Ending child poverty everybodys business But we recognise its not a perfect measure Issues: Incomplete income information for the IS/JSA claimants, so cant apply the 60% median income threshold Tax Credits are assessed on taxable income, which doesnt include non- taxable benefits administered by local authorities such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Not everyone takes up the tax credits they are entitled to

Ending child poverty everybodys business Other sources used to complement NI 116 Many LAs use IDACI: – this uses same source data as NI 116 – only produced every few years – IDACI 2007 uses 2005 data Children in families dependent on out of work benefits. Housing Benefit data

Ending child poverty everybodys business When will the indicator be updated? We expect the August 2008 data to be available by late Summer- dependent on HMRC. HMRC cannot produce the NI 116 data until they have published the 2008 LSOA Tax Credits finalised awards data.

Ending child poverty everybodys business Understanding the complete picture – the basket of indicators Background What is in the basket? Exploring the data

Ending child poverty everybodys business The basket of indicators - background Local authorities and their partners have a vital role in delivering the services that will contribute to ending child poverty. As providers and commissioners of services they also have a major part to play in narrowing the gaps in outcomes between children from low income families and their peers, and breaking inter-generational cycles of deprivation. Through driving regional economic performance and sustainable growth they also create prosperity and employment.

Ending child poverty everybodys business What is in the basket of indicators? The child poverty pyramid represents our understanding of the factors that impact on Child Poverty.

Ending child poverty everybodys business The basket of indicators - background The basket of indicators (taken from the current National Indicator Set) takes those indicators which most closely reflect the drivers of child poverty that can be influenced by the local authority and its partners. By exploring the basket of indicators local authorities will be better able to - Explore the links between other areas of responsibility and child poverty - Understand the drivers for child poverty in their areas - Think about how they can drive reductions in child poverty in their areas - Target and prioritise resources and services

Ending child poverty everybodys business What is in the basket of indicators? We consider the indicators under the building block themes Child Poverty Financial Support Parental Employment and Skills Life ChancesPlace

Ending child poverty everybodys business What is in the basket of indicators? We consider the indicators under the building block themes Child Poverty Financial Support Parental Employment and Skills Life ChancesPlace NI 153 Working age people claiming out of work benefits in the worst performing neighbourhoods. NI 181 Time taken to process Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit new claims and change events

Ending child poverty everybodys business What is in the basket of indicators? We consider the indicators under the building block themes Child Poverty Financial Support Parental Employment and Skills Life ChancesPlace NI 151 Overall Employment rate (working- age) NI 146 Adults with learning disabilities in employment NI 150 Adults receiving secondary mental health services in employment NI 161 Number of Level 1 qualifications in literacy achieved NI 162 Number of Entry Level qualifications in numeracy achieved NI 163 Proportion of population aged for males and for females qualified to at least Level 2 or higher. NI 166 Median earnings of employees in the area NI 118 Take up of formal childcare by low- income working families.

Ending child poverty everybodys business What is in the basket of indicators? We consider the indicators under the building block themes Child Poverty Financial Support Parental Employment and Skills Life ChancesPlace NI 92 Narrowing the gap between the lowest achieving 20% in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and the rest NI Achievement gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers achieving the expected level at Key Stages 2 and 4 NI 82 Inequality gap in the achievement of a Level 2 qualification by the age of 19. NI 106 Young people from low income backgrounds progressing to higher education NI to 18 year olds who are not in education, training or employment (NEET). NI 101 Looked after children achieving 5 A*-C GCSEs (or equivalent) at Key Stage 4 (including E&M) NI 105 The Special Educational Needs (SEN)/non- SEN gap – achieving 5 A*- C GCSE including English and Maths NI Key Stage 4 attainment for Black and minority ethnic groups NI 78 Reduction in number of schools where fewer than 30% of pupils achieve 5 or more A*- C grades at GCSE and equivalent including GCSEs in English and Maths NI 76 Reduction in number of schools where fewer than 55% of pupils achieve level 4 or above in both English and Maths at KS2 NI 112 Under 18 conception rate

Ending child poverty everybodys business What is in the basket of indicators? We consider the indicators under the building block themes Child Poverty Financial Support Parental Employment and Skills Life ChancesPlace NI 156 Number of households living in temporary accommodation NI 158 % non-decent council homes NI 172 Percentage of small businesses in an area showing employment growth NI 176 Working age people with access to employment by public transport (and other specified modes) NI 187 Tackling fuel poverty - % of people receiving income based benefits living in homes with a low or high energy efficiency rating

Ending child poverty everybodys business What is in the basket of indicators? We consider the indicators under the building block themes Child Poverty Financial Support Parental Employment and Skills Life ChancesPlace In some cases the indicators will cut across two or more of the building blocks

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: simple analysis for one authority

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: delving deeper We see here that the proportion of adults with level 2 qualifications (NI 163) is above average but the employment rate (NI 151) is below average. Is this unusual?

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: delving deeper Given the level of qualifications you might expect employment to be higher. Qualifications are just one driver though, can other links can be made?

Ending child poverty everybodys business There are also links between building blocks Child Poverty Financial Support Parental Employment and Skills NI 151 Overall employment rate Life ChancesPlace NI 176 Access to public transport NI 172 Growth in small businesses

Ending child poverty everybodys business Could also consider comparisons with statistical neighbours or other benchmark groups

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: what else could we look at? Is the position changing, what does the longer time series tell us? If there have been changes are they for the better or for the worse? Can anything be identified as driving those changes? Do we know of any changes that have happened since the last measurement point? Do we see any variation within the local authority? Are all areas moving in the same direction? How can we use data held locally and local intelligence to supplement some of this analysis?

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: delving deeper, using other data The attainment gap at KS4 is in line with the national average. But LAs can explore this at school level.

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: delving deeper, using other data In this authority the gap is small. The issue for some schools is low attainment more generally

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: linking back to child poverty When we examine any combination of these factors we should think about how changing them can impact on child poverty. Remember the pyramid, some factors directly impact now, others indirectly in the future

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: linking to other analysis We can also draw on analysis done for other purposes, for example the Community Health Profiles. There are links between some of the indicators used here and issues that we would consider to be related to child poverty.

Ending child poverty everybodys business Exploring the data: summary of approach Child Poverty Needs Assessment Measure of child poverty (NI 116) Position in national distribution Variation at a local level Basket of indicators Indicators within building blocks Relationship between indicators Trends in indicators Other local data Other local assessments

Ending child poverty everybodys business In summary Weve looked at that national picture, whats happened to child poverty over recent years and how this has varied by some of our key groups. We then examined NI 116, how weve reached the indicator that weve got and how we can go beyond the headline results. And finally we had a look at the basket of indicators, and used them to start to develop ideas for building up a comprehensive local picture.

Ending child poverty everybodys business Questions and discussion