Understanding household income poverty at small area level

an article by Robert Fry (Office for National Statistics) published in Regional Trends 43 (2011)

Abstract

A new ONS data release provides experimental estimates of the proportion of households in poverty, after housing costs, at Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level in England and Wales. These complement the experimental estimates of average household income for MSOAs already published by ONS.

These estimates are based on Family Resources Survey (FRS) data and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publication Household Below Average Income derived from FRS data. They use a similar modelling approach to that used for the average household income estimates. The first set of these estimates relate to the 2007/08 period. Future updates will be released alongside the estimates of average household income.

This article looks at spatial patterns in the proportion of households in poverty, in particular looking at how poverty is distributed within regions and local authorities. The article shows that there are wide variations in the patterns of the proportions of households in poverty in each region. Looking across all MSOAs, Wales, the North East and London had the highest median values of the proportion of households in poverty¹. London had the largest spread, that is, it had both areas with very low and high proportions of households in poverty.

The article also provides an introduction to these estimates and some summary guidance on their use. It will be of interest to people with a focus on poverty at a local level such as politicians, charities, planners, regeneration specialists, and academics.

¹ Official estimates of the proportions of individuals in low income by region are given in the Households Below Average Income publication here [published May 2011]

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