Page 6 - OCF Oxfordshire Uncovered

Oxfordshire Uncovered
A COUNTY OF CONTRASTS
While the county of Oxfordshire has many positive attributes, it also features great inequality. For every show of af uence for which places like Oxford, Henley and Chipping Norton are known, there are clusters of individuals and families living in poverty, mostly in small neighbourhoods on the edges of towns, or isolated at the end of country lanes. Deprived families live cheek by jowl with millionaires. What effect does this have on the social fabric and cohesion of our county?
This report sets about uncovering those areas and themes where pockets of deprivation can be found, and where communities are struggling. To do this, we have used many sources, especially the government’s Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). These indices allow us to compare the picture in Oxfordshire with the rest of England, and to visualise the granular detail of the areas of social need speci c to our county.
An initial look at the IMD rankings seems to support the stereotypes about Oxfordshire, giving the appearance that few people in the county experience deprivation:
However, a little further exploration of the detail paints quite a different picture. By drilling down into the different facets of deprivation, and adding information from supplementary sources, we nd that:
There is a large wealth differential
• Oxfordshire is an af uent and prosperous county, ranking the 12th least deprived upper-tier local authority of 152 in England.
• However, there are 15 neighbourhoods in Oxfordshire that are ranked among the 20% most deprived nationally.
• When deprived communities live in areas that are very af uent more generally, their sense of social exclusion is exacerbated.
“The comparative wealth of the area can easily mask the needs, leaving many people feeling isolated,
lonely and unheard. Many children struggle with chaotic family lives, leading to inconsistent attendance at school, loss of motivation and ultimately poor literacy, which in turn increases their risk of remaining outside education, employment or training later in life.”
Sue Prior, Project Lead at Henley-based Nomad Youth Project
There are great geographical inequalities
• Child poverty in Oxfordshire is at around 12% – comparing favourably to the England gure of 19%.
• However, Oxford city has a higher gure, with 21% of
the map will update the chart and table below.
Index of Multiple Deprivation
Deprivation decile: 1=within the most deprived 10% in England, decile 10=least deprived 10%. England average is between deciles 5 & 6.
100
50 0
The map, chart, and table are coloured by deprivation decile. For each
measure of deprivaiton, an area with a decile of 1 is in the most-deprived
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10
Number of LSOAs
4
10% of areas in England and is shaded red. An area with a decile of 10 is in the least-deprived 10% of areas in England for this indicator and is shaded blue.