1. What the data tells us about Lincoln
James Wilkinson
Anti-Poverty Programme Lead
City of Lincoln Council
It’s me again. But I promise I won’t take up much of your time. This is just a short presentation on what the data tells us about poverty and low income in Lincoln. I hope by now you’ve noticed the Lincoln Poverty Profile available in each of your Delegate Packs.
This presentation is just to show a quick snapshot of some of that data prior to Workshop One.
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2. 4. Maintaining a robust and up to date statistical profile of Lincoln
Understanding the evidence base
A strong evidence base
1. Evidence from partners at the Lincoln Against Poverty annual events
2. Ongoing information from frontline officers at the council and our partner organisations
3. Strategic direction from the Lincoln Against Poverty Steering Group
4. Maintaining a robust and up to date statistical profile of Lincoln
Having a robust evidence base of poverty in Lincoln is really important to ensure we make evidence based decisions. But having a strong evidence base isn’t just
about the statistics.
Our evidence base comes from four key sources
The first is the evidence we get from partners at the annual Lincoln Against Poverty events, one of which we are at today
The second is the ongoing information from frontline officers both at the council, and in our partner’s organisations. Keeping in regular contact as a partnership is crucial, and if there are any emerging issues throughout the year, letting each other know about these is really important to enable us to respond as a partnership of different service providers
The third is the Steering Group that oversees the Lincoln Anti-Poverty Strategy. This Steering Group helps ensure the Strategy remains on course throughout the year. It includes City of Lincoln Council, the DWP, the CAB, the Credit Union, Acts Trust, Learning Communities, L&H Homes, the Multi-Academy New Dawn Trust, and Lincolnshire County Council
The fourth is the statistical profile we keep on Lincoln. The latest version of which is available in your Delegate Packs. An electronic copy is also available at
It’s some of the key findings from the Lincoln Poverty Profile 2016 I’m going to share with you
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3. Unemployment Lincoln Lincoln Against Poverty Against Poverty
The first thing we’re going to look at is unemployment.
The impact of the recession on unemployment has been well documented.
In 2006 and 2007, the unemployment claimant rate in Lincoln stood at around 2.5%. But then the recession hit in 2008, and unemployment began to rise.
As the graph shows, there were two peak periods for unemployment in Lincoln, one in 2009, and another in 2012.
In February 2012, the unemployment claimant reached a high of 5.2%, before gradually decreasing to the relatively lower rate of 2.4% that we saw at the end of 2015, accounting for around 1,600 residents in real terms. This takes us back to pre-recession levels.
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4. Worklessness Lincoln Lincoln Against Poverty Against Poverty
Others on income related benefits
Lone Parent Benefits
Carers Benefits
ESA / Incapacity Benefits
Bereaved Benefits
However, it's really important to remember that, whilst we naturally look toward the unemployment claimant rate as an important risk factor to being in in low-income, it only accounts for about one quarter of the main 'out of work' benefit claims.
In fact, there are about 7,400 out of work benefit claimants in total, of whom only about 1,600 are claiming Jobseekers Allowance.
By far the largest number of people claiming out of work benefits are claiming Employment Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit, accounting for more than 4,500 claimants.
In addition to the 7,400 out-of-work benefit claimants, there are an additional 1,980 residents claiming further DWP benefits, with 1,200 of these specifically relating to being a Carer
Jobseekers Allowance
Disabled Benefits
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5. Income Lincoln Lincoln Against Poverty Against Poverty
13,000 Lincoln residents earn below the Living Wage
According to Poverty.org.uk, of the low income employees nationally:
42% work in hotels, restaurants, retail and wholesale
14% work in manufacturing
12% are health workers working directly for, or contracted by, the Public Sector
However, looking at all those out of work and relying on benefits, still isn’t the whole picture of low-income
The average average salary for employed residents in Lincoln is £18,100 a year. This is 20% below the national average salary of £22,600. But that is the average, and what we find is a lot of people actually earning a lot lower than that.
Of the 54,000 people working in Lincoln, an estimated 13,000 are earning below the Living Wage – currently set at £8.25 an hour. This is the minimum amount someone needs to live in basic conditions – as agreed by members of the public
This is the second highest number of low income employees out of all seven districts in Lincolnshire;
It represents one quarter of our workforce;
And represents a real challenge to the notion that getting job, guarantees you a route out of poverty.
Whilst low pay can occur in any sector, we know from national research it can be particularly common in certain types of employment:
42% of people in low pay work in hotels, restaurants, retail and wholesale
14% work in manufacturing
And 12% are health workers, who work directly or indirectly for the Public Sector
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6. Children in low-income families
22.2% of children in Lincoln are in low-income families
Accounting for 4,310 children in real terms
The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated nearly two-thirds of children in poverty live in working households
There are five neighbourhoods in the city more than 40% of children are in low income households
Low-income is a real challenge for people, irrespective if they are:
Unemployed and looking for work
Out of work due to ill health, or family commitments
Or one of the 24% of employees in the city on a low-income
It can pervade every aspect of a person’s life, and affect every member of their household. This is evident when we look at the issue of relative child poverty in Lincoln. The indicator is also referred to as the number of children living in low income families.
When we consider that 24% of employees in the city are on a low-income, and more than 7,000 residents are on out-of-work benefits, it is perhaps not surprising that that 22% of children in Lincoln are living in low-income families, accounting for 4,310 children in real terms
Also, when we look at the split between working households and non-working households, we can see that nationally, 2/3rds of children in relative poverty come from a working household
When we look a little more detailed at the data, we can see that there are 5 neighbourhoods in Lincoln where more than 40% of children live in low-income families. Generally, these areas are in the suburbs such as St. Giles, Western Birchwood and Boultham Moor Estate.
And whilst the rate of children living in low-income families in the city has reduced from 25% in 2007, to 22% in 2013; I suspect there’s broad agreement that 4,300 children living in relative poverty in our city, is 4,300 too many.
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7. Fuel poverty Lincoln Lincoln Against Poverty Against Poverty
11.9% of households in Lincoln are in fuel poverty
Accounting for 4,846 of households in real terms
There are 5 neighbourhoods in Lincoln where more than 20% of households experience fuel poverty
Located in areas close to the city centre where some of the city’s oldest properties can be found
And it’s not hard to envisage how low-income can have a knock on effect on health, when we consider that, of the 40,000 households in Lincoln, 11.9% of them are estimated to be in fuel poverty.
Whilst this does show a reduction from 2011 when 16.3% of households in the city were in fuel poverty, the rate in Lincoln remains above the national rate (10.4%).
In real terms, the rate of 11.9%, accounts for 4,846 households in fuel poverty
When we look a bit more detailed at the data, we can see there are 5 neighbourhoods in Lincoln where more than 20% of households experience fuel poverty.
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8. The Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015
The final dataset we will take a look at is the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015.
Produced by DCLG, it is a really useful measure of long-term structural deprivation, so whilst it’s not suitable to use as a measure of performance for any organisation, it can be highly effective in identifying areas of need for the Lincoln Anti-Poverty Strategy.
The IMD looks at a whole range of issues including levels of:
Income
Employment
Education
Skills
Health
Crime
access to vital services
and general living environment
It identifies certain areas of the country as being deprived by national standards. There are approximately 3,300 of these ‘nationally deprived’ areas in England, out of a total of about 40,000 areas.
The IMD 2015 shows there are 10 areas in Lincoln considered deprived by national standards. This is an increase from seven areas in the IMD 2010, and five areas in the IMD 2007.
These 10 areas account for 16,000 Lincoln residents, or 17% of the total city population. Of course, it should be noted not everyone living in areas of deprivation will be deprived.
It highlights two areas in particular in Lincoln, that feature amongst the most 1% of deprived areas in England. These are Boultham Moor estate near Westwick Gardens in Moorland ward which ranks as the 207th most deprived area in England; and the western part of Birchwood, which ranks as the 237th most deprived area in England.
As you can see from the map, other areas such as
East of the city centre
St. Giles
and Ermine estate
also feature as relatively deprived.
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9. View the full Lincoln Poverty Profile 2016
This has been a whistle stop tour of the Lincoln Poverty Profile, which sits as part of the evidence base for the Lincoln Anti-Poverty Strategy. I’d encourage you to take a look at the full profile, which is in your delegate packs. An electronic copy is also available on our website at:
But when we think back to the very first slide, we want to capture your views about
whether or not you recognise these as a challenge for Lincoln,
and if you think there are any key issues that are missing.
Which brings us comfortably into Workshop One, which should take us until about 10:40.
Each table has a facilitator, could facilitators please raise your hand to let everyone know who you are.
On each table should be some pens, and a large bit of paper to complete. If you could please work through the two questions, this will help feed into our evidence base.
There’s no need to feed back verbally, but we will make sure all paper work is collected after the workshop, and shared with delegates.
There is a refreshment break at 10:40 – but please feel free to grab some coffee and return to your tables if you want.
But personally I’d recommend you do have a bit of a break, because at the end of the refreshment break, Simon’s going to introduce Workshop Two.
Now, I’d like to hand you over to your table facilitators
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