SUSSEX UNCOVERED A REPORT Evaluating the needs and strengths of our communities November 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We have consulted many people in preparing this report and are particularly grateful to: Local Futures who gave us access to a vast data resource and helped us to make sense of it all. Janice Needham who wrote the report itself and interpreted that data. Action in Rural Sussex who provided a highly informative analysis of issues for rural communities. East Sussex in Figures who provided invaluable advice on the presentation of the data. CONTENTS 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 02 2. POPULATION OVERVIEW 04 Population and growth 04 Urban and rural population 05 Older people 05 Children and young people 06 Minority ethnic communities and migrants 06 People with a disability or a learning disability 07 Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people 07 3. OVERVIEW OF INDICATORS OF DEPRIVATION 08 Sub-regional level 09 District level 09 Ward level 10 Lower layer super output area level 11 4. IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR SUSSEX 14 Income and poverty 14 Employment 16 Health deprivation, disability and social care 18 Education, skills and training 22 Barriers to housing and other services – rural communities 23 Crime 27 Living environment 27 5. CONCLUSIONS 32 APPENDIX: DEFINITIONS, SOURCES AND REFERENCES 34 GLOSSARY DFES Department for Education and Schools GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education IMD Index of Multiple Deprivation LA local authority LSOA lower layer super output area NEET not in employment, education or training ONS Office for National Statistics VCS voluntary and community sector VCO voluntary and community organisations LGBT lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sussex Community Foundation has come a long way since its launch in 2006. We have raised over £12 million to support Sussex charities and community groups, half of which is in endowment in trust for the future. We’ve given out over £6 million to over 1,500 groups, This is the first report to give underwriting a network of community action and support, stretching from Camber in East Sussex to a broad view of issues facing Chichester in West Sussex, from Brighton & Hove in local communities across the south to Crawley in the north. the entirety of Sussex We’ve established ourselves as an effective local grant-maker and a service for individuals and companies who want to support Sussex people to foundations. There is a wealth of data available build their own low-cost solutions to the challenges through local authorities and other organisations but they face. We now want to play a leading role in local we believe that this is the first report to give a philanthropy, here in Sussex. We want to develop a broad view of issues facing local communities strategic approach to our grant making and to inform across the entirety of Sussex. our donors about the issues faced by our communities It focuses mainly on the indices of multiple and how best they might be addressed. deprivation (IMD). However, the data alone is not So, after seven years, are we funding the right enough to tell us the whole story. There are over projects in the right places? What are the ‘needs’ of 5,000 registered charities in Sussex and countless Sussex and what do Sussex communities need to smaller community groups, too small to be registered respond to them? Where should we be advising our with the Charity Commission. We are in contact donors to invest their support? These are some of the with many of them on a daily basis and some have questions that lie behind this publication. also fed into this report, telling us more about the communities we fund, the challenges they face This report establishes a baseline of data about and the resilience they display. We are uniquely Sussex and represents the first step in a process of positioned to evaluate the impact on the charities analysing and evaluating the needs and strengths of and community groups that we have funded because our communities. We want to use what we learn to of the £6 million we have already given out. inform our development as a community foundation, part of a growing movement of UK community 02 SUSSEX UNCOVERED 11. All wards in Hastings and in Brighton & Hove KEY FINDINGS have health deprivation worse than the 1. Significant areas of Sussex are in the 5% England average, as do the majority of wards most deprived in the UK and experience ‘inner in Eastbourne, Worthing and Adur. city’ levels of deprivation. Whether we look at 12. Housing in Sussex is among the least the overall IMD or data for specific indicators affordable in the country and many people of disadvantage, the same areas of Hastings, find it hard to access the services they need. Brighton & Hove and Littlehampton, show Chichester is the most disadvantaged district up time and again. Parts of Eastbourne and in terms of access to services, followed by Hailsham also exhibit high levels of deprivation. Wealden, Rother and Horsham. 2. The mean annual wage in Sussex is the lowest in the South East of England. In Hastings and Adur, the average wage is nearly Rural disadvantage is not always highlighted by £10,000 per year less than the South East the IMD and sometimes it is necessary to look below average. the surface to establish hidden pockets or issues. The data is very good at identifying disadvantaged 3. The worst child poverty in Sussex is in areas; it is not always good at identifying Tressell ward in Hastings where 67% of children disadvantaged people. The majority of people live in poverty. claiming benefits do not live in areas identified as 4. Much deprivation is centred in the coastal disadvantaged. Around 21% of people live in rural towns, but there are significant pockets of areas and those living on low incomes there can deprivation in many other Sussex towns, face multiple disadvantages. The cost of living in including Hailsham and Rye. rural areas is significantly higher, housing is less affordable and services are harder to access. The 5. Deprived people do not necessarily live distance to the nearest shop is often much further in deprived areas. The majority of people and the cost of basic services often higher. claiming benefits do not live in areas identified as disadvantaged. 6. There are surprising differences in life expectancy in areas of Sussex. Men living in less deprived areas of Brighton & Hove will live METHODOLOGY on average over ten years longer than those in This report is based primarily on the 2010 Index of the most deprived areas. Multiple Deprivation (IMD), which is produced by 7. There is a very high proportion of older the Office for National Statistics. We used this as people, many living alone or in poverty, or our starting point because it is nationally available, both. Rother and Arun are the districts with the consistent and comparable at various geographical highest proportions of older people. 30% of the levels. The data is collected and presented at a very population in Rother is aged over 65. small community level, ‘lower layer super output areas’ (LSOAs). LSOAs have an average 1,500 8. Sussex has the highest levels of homelessness people so they give a good indication of smaller in the South East concentrated in Brighton & pockets of deprivation. Hove and Crawley. We recognize that the IMD does have its limitations; 9. People living on low incomes in rural areas not least that it does not always convey the hidden face a double disadvantage. Particular need in rural and other smaller communities. We problems include the affordability of housing have therefore used supplementary data, where and availability of services and transport. necessary, and invited input from other colleagues 10. Of those employed in Hastings, 41% work such as Action in Rural Sussex. We want to thank in public services. At a time when Government them for their invaluable contributions. spending is reducing, this could have a dramatic effect for a town that already has a high level of need. SUSSEX UNCOVERED 03 2 POPULATION OVERVIEW This section presents Sussex’s demographic profile with an overview of its population and growth, as well as information on subgroups of the population. AREA POPULATION POPULATION POPULATION AND GROWTH 2011 % CHANGE 2001-11 The total population of Sussex is 1,606,932.i Of these, Adur 61,182 3 806,892 live in West Sussex; 526,671 in East Sussex Arun 149,518 6 and 273,369 in Brighton & Hove. Brighton & Hove’s population accounts for one in six of those Brighton & Hove 273,369 10 living in Sussex. Chichester 113,794 7 The table opposite shows total population and Crawley 106,597 7 population change by district in Sussex. Eastbourne 99,412 11 The growth rate for Sussex is in line with national Hastings 90,254 6 and regional trends, with Brighton & Hove and Horsham 131,301 8 Eastbourne showing slightly higher rates of growth. The majority of this growth is caused by people moving Lewes 97,502 6 into the area, mainly from other parts of the UK. Mid Sussex 139,860 10 Rother 90,588 6 Brighton & Hove’s Wealden 148,915 6 population accounts Worthing 104,640 7 for one in six of those EAST SUSSEX 526,671 7 WEST SUSSEX 806,892 7 living in Sussex SUSSEX 1,606,932 8 SOUTH EAST 8,634,750 8 ENGLAND & WALES 56,075,912 8 04 SUSSEX UNCOVERED URBAN AND OLDER PEOPLE RURAL POPULATION Older people are a significant feature of Sussex. There are a higher percentage of older people than Using the rural and urban area classification the South East or England and Wales and the fifth developed by Government in 2004, it is possible to highest proportion of people aged over 75 in England categorise those areas of East Sussex and West Sussex and Wales.