Developing a local index of child well-being

Researchers: Jonathan Bradshaw, Michael Noble

Funder: Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Duration: April 2006 to January 2008

Background

National initiatives to tackle child poverty and social exclusion have become increasingly concentrated at small area level – Sure Start, the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative, New Deal for Communities, Health Action Zones, Priority Estates. At the same time mainstream services at local level are being scrutinised on the extent to which their services are being directed or mainstreamed to children most in need.

As a result of the Green Paper Every Child Matters (DfES 2003) and the establishment of a Minister for Children, children's services are beginning to be brought together at a local level as Children's Trusts. There is a great hunger for information about the status of children at not just local authority level but also smaller area levels so that Trusts and their predecessor local authorities can plan and evaluate their work. The Department for Children, Schools and Families is also developing the Every Child Matters National Service Outcomes Framework so that it can be used at local level.

The index will be used by the policy and research community to identify which local areas are the highest priority for action to raise child well-being and the extent to which area based initiatives as well as main stream services at local and national level are focussing on the well-being of children in those areas.

Aims

The aim was to develop an index of child well-being at the level of Lower Layer Super Output Areas for England which was the current geography for the Indices of Deprivation 2004 and the geographical basis for the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. Summaries were produced at both District and County levels.

Child income poverty is an important element in any conception of child well-being but there are also other components that need to be covered in an index of child well-being. The following domains were covered:

income poverty
worklessness
education
crime
health
environment
housing
child protection.

Methodology

The project was in two stages:

a feasibility stage where an assessment was made of the data available. This stage ended with the production of a blue print report
the second stage was the building of the index.

Output

The index, a county level list and a district level list are available via this link.

Publications and presentations

2009

The Prevalence, Characteristics and Distribution of Child Poverty in the North East Region: A report for Child Poverty Strategy Group, 2009
Bradshaw, J., North East Research & Information Partnership.

Local Index of Child Well-being: Summary report, 2009
Bradshaw, J., Bloor, K., Huby, M., Rhodes, D., Sinclair, I., Gibbs, I., Nobel, M., McLennan, D. and Wilkinson, K..

A child well-being index at small area level in England, 2009
Bradshaw, J., Noble, M., Bloor, K., Huby, M., McLennan, D., Rhodes, D., Sinclair, I. and Wilkinson, K., Child Indicators Research, 2, 2, 201-219.

2008

A child well-being index at small area level for England
Bradshaw, J., Social Policy Association Annual Conference, University of Edinburgh, 24 June 2008.

If you require further information about the project, please contact Jonathan Bradshaw