Disadvantaged communities

Deprivation

One way to identify disadvantaged communities is to compare deprivation between areas.

Deprivation data for areas in England is provided by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government. The Library’s deprivation dashboard provides deprivation ranks for English constituencies and small areas and the Library briefing Deprivation in English constituencies explains how deprivation is measured.

Deprivation data for Scotland is provided by the Scottish government, data for Wales is provided by the Welsh government and data for Northern Ireland is provided by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Poverty

Another way to identify areas of disadvantage is to compare poverty rates. The Library’s child poverty dashboard provides child poverty data by UK constituency and small area.

The Library briefing Poverty in the UK: statistics provides more poverty data and explains how poverty is measured.

  • Challenges facing disadvantaged communities

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) horizon scan briefing Challenges facing disadvantaged and deprived communities, 24 October 2024 provides an overview of disadvantaged communities and policy options to improve outcomes.

Health and life expectancy

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) publish a Health Inequalities Dashboard which provides evidence of health inequalities in England, English regions and local authorities. Measures of inequality are provided for key indicators to monitor progress on reducing health inequalities within England.

Education

The Department for Education publishes statistics on attainment at key stages 2 (end of primary) and 4 (GCSE phase), as well as A Level, broken down by disadvantage status. Education is a devolved area, and so these statistics relate to England only. They cover pupils at state-funded schools.

Disadvantaged pupils are those who were registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, children looked after by a local authority or who have left local authority care through adoption, a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangements order. 

Key stage 2

The Department for Education publishes information on key stage 2 attainment. These statistics cover the attainment of year 6 pupils who took assessments in summer 2024, when 31% of pupils at the end of key stage 2 were considered disadvantaged.

In reading, writing and maths (combined):

  • 46% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard in 2024 compared to 67% of other pupils.
  • 3% of disadvantaged pupils met the higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined), while 10% of other pupils met the higher standard.

Key stage 4

The Department also publishes information on key stage 4 performance.

In 2023/24:

  • average Attainment 8 score (the average achievement of pupils in up to 8 qualification areas) was 34.6 for disadvantaged pupils and 50.0 for all other pupils
  • 8% of disadvantaged pupils achieved grades 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs, compared to 53.1% of all other pupils.

More information on other attainment measures for key stage 4 can be found under the ‘attainment by disadvantage status’ header on the Department’s key stage 4 performance publication.

A Level

The Department notes, in its publication on A level and other 16 to 18 results, that disadvantage measures in these statistics do not include students who did not have recorded data on whether they were disadvantaged during their compulsory schooling – for example, because they came from overseas.

For A level attainment for 2023/24:

  • The average point score (APS) per A level entry was 30.15 for disadvantaged pupils and 35.05 for non-disadvantaged pupils. A maximum of 60 points are available per A level taken.
  • The average A level result was C for disadvantaged pupils and B- for non-disadvantaged pupils.

Labour market outcomes

The charity Impetus published a report in May 2025, Youth Jobs Gap: Exploring compound disadvantage. This report used the Longitudinal Educational Outcomes data, which connects educational data with data on employment, benefits and earnings.

It found that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds (defined as being eligible for free school meals in year 11) were 65% more likely not to be in education, employment or training (NEET) than average. Disadvantaged young people with low levels of qualifications (defined as fewer than 5 GCSEs) were 131% more likely to be NEET.

A 2020 report from the Social Mobility Commission, The long shadow of deprivation: differences in opportunity, investigated the “differences in social mobility opportunities within local areas in England”.

It found significant variation between local authorities in terms of how disadvantage (FSM eligibility at 16) affected earnings at age 28, including amongst people with the same educational achievement.  In the most ‘mobile’ local authorities, there was no difference in earnings between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged young people with the same educational achievement. In the least mobile places, there was an 8-10% pay gap.  

Local government funding

Some aspects of funding for local government in England are linked to the needs of local areas through relative needs formulas. The government has recently consulted on the principles and objectives that should underly any reform to these formulas. This is discussed further in section 5.1 of the Library’s research briefing Local Government Finance Settlement 2025/26.

Current funding schemes for disadvantaged communities

Below are details of current government funding schemes, designed to address levels of disadvantage and reduce levels of inequality.

For further information on these funds, see the Library briefing Local growth funds.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is intended to reduce inequalities between communities and is designed to replace funding received from the EU Structural Funds.

The UKSPF was launched in April 2022 and was worth £2.6 billion over the period April 2022 to March 2025.

The 2024 Autumn Budget indicated the fund would continue “at a reduced level” for a further year beyond March 2025, with funding of £900 million. The Budget stated this “transitional arrangement” would “provide as much stability as possible in advance of wider local growth funding reforms.”

Details of funding awarded by local authority for the period 2022-25 are available here, while details of funding awarded for the period 2025-26 are available here.

The government listed three investment priorities for the UKSPF when the fund was launched in April 2022:

  • Communities and place: this is mostly aimed at improving community infrastructure and investing in neighbourhoods, for example by improving town centres and reducing crime.
  • Local businesses: improving both the numbers of jobs and the productivity of existing businesses, for example by providing investment in small businesses, creating opportunities for networking and collaboration, or helping to upgrade to energy-efficient technologies.
  • People and skills, the largest part of which is the Multiply programme to promote adult numeracy. Other aspects could include employment support programmes, adult learning, or other skills provision.

The methodology for allocations made for 2025/26 indicated allocations have had been adjusted to “prioritise areas with the highest levels of deprivation.”

Plan for Neighbourhoods

In October 2023, the government announced the Long-Term Plan for Towns, selecting 55 towns to receive £20 million in the form of a “ten-year endowment style fund.” 20 additional towns were added in the 2024 Spring Budget.

Towns were selected on the basis of various metrics indicating disadvantage, including:

  • indices of multiple deprivation
  • population size
  • healthy life expectancy
  • Gross Value Added per hour worked
  • skill level

For further information on the methodologies used, see the Plan for Neighbourhoods prospectus.

The 2024 Autumn Budget indicated that the Long-Term Plan for Towns would be “retained and reformed into a new regeneration programme” by the new government.

In March 2025, it was confirmed that the Plan for Neighbourhoods would deliver “on the commitments made… from the previous administration’s Long-Term Plan for Towns” and would award the previously announced £20 million to each of the 75 towns selected for the Long-Term Plan for Towns.

Selected towns are required to establish Neighbourhood Boards, in partnership with local authorities to “deliver the strategic objectives of the programme.” Prior to funding being released, Neighbourhood Boards will also have to submit 10-year Regeneration Plans, developed with local authorities, to the MHCLG for assessment and approval.

Further reading

For information on where public money is spent within the UK, see the Library’s research briefings Public spending by country and region and How is public spending allocated to local areas?.

For information about which areas are most disadvantaged, see the Library’s deprivation and child poverty dashboards.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Focusing on doubly-disadvantaged neighbourhoods, 5 April 2024

Office for National Statistics, Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds feel less in control of their futures, 6 November 2023

Geographical Journal, Left Behind Neighbourhoods in England: Where They Are and Why They Matter, 19 November 2023

House of Commons Library, Future of public libraries, 13 May 2025

Education

More information on education and disadvantage status can also be found in some other Library products, such as:

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