A Pragmatic Approach to Measuring Neighbourhood Poverty Change

This paper uses a new indicator to track poverty from 2001 to 2006 in small areas in Great Britain. The indicator, called Unadjusted Means-tested Benefits Rate (UMBR), was devised by Fenton (2013) and is the ratio of claimants of means tested benefits to the number of households in a small area. The analysis presented here is threefold. We first explore in detail the correlation between UMBR and the indices of multiple deprivation. While conceptually different, UMBR appears to capture different aspects of deprivation beyond out-of-work income poverty. Second, we outline the different patterns of change in poverty across Great Britain and show how small areas in deprived urban communities and multiethnic urban areas have changed considerably between 2001 and 2006. Finally, we draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to explore the association between residents’ perceptions of their neighbourhood and the UMBR level of their area. We find that respondents living in areas of higher poverty tend to express more negative views of their neighbourhood and that those who changed area in search of a “better neighbourhood†end up in areas with lower poverty rates. However, small changes in poverty over time were not reflected in changes in residents’ views.