Indices of Deprivation 2025: technical note summary

The Indices of Deprivation 2025 (IoD25) combine 7 domains to form an overall Index of Multiple Deprivation.  These 7 domains are based on 55 indicators, which compares to 39 used in the IoD 2019. The 7 domains and their weighting remain the same as in 2019. There are 20 new indicators and a further 14 that have been modified.  Because of these changes, comparison with previous indices needs to be very carefully considered.

All the indicators in the Crime or Living Environment domains have been modified or are new.  Only 1 of the 7 indicators making up the indicators in the Barriers to Housing and Services domain remain the same. Whilst the indicators used were as up-to-date as possible there is not a single consistent time point for all indicators.

For more details read the full report English indices of deprivation 2025: technical report

 
Domain name

 Total number of indicators Modified New
Income Deprivation 9 3 1
Economy Deprivation 12 0 5
Education, Skills and Training Deprivation 6 1 1
Health Deprivation and Disability 7 2 1
Crime 8 3 5
Barriers to Housing and Services 7 2 4
Living Environment Deprivation 6 3 3
Total 55 14 20

Income Deprivation Domain

Definition of income deprivation includes people who are dependent upon the state for some form of means-tested benefit both in or out-of-work. An important modification is income threshold and assessment is now based on an After Housing Costs (AHC) approach.

The indicators

  • Adults and children in Income Support benefit units.
  • Adults and children in income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance benefit units.
  • Adults and children in income-based Employment and Support Allowance benefit units.
  • Adults and children in Pension Credit (Guarantee) benefit units.
  • Adults and children in Universal Credit benefit units ‘out of work’ conditionality categories: No work requirements; Planning for Work; Preparing for work; Searching for work
  • Modified – Adults and children in Universal Credit ‘in-work’ conditionality groups with monthly equivalised income below 70% of the national median (after housing costs): Working with requirements; Working – no requirements
  • New – Adults and children in Housing Benefit claimant benefit units with monthly equivalised income below 70% of the national median (after housing costs).
  • Modified – Adults and Children in Tax Credit benefit units with monthly equivalised income below 70% of the national median (after housing costs).
  • Modified – Asylum seeker adults and children in dispersed accommodation in receipt of support.

Employment Deprivation Domain

The Employment Deprivation Domain measures the proportion of the working-age population in an area involuntarily excluded from the labour market. This includes people who may want to work but are unable to do so due to unemployment, sickness or disability, or caring responsibilities.

The definition of ‘working age’ has now been changed from 18-64 for males and 18-59 for females to 18-66 for both males and females to reflect the change in retirement age. It is based on 12 separate sequential monthly timepoints, compared to the four quarterly cuts used in the IoD 2019 to address issues of seasonality in employment.

The indicators

  • Claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance (both contribution-based and income based).
  • Claimants of Employment and Support Allowance (both contribution-based and income-based).
  • New – Claimants of New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance.
  • New – Claimants of New Style Employment and Support Allowance.
  • Claimants of Incapacity Benefit.
  • Claimants of Severe Disablement Allowance.
  • Claimants of Carer’s Allowance.
  • New – Claimants of Income Support.
  • Claimants of Universal Credit in No work requirements conditionality group.
  • Claimants of Universal Credit in Searching for work conditionality group.
  • New – Claimants of Universal Credit in Planning for work conditionality group.
  • New – Claimants of Universal Credit in Preparing for work conditionality group

Education, Skills and Training Deprivation Domain

The Education, Skills and Training Domain measures the lack of attainment and skills in the local population. The indicators fall into two sub-domains: one relating to children and young people, and one relating to adult skills.

The indicators

Children and Young People sub-domain

  • Key Stage 2 attainment: The scaled score of pupils taking Mathematics, English reading and English grammar, punctuation and spelling Key Stage 2 exams
  • Key Stage 4 attainment: The average capped points score of pupils taking Key Stage 4 (GCSE or equivalent) exams
  • Entry to higher education: A measure of young people aged under 21 not entering higher education
  • Modified – Pupil absence: The proportion of authorised and unauthorised absences for pupils attending maintained Primary, Secondary and Special Schools
  • New – Persistent pupil absence: The proportion of pupils missing 10% or more of possible school sessions

Adult Skills sub-domain

  • Adult skills: The proportion of working-age adults with no or low qualifications53, or who cannot speak English or cannot speak English well, aged 25 to 66

Health Deprivation and Disability Domain

The Health Deprivation and Disability Domain measures the risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health. The domain measures morbidity, disability and premature mortality. The domain comprises four separate indicators measuring: illness and disability; premature mortality; acute morbidity; and mental health. The comparative illness and disability ratio is an indicator of work limiting morbidity and disability, based on those receiving benefits due to inability to work through ill health.

The indicators

  • Comparative Illness and Disability Ratio: an age and sex standardised ratio of people receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Attendance Allowance (AA), Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit/Reduced Earnings Allowance/ Retirement Allowance, Incapacity Benefit (IB), Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit (UC) Health Caseload
  • Years of Potential Life Lost: an age and sex standardised rate of ‘premature death’, defined as death before the age of 75 from any cause
  • Acute Morbidity: an age and sex standardised rate of hospital spells starting with an admission in an emergency and lasting more than one calendar day
  • Mental health composite indicator comprising:
    1. Suicide: rate of deaths coded as intentional
    2. Modified – Hospital admissions: rate of hospital admissions related to mental health
    3. Prescribing data: rate of patients prescribed pharmaceuticals for mental ill-health
    4. New – Health benefits: the number of residents claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in disease groupings associated with mental health or behavioural disorders as a proportion of the total population aged 0-66

Crime Domain

Crime is an important feature of deprivation that has major effects on individuals
and communities. The Crime Domain measures the risk of personal and material
victimisation at local level.

The indicators

  • New – Violence with injury, rate per 1,000 at risk population
  • New – Violence without injury, rate per 1,000 at risk population
  • New – Stalking and harassment, rate per 1,000 at risk population
  • Modified – Burglary, rate per 1,000 at risk properties
  • Modified – Theft, rate per 1,000 at risk population
  • Modified – Criminal damage, rate per 1,000 at risk population
  • New – Public order and possession of weapons, rate per 1,000 at risk population
  • New – Anti-social behaviour, rate per 1,000 at risk population

Barriers to Housing and Services Domain

The Barriers to Housing and Services Domain measures the physical and financial accessibility of housing and local services. The indicators fall into two sub-domains: ‘geographical barriers’, which relates to the geographical (in)accessibility of key local services and amenities; and ‘wider barriers’ which relates to broader issues of accessibility, such to access to affordable housing and other important services.

The indicators

Geographical Barriers sub-domain

  • New – Connectivity Score: Travel time to retail, education, health, employment and leisure/entertainment destinations by walking, cycling and public transport.

Wider Barriers sub-domain

  • Modified – Housing affordability: Difficulty of access to owner-occupation or the private rental market, expressed as the inability to afford to enter owner-occupation or the private rental market.
  • Modified – Household overcrowding: The proportion of households judged to have insufficient space to meet the household’s needs.
  • Statutory Homelessness: A Local Authority District level indicator expressed as the rate of acceptances for housing assistance under the homelessness provisions of housing legislation
  • New – Core Homelessness: A Local Authority District level indicator capturing households experiencing the most extreme and immediate forms of homelessness
  • New – Broadband speed: Average broadband upload and download line speed (Mbit/s)
  • New – Patient-to-GP ratio: Patient to GP ratio by GP surgery, allocated to LSOA level based on patient residence distributions

Living Environment

The Living Environment Deprivation Domain measures the quality of the local environment. The indicators fall into two sub-domains. The ‘indoors’ sub-domain contains measures relating to the quality of the home environment, while the ‘outdoors’ sub-domain contains measures relating to the local neighbourhood
environment.

The indicators

Indoors sub-domain

  • Modified – Housing in poor condition: The proportion of social and private homes that fail to meet three components of the Decent Homes standard.
  • New – Housing Energy Performance Score: A measure reflecting housing quality derived from the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data collated by MHCLG.
  • New – Housing lacking private outdoor space: A derived from Ordnance Survey (OS) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on residential properties and associated private outdoor space.

Outdoors sub-domain

  • Modified – Air quality: A measure of air quality based on emissions rates for four pollutants.
  • Modified – Road traffic accidents involving injury to pedestrians and cyclists: A measure reflecting the rate of pedestrians and cyclist casualties from road traffic collisions.
  • New – Noise pollution: The percentage of the population of each LSOA exposed to noise pollution greater than or equal to 55dB Lden.