Rural England
Out-of-work benefit recipients
Key points
- The proportion of working-age adults in receipt of out-of-work benefits is much lower in rural districts than in urban districts: around 10% compared to 14%.
- The proportion of pensioners in receipt of means-tested benefits is also much lower in rural districts than in urban districts: around 13% compared to 19%.
- The geographic pattern for out-of-work benefits is very different from that for in-work benefits (i.e. tax credits). See the indicator on tax credits.
- See the UK indicator on receipt of out-of-work benefits.
Graph 1: Working-age
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Graph 2: Retired
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Rural/urban ratios (urban = 10)
On most poverty and social exclusion indicators, rural areas have 'better scores' than urban areas. The purpose of the table below is to differentiate between those subjects where rural areas are 'a bit better' and those where rural areas are 'a lot better'. It does so by presenting the rural statistics for the indicator as a proportion of the urban statistics. So, for example, a rural 'score' of 6 in the table below means that the rural statistic is around 60% of its urban equivalent.
Graph 1
| Type of district | Working-age adults in receipt of key of-of-work benefits | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sick or disabled | Other | Total | |
| 'Very rural' districts | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 8 | 6 | 7 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 8 | 6 | 7 |
Graph 2
| Type of district | People aged 60 and over in receipt of the guaranteed part of Pension Credit |
|---|---|
| 'Very rural' districts | 6 |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 7 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 7 |
Definitions and data sources
The indicator
For each type of local authority district, the first graph shows the proportion of working-age people claiming one or more 'key out-of-work benefits'. 'Key out-of-work benefits' is a DWP term which covers the following benefits: Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Carer's Allowance. Note that this list is slightly different from 'key benefits', which also include Disability Living Allowance.
For each type of local authority district, the second graph shows the number of people in receipt of the guaranteed part of Pension Credit as a proportion of all people aged 60 and over.
Level of the data
Lower tier local authorities (districts), as classified by the DEFRA 2005 classification system. Both the DEFRA classification rules and their results by local authority can be found on the page on rural/urban classification systems.
Source
DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study; the data is for February 2007.
The numbers
Graph 1
| Type of district | Working-age adults in receipt of key of-of-work benefits | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sick or disabled | Other | Total | ||||
| 'Very rural' districts | 200,000 | 5.5% | 130,000 | 3.7% | 330,000 | 9.2% |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 220,000 | 6.1% | 150,000 | 4.1% | 370,000 | 10.2% |
| 'Part rural' districts | 240,000 | 5.9% | 180,000 | 4.4% | 420,000 | 10.2% |
| Urban districts | 1,590,000 | 7.8% | 1,370,000 | 6.7% | 2,960,000 | 14.5% |
Graph 2
| Type of district | People aged 60 and over in receipt of the guaranteed part of Pension Credit | |
|---|---|---|
| 'Very rural' districts | 190,000 | 12.3% |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 190,000 | 12.6% |
| 'Part rural' districts | 200,000 | 13.2% |
| Urban districts | 1,200,000 | 19.2% |