In 2018, Local Trust commissioned OCSI to develop new data analysis to explore the difference that social infrastructure makes to outcomes in deprived communities. The resulting Community Needs Index (CNI) measures the local social and cultural factors that can impact people’s life chances.
Local Trust’s early experience of delivering the Big Local programme had indicated that social infrastructure was often a key determinant of the prospects of Big Local areas, providing a springboard for community mobilisation and renewal.
We wanted to investigate whether this finding was generalisable across the country.
What makes the CNI unique?
The CNI incorporates community and social challenges which have not been captured in the traditional deprivation metrics such as the Indices of Deprivation. These include poor community and civic infrastructure, as well as low levels of participation and engagement in the wider community.
It’s not so much about the presence of unemployment, crime, ill health or wider economic deprivation. It’s more about the absence of the positive building blocks that make up a strong community – an active third sector, well developed social networks and the places and spaces that underpin local social fabric and cohesion.
Refining and updating the CNI methodology
In 2022, we launched a consultation on how best to improve the Community Needs Index, and worked with an Advisory Group of experts from across government, academia and civil society to refine the methodology for the research and expand the evidence base for measuring social infrastructure. The results of the consultation and feedback from the Advisory Group have fed into the refinements to our approach.
The Community Needs Index Technical Methodology Paper provides details of the methodological changes and approach to building the new version of the Index.
The new methodology uses the latest data, including from the 2021 Census. It takes broadly the same approach as the previous iteration regarding scope and data categories; however, there has been a review of the underlying indicators, weighting methodology and units of geography used to construct the Index.
