FIGURES released today (Thursday, 30 October) show that Thurrock sits in midtable in a list of the most deprived areas in England.

Three per cent neighbourhoods in the borough are described as 'highly deprived', but that sits well below the national average of 10 per cent.

Thurrock is 145th out of 296 local authorities listed by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). 

Neighbouring Basildon fares worse, 102nd in the list of most deprived areas, with eight per cent of its neighbourhoods classed as deprived.

Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, has been named the most deprived neighbourhood in England for the fourth consecutive time since 2010, new data shows.

Seven areas in Blackpool are also among the 10 most deprived, alongside one in Hastings and one in Rotherham.

The Index of Multiple Deprivation looks at living conditions across an area - but does not mean that everyone in a highly deprived neighbourhood will be struggling, nor will all those in a less deprived area be well off.

The figures published on Thursday do not show whether an area has become better or worse off since the previous report, but instead show patterns of how areas have changed relative to each other.

Deprivation is spread across the country, with 65% of local authorities containing at least one highly deprived neighbourhood, up from 61% in 2019.

Government minister Alison McGovern said the statistics were a "damning indictment of a system that has left some communities broken, councils pushed to a financial cliff edge and residents facing the brunt of service cuts".

Previous policies had "barely begun to break the cycle of deprivation," leading to stagnant local growth and "loss of hope", she said.

McGovern added the government was "tackling the root causes of deprivation head on" by investing £500m in children's development, extending free school meals and a new £1bn crisis support package across the UK.

How is deprivation measured?

The Index of Multiple Deprivation ranks all of England's 33,755 neighbourhoods, each with an average of 1,500 people, by their deprivation score.

The score is calculated from data on income, employment, education, crime, health and disability, barriers to housing and services, and the living environment.

Once all the neighbourhoods are ranked, they are split into 10 equal groups called deciles, where the first decile is the 3,375 most deprived neighbourhoods and so on.