Prospects
Why is this important?
Understanding Coventry's economic, cultural, educational, and early childhood prospects can help us better understand the effects these factors have on the wellbeing of the local populations. A person's lifelong health, happiness, and productivity are affected by preventable health inequalities that can arise during pregnancy, childbirth, and the early years.
Best Start in Life
Why is this important?
“Giving every child the best start in life is crucial for securing health and reducing health inequalities across the life course. The foundations for virtually every aspect of human development – physical, intellectual, and emotional – are laid in early childhood. What happens during these early years, starting in the womb, has life-long effects on many aspects of health and well-being”. - Sir Michael Marmot
What is the local picture? How does it compare?
Coventry appears to perform better than the national average at birth, when a few statistics relevant to child development in infancy are assessed; however, these are not the only factors to a child’s development. Avoidable differences in health emerge by the time a child reaches the age of five. At birth and in early years, Coventry appears to be better than the national average when a few statistics relevant to child development in infancy are assessed. However, by the age of five, fewer achieve a good level of development than in other similar places.
In 2020/21, 73.8% of Coventry newborns received breast milk as their first feed, better than both regional (68.3%) and national averages (71.7%). The prevalence of breastfeeding is also measured using data collected by health visitors when a baby is 6 to 8 weeks old, in Coventry it has remained around 50% in recent years, meaning that half of babies remain at least partially breastfed by that age. While there is some uncertainty because of missing data for a small minority of babies, we can say the 2021/22 rate of about 51% is higher than the England average of 49.2% and it has been better for the last few years, although the gap has narrowed due to an increasing trend for England overall.
In 2021/22, 9.3% of new mothers from Coventry were smoking at the time of delivery. While it would be good to reduce this further, this has been on a downward trend from 15.1% in 2010/11. It is the same as the England average (9.1%) but lower than the regional average (9.8%) and the average amongst Coventry’s statistical neighbour areas.
Infant mortality rates in Coventry are higher compared to England but similar to the regional rate. The infant mortality rate in Coventry is 5.7 per 1,000. This is like the West Midlands (5.6) however more than for England (3.9). The child mortality rate (1-17 years) in Coventry, whilst low in number, is 15.0 per 1,000, which has remained persistently high compared to both the West Midlands (11.0) and England (10.3) since 2012.
In 2021 the percentage of all babies born at low weight (under 2500g) in Coventry was 8.1%, higher than the national average of 6.8%, but similar to the regional average of 7.6%. This could be due to a relatively high number of babies born to Coventry mothers being premature, leading to a higher number of babies born at low weight; for the three years 2018-2020 1,255 Coventry babies were born prematurely, a rate of 99.7 per 1,000 compared to the national average of 79.1.
By the age of two, the number of Coventry toddlers at the expected level of development is above the national average. At the age of 2-2 ½ health visitors should assess all children in terms of communication, motor, problem-solving and personal social skills; 85.1% of those assessed in Coventry were at the expected level in all domains, compared to 81.2% across England overall and 79.0% across West Midlands overall.
In Coventry, uptake of funded early years childcare for all children aged two, three and four has increased. The 2-year-old up take has increased to 74.8% in 2022, compared to 72% nationally and 67% regionally. This is because of Early Years initiatives and a campaign to reach vulnerable families post Covid. Similarly, the 3- & 4-year-old take-up increased from 86% to 88% but was still below national at 92% and regional 93% averages.
By the age of five, fewer children achieve a good level of development (61.1%) than nationally (65.2%). A child’s level of development is assessed at the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) on early learning goals in the prime areas of learning: personal, social and emotional development; physical development; and communication and language and the early learning goals in the specific areas of mathematics and literacy. These figures also represent a lower proportion than the West Midlands average (63.7%) and lower than the average amongst Coventry’s statistical neighbour areas (62%). A comparison to 2019 shows a widening of the city gap with national from 2% points to over 4% points.
Inequalities in reaching a good level of development within Coventry have already established themselves by the age of 5. Amongst disadvantaged children, 46.3% achieve a good level of development, compared to 63.4% for non-disadvantaged, a 17-percentage point gap.
Comparing rates by ethnic group, children of Asian ethnicity in Coventry have the highest rates at 66.4%; furthermore, this is higher than children of Asian ethnicity elsewhere, across England it is 64.9% and Coventry’s rate is highest of all its statistical neighbour areas for this group. This is compared to 49.4% for children of ‘Other‘ ethnicity, 59.2% for children of ‘Mixed’ ethnicity, 60.8% for children of White ethnicity and 61.5% for children of Black ethnicity – these rates are lower than their counterparts across England and lower than the average for these groups living in statistical neighbour areas. While it is important to support the most vulnerable groups, it is essential to support all groups in a targeted way.
Data from an oral survey of 5-year-olds indicates that the dental health of children in Coventry is worse than regional and national averages. In 2021/22 over a third of 5-year-olds surveyed had experience of visually obvious dentinal decay, 34.2% compared to 23.8% across the West Midlands region overall and 23.7% across England overall. This is the third highest prevalence out of all local authority areas in the West Midlands.
The number of children in care remains above national average but is similar to statistical neighbours. In Coventry 89.5 children out of every 1,000 are in care. This is higher than England's rate of 70 but is more in line with statistical neighbour average rate of 89. This has been on a slightly increasing trend in recent years. Coventry has seen an increase in the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, the city has a higher proportion of these children in care than all comparators. If these children were excluded, then a trend of reduction would be shown over the last few years.
The percentage of children under the age of 16 who live in absolute poverty is greater when compared to the rest of England. In Coventry in 2021/22, 21.4% of children under the age of 16 live in homes with ‘absolute’ low incomes, compared to 21.4% throughout the West Midlands and 15.3% in England. The percentage of children living in ‘relative poverty’ in Coventry is 26.7%, amounting to an estimated 18,267 children. This compares to 27.0% throughout the West Midlands and 19.9% in England. This has been an increasing trend in Coventry, and elsewhere, since 2014/15.
The extent of ‘child poverty’ can be measured in other ways, the End Child Poverty campaign attempts to model the number of children who live in households with a relatively low income (less than 60% of the national median household income), calculating income after the costs of housing are taken away. Rates are higher when calculated this way. For 2021/22 they estimate that 31,458 of Coventry children (0-15) live in poverty, which amounts to over one-third of all children living in Coventry, 39.6%.
What is happening in the city? What else can be done?
There is clear evidence that good parenting is crucial to a child’s development and to their future life chances. Coventry Parenting Steering Group, through the creation of the Parenting Strategy aims to raise the level of awareness about the importance and impact of parenting on children’s outcomes. So that “More Coventry children and young people grow up within supportive families and communities”.
Effective Early Help has a positive impact on the lives of children and young people and is a high priority in Coventry and nationally. Early Help services want to offer the right help, at the right time to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families and to prevent the need for high demand on statutory services. Early Help is a way of working that supports children in the early years of their lives, and as well as when a problem emerges at any stage in their lives. Effective Early Help also has a positive impact on public finances in a context of significant financial pressures, by reducing the demand for higher-cost services.
Coventry Early Help Partnership is committed to providing a range of help to children to ensure that they can benefit from what’s on offer to guarantee them the best start in life. Services such as the Family Hubs and Coventry Family Health and Lifestyle Service are essential in doing this throughout the city. There are 8 Family Hubs located throughout the city, each of which provides a variety of services aimed at supporting families, children, and young people.
The city’s family hubs help coordinate early intervention and support. Health visitors, social workers, midwives, police, and other professionals have been brought together to identify vulnerable families and put together a coordinated package of help. This helps to ensure that families have access to the support they need, including addressing maternal isolation, accessing activities to improve their children’s life chances, and providing help with finances.
There are ambitions for joint working between the public sector and voluntary sector. Family hubs and the out-of-hospital programme aim to work collaboratively with community groups, whilst community and voluntary groups aim to grow their impact –working with the public sector is seen as one way to do so.
Coventry Family Health and Lifestyle Service also provide a range of services and support. Support and services such as Healthy Child Programmes, Health Visitors, Family Nurses and Infant Feeding programmes. The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) is a voluntary programme for young first-time mothers (and their partners), aged 19 years or under. Nurses provide regular home visits building a supportive and trusting relationship which enables new parents to provide good care for their baby and toddler and plan their future.
There are ambitions to strengthen the availability and accessibility of general information and advice to parents. MAMTA is a Child and Maternal Health programme delivered by Foleshill Women’s Training and commissioned by Family Health and Lifestyles Service, to provide strategic leadership and representation of ethnic minorities and to ensure service offers meet the needs of ethnic minorities and are accessible to all. MAMTA delivers health messages to families, to reinforce health and wellbeing messages from maternity and health visiting services in a way that reflects the socio-cultural influences and drivers of behaviour, that at times, may differ from white British communities.
Given the diversity in the city, it is crucial to ensure the needs of all communities are met. As part of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Local Offer there are several targeted parenting programmes like the support offered by Communication and Interaction (including Autism) Support Service and the EYSS (Early years support service) SEND offering parent/carers of children with complex needs city wide support.
There is also a range of parenting support offered to parents universally, for example, Health Visiting and School Nursing, as well as online parenting support. Health visitors work closely with others to develop services and make sure people know about them. The community teams offer friendly support and advice, by working closely with GPs, midwives, school nurses and the wider local community.
The libraries throughout the city offer a range of valuable resources, such as community support and information through the Rhyme time sessions offered to 0–4-year-olds. Children are also helped with literacy and language development skills that come from the freely accessible books and intervention schemes such as Book Start Baby and Book Start Treasure.
Education and skills
Why is this important?
Poor work chances, social isolation, and difficulties with mental and physical health are just a few of the social disadvantages that people could potentially face later in life because of low educational attainment and low expectations. By supporting high levels of educational attainment and boosting expectations, these barriers can be removed so that children and young people realise their full potential.
There have been significant disruptions to education over recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing schools to close and move to digital classrooms. It is fair to say that this has had an impact on education and some children’s school readiness as a result. Therefore, the Department of Education are reluctant to directly compare attainment statistics between 2019-2022, we have included some for your information here.
What is the local picture? How does it compare?
89.3% of the city’s primary school pupils attend a good or outstanding school – a slight decrease in recent years but in line with national averages. The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, also known as Ofsted, inspects services providing education and training for learners and regulate services that care for children and young people. According to Ofsted’s ratings, Coventry's primary schools saw improvements from 42% in 2013 to 95% in 2019, but a decline to 89% in 2022.
The number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) has been increasing, as it has for England overall. In 2021/22 there were 11,054 of pupils with SEN in Coventry, making up 18.2% of all pupils compared to 16.5% for England overall. This is divided into two types, those with a Statement or an Education, Health & Care (EHC) plan; and those with SEN support. Between 2015/16 and 2021/22 the proportion of all pupils with a Statement or EHC plan increased from 2.3% to 3.3% and those with SEN support increased from 13.3% to 14.9%, this trend is similar to that for England overall.
Over this time, increases were seen most amongst children with ‘Speech, Language and Communications needs’ (SLCN) (from 1,679 to 2,709), ‘Autistic Spectrum Disorder’ (from 1,137 to 1,614) and ‘Social, Emotional and Mental Health’ needs (from 1,323 to 1,640). There was a reduction in the number of pupils with ‘Moderate Learning Difficulties’ (from 2,863 to 2,473). These trends by type of need are similar to the national trends, although Coventry’s increase in SLCN of 61%, is proportionally higher than the national increase (35%).
Coventry's total attainment performance at the end of year 6 (key stage 2) fell short of the national average in 2022, and the percentage achieving the expected standards has fallen since 2019. 54% of Coventry students at the end of year 6 met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined, compared to 59% for England as a whole. In Coventry, 62% of students in 2019 achieved the standard in each of the three subjects. However, progress in maths amongst Coventry primary school pupils is positive. The average Coventry child outperforms pupils with similar prior attainment nationally in maths.
There are many factors that impact attainment and there are inequalities between some groups of pupils. Like the gender gap nationally, girls in Coventry tend to do better academically than boys. In 2022 60% of Coventry girls achieved the expected standard at key stage 2 compared to 48% of boys. Only 40% of disadvantaged pupils achieved the standard compared to 61% of those non-disadvantaged.
86% of the city’s secondary school pupils attend a school that is rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, this is a significant improvement from 74% in 2019, and now equals the England average.
The number of pupils achieving at least a ‘standard pass’ at the end of key stage 4, that is grades 9-4 in English and Maths, is below the national average. In 2022, 65.1% of Coventry students received a "standard pass," or grades 9–4 in English and Maths, compared to 69% across England overall. This is a fall in Coventry from 68.2% in 2021, although at higher levels than in 2017 (58.3%), 2018 (60.2%) and 2019 (59.4%).
The average attainment 8 score, which is an average score used to measure an individual student's progress across their 8 best performing subjects taken at GCSE level, for pupils in Coventry was 46.2, slightly worse than the England average of 48.9 and down from 48.0 in 2021.
Grading using summer exams returned in 2022 following 2020 and 2021 when exams were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and alternative methods of awarding grades were in place.
Inequalities in attainment persist into key stage 4, the gender gap at the end of primary is still present in key stage 4 attainment. The average attainment 8 score amongst female pupils was 48.9, better than 43.4 amongst male pupils. Overall attainment levels for disadvantaged pupils are significantly lower, with an average attainment 8 score of 37.7 compared to 49.8 amongst non-disadvantaged pupils in Coventry. Attainment 8 scores indicate that the overall attainment levels of white pupils in Coventry are lower than those for other ethnic groups. Further analysis is needed to understand these inequalities.
By Key Stage 5 (16- to 18-year-old) our attainment is slightly below the national average, but in line with other areas similar to Coventry. Coventry’s average point score is in the middle of Grade C, the same as our statistical neighbours, but slightly below the national average which is towards the top of Grade C.
Free school meals eligibility in Coventry continues to increase and now officially stands at 24.8% over all school years in 2022. However, this metric is disguised by the universal infant free school meals in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. The maximum free school meals eligibility rate in any one class year in Coventry is currently 30%, which could be more indicative of the real eligibility rate. This is very high, considering that the eligibility criteria for free school meals is an annual net income of £7,400 after any benefits – suggesting a very high rate of severe deprivation amongst young families in Coventry.
The city continues to have a slightly higher than average percentage of young people proceeding from school to a sustained education, employment, or training. In 2022 the annual trend of improvement continued, with fewer young people not enrolled in any form of education, employment, or training (NEET). It is estimated that 310, 16–17-year-olds in Coventry are NEET or whose activity is not known. This is equivalent to 3.9% of that age group and is lower than the regional (5.0%) or England (4.7%) rates.
A growing proportion of the city’s residents are gaining qualifications. Two-fifths of the city’s working-age population is highly qualified. In 2021, 40.7% of Coventry’s working-age population is qualified to level 4 or above, which means they have a foundation degree or above. This has increased by about 15 percentage points over the past decade and the city is the second highest within the West Midlands.
7.6% of the city’s working-age population has no qualifications at all. This is a reduction from 10% in 2018 and has halved over the past decade.
A lack of qualifications may make it more difficult for someone to find more fulfilling work in the city or reduce their chances of getting positions based in Coventry as the city's jobs become more competitive and demand higher-skilled workers.
Adult education offers opportunities across the city for adults to engage and learn. The Adult Education Service in Coventry offers a choice of courses in a wide range of subjects. Each year thousands of people take the opportunity to learn a new skill, gain a qualification, find out more about something they are interested in, or simply make new friends. Data from the last academic year (2020/21) suggests Adult Education delivery in Coventry is doing reasonably well in serving Coventry’s communities. Wards with higher levels of deprivation have higher volumes of learners such as St Michaels (12%) and Foleshill (12%). However, there could still be community groups and areas of the city that are under-represented, and we need to continue to ensure our Skills Providers have good reach across the City.
What else is happening in the city? What else can be done?
The Coventry Skills Strategy seeks to ensure Coventry residents have skills that match the needs of local employers, not only for now, but also for the vacancies of the future. The strategy aims to build aspiration throughout all educational levels, with Coventry’s young people inspired to learn, seeing clear pathways to the jobs they strive towards. Ensuring that the learning and skills provision meets the needs of all Coventry’s communities and is fully inclusive.
Schools and colleges play a pivotal role in raising the aspirations of young people. 30 out of 33 of Coventry’s schools and colleges (including special schools) are engaged with the Coventry and Warwickshire Careers Hub (CW Careers Hub). The CW Careers Hub supports schools' ‘Careers Leaders’ to create a high-quality careers plan that will increase employer engagement, embed careers into the curriculum and inform students and parents of their options.
There is also the ESF-funded Coventry and Warwickshire; ‘Collaborate to Train’ project, a partnership between WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group), Coventry City Council Job Shop, Coventry College, Coventry University and Solihull College & University Centre. The project helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) access the right training to support the future of their businesses including; accessing apprenticeships, work experience placements, supported internships and advising on effective school engagement. The project has now entered its second phase after the first phase supported over 400 SMEs.
Adults out of work can be supported by Coventry Job Shop who are working with public sector and community partners to promote skills that lead to good quality employment. The Job Shop provides a wide range of support to all Coventry residents, of all ages, who are looking for work. They work with partners across the city and actively work with employers to generate opportunities for local people. It offers a range of support with searches for employment, training, apprenticeships and work placements, to guidance and reviews of CVs.
Community groups across the city are working together to provide better opportunities and outcomes for children. Having a healthy balanced meal is vital for children going to school and concentrating, there is lots of food-based provision for children throughout the holidays through initiatives such as Holiday Activities and Food programmes (HAF) as well as Magic Breakfasts. HAF provides free activities, experiences and food for eligible children and young people in the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays, whilst Magic Breakfasts are healthy school breakfasts to children at risk of going hungry. HAF also has information available to support families particularly to help with the cost of living and food help for families.
Economy
Why is this important?
A protective factor for health is having meaningful employment. Reducing avoidable health disparities will involve tackling the unequal distribution of money, wealth, and power by improving opportunities and skills.
What is the local picture? How does it compare?
The global economic context is currently challenging and will likely impact Coventry and its residents. Growth in the local Coventry economy has slowed since 2016, following several years of strong growth, putting the city in a more difficult position to face the challenges of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. Total annual GDP in Coventry, the value of all economic activity within the city, was at £11.094 billion in 2021, and had grown by an estimated average of 0.4% per year since 2016; this is lower than the growth across England overall (2.8%) and in the overall economy of the West Midlands combined authority area (2.0%). In 2020 Coventry GDP fell by 4.2% which is associated with the impact of the pandemic, and recovered in 2021, increasing by 4.5% - leaving Coventry with slightly higher GDP than before the pandemic, but recovery across the region and nation overall was better.
The city is home to some world-class business clusters which gives Coventry a competitive advantage. Business sectors in the city and region include advanced manufacturing and engineering (particularly in aerospace and automotive industries); energy and low carbon; connected autonomous vehicles; business, professional & financial services; and digital, creative, and gaming. According to the Centre for Cities, in 2018 Coventry had the second highest rate of published patent applications out of 63 UK city clusters and has regularly been amongst the highest in the annual list, indicating a high amount of innovation amongst Coventry businesses. This also translates when looking at productivity, in Gross Value Added (GVA) per hour worked, in 2020 the city ranked 14th highest out of 60 UK cities.
There has been a growth in average annual earnings in recent years closing the gap between Coventry and the national averages. The median earnings of all in full-time and part-time work increased by 8% amongst Coventry residents in 2022, higher than the national average of 7% and the average in the West Midlands Combined Authority Area (WMCA) of 4%.
In 2022 median earnings were 26% higher than in 2016, compared to 21% growth in the WMCA area and 20% across England overall. The gap between average earnings in Coventry and the rest of the region has gotten smaller in recent years and now shows that average earnings for Coventry residents are slightly higher than the national average, at £33,887 for full-time workers compared to £33,208 across England overall. However, increases in 2021 and 2022 are below inflation levels so real incomes are falling.
Whilst average earnings have been improving, average household income is lower in Coventry than other areas. Coventry’s median gross household income in 2022 was estimated at £30,237 compared to the UK median of £36,440. Income is one of the measures used in the English Indices of Deprivation 2019. Coventry ranks as relatively more deprived in the income domain, compared to other types of deprivation and local authority areas. Coventry ranks relatively worse for income deprivation affecting children and older people.
Despite growing opportunities, innovation and improvement in average earnings, the employment rate has fallen. This is likely due to the disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic and slow growth in the national economy in 2022. 72.1% of working-age residents were in employment in 2022, a slight recovery from 2020 (71.4%) and 2021 (71.5%) but lower than the 73.0% in 2019. Up until 2019 employment rates had been on an increasing trend for a few years. They remained lower than the national average of 75.8%; however, this has historically been the case, partly due to Coventry being home to two large universities. Coventry’s employment rate is not exceptionally low and is like that of other university cities. The unemployment rate in 2022 was 4.9%, equating to 9,400 residents: down from 5.5% in 2021 but higher than the pre-pandemic 2019 level of 4.3%.
Economic inactivity rates have gradually increased since 2019, up to then it had been in a decreasing trend. Economic inactivity refers to people who are neither in work nor unemployed, they are not actively seeking work for various reasons. This includes full-time students, those looking after a home, people living with long-term illness, retired people, and others. In 2019 it was 22.8% and by 2022 it was 24.3%, higher than the national average of 21.3%. Coventry has consistently had higher than average rates due to the relatively high number of economically inactive students, however, the increase in inactivity since 2019, is not due to inactive students of which there has been a reducing number. Increases in economic inactivity have been driven by increasing ‘involuntary’ economic inactivity, for example, people who are long-term sick; an estimated 28,300 form this group who the Centre for Cities call the ‘hidden unemployed’, to add to the 9,400 Coventry residents who are unemployed (not employed and actively seeking work).
Coventry was UK City of Culture between May 2021 and May 2022; this had a positive impact on Coventry’s economy. The Baseline Report provides an indication of the investment secured by June 2021, as a result of being awarded the UK City of Culture 2021 in December 2017. This equates to over £172m and estimated an impact of £51m of Gross Value Added (GVA) generated from capital works completed or underway through this investment.
The city’s year as the City of Culture, however, happened during a period of continued significant national and international challenges. In May 2021, as the City of Culture year launched, COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions remained in place. Into 2022, the end of the year in the spotlight coincided with the rapid rise in the cost of living.
The City of Culture had a positive impact on tourism and attracted many to visit the city. Coventry tourism in 2022 had recovered to better than 2019 pre-pandemic levels. A tourism economic impact assessment commissioned by Destination Coventry using the ‘STEAM’ model, gives visitor numbers to Coventry and the economic impact of tourism for 2022, compared to previous years.
There was a very large dip in tourism in 2020 due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery in 2021 didn’t quite bring the city back to pre-pandemic levels,19% down on visitor figures and 17% down on economic impact compared to 2019, 2022 data now shows tourism continued to increase and has grown beyond 2019 levels. The positive impact of Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture is indicated by comparing the 2022 increase on 2019 to other areas; the 10.2% increase in visitor numbers and 26.3% increase in economic impact in Coventry was higher than the 5.5% and 7.3% increases experienced by the WMCA area.
In 2022 it is estimated there were 11.05 million visitors to Coventry, which were made up of 9.70-million-day visitors and 1.35 million visitors who stayed for at least one night. This is increased from 10.03 million visitors in 2019, made up of 8.79 million day visitors and 1.24 million visitors who stayed for at least one night. The 2022 economic impact of tourism is estimated at £750.86 million with the sector supporting 7,354 full-time equivalent jobs, up from 594.36 million and 6,760 in 2019.
The Coventry Household Survey 2022 asked a representative sample of Coventry residents about their engagement in cultural events or attractions. Two-thirds (66%) had engaged in at least one type of cultural activity at least three times in the last year (not including pubs, the cinema or home crafting; participation would be higher if these were included). This represents an increase in cultural participation, doubling from 32% when people were asked in 2021 – this was clearly impacted by the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2022 data shows an increase on pre-pandemic cultural participation - in 2018 52% of respondents said they had engaged in such activities.
The ‘cost of living crisis’ is impacting the local economy and Coventry residents’ economic wellbeing and their health. The impact of this cost-of-living crisis on communities across the city is yet to be fully realised, as people across the city face rapidly rising energy, fuel, food, and housing costs. The crisis is likely to cause problems with debt and will cause a general reduction in real incomes; unemployment may increase in future, making challenges worse. Financial insecurities are causing high levels of anxiety and other mental health challenges, as well as being a significant cost barrier to maintaining physical health for vulnerable groups. The deeper and immediate impacts of the cost-of-living crisis include real risk to health and wellbeing for a significant minority of Coventry residents. Disabled, long term sick, and the severely deprived are the most vulnerable with the spike in the cost of food and energy. The cost-of-living crisis is also having wider impacts that affect Coventry households well into middle incomes in terms of savings for security of housing, university, and retirement.
The national inflation rate started to increase in 2021 and continued throughout 2022 reaching 9.6% in October 2022 and by March 2023 prices were 8.9% higher than they were 12 months previously.
Higher prices have a disproportionate impact on lower income households, although this will also affect those on middle income. The inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic drinks is much higher, in March 2023 prices rising by 19.2% in a year. While the Treasury’s published forecasts predict inflation to slow, to 2.5% in 2024, energy prices are not going to come down quickly and prices are increasing faster than wages, so standards of living have fallen a little. The Centre for Cities estimate how inflation rates vary between 63 UK cities; in March 2023 Coventry residents are estimated to be facing a 10.7% inflation rate, ranking in the middle compared to other cities, ranging between 9.3% and 11.7%. They estimate that Coventry residents were £98 a month poorer in January 2023 than in the previous years.
There has been a noticeable increase in residents’ anxieties towards money, this in part can be attributed to the cost-of-living crisis. 17% of residents say they feel money worries almost all the time, a 5-percentage point increase compared to the 2021 findings. A further 23% are now worried about money quite often. There has been a corresponding reduction in the proportion of those that never feel worried about money (25% in 2022 vs. 32% in 2021). Those living in Foleshill (31%), St. Michaels (33%) or the Wyken (25%) wards are significantly more likely to feel worried about money almost all the time compared to the total average (17%). By age, those under the age of 35 are significantly more likely to feel worried all the time (22%), whilst those 44-64 (12%) of 65+ (8%) are significantly less likely to when compared to the survey average. Those with a disability are also significantly more likely to worry about money almost all the time compared to those with no disability (23% vs. 14%).
An emerging impact of the cost-of-living crisis is shown by the responses recorded regarding household food consumption. Just over two thirds (69%) of residents’ state that in the last 12 months they and their household always had enough of the kind of food they wanted. This is significantly lower than the 78% recorded in 2021. A quarter (26%) said they have had enough to eat, but not always the kind of foods they wanted, a significantly higher number than that of 2021 (19%). In 2022 4% indicate that sometimes they and other household members did not have enough to eat, up from 2%. The final 1% stated that often they and other household members didn’t have enough to eat. While this is a minority, there are clearly health and wellbeing risks for those experiencing this food scarcity.
Before the cost-of-living crisis began, fuel poverty was more prevalent in Coventry than in the region or England, in 2021 Coventry had the 4th highest fuel poverty rate of all local authority areas in England. An estimated 28,525 Coventry households are estimated to be fuel poor, amounting to 20.8% of all households in the city compared to 13.1% for England overall. The city’s rate in 2021 was the 4th highest of all local authority areas in England. Using another measure of fuel poverty, defined by having to spend at least 10% of household income on energy costs, we can model how the recent sharp increases in energy have affected Coventry households. It is estimated that in October 2021 12% of Coventry households were fuel poor, this trebled to 36% in October 2022. This modelling shows that in October 2022 the most affluent wards in Coventry had more fuel poverty than the most deprived wards did in October 2021, illustrating that the cost-of-living crisis touches a wide section of society.
There remain significant pockets of multiple deprivation in the city. People from more deprived populations are more likely to live shorter lives, as well as live a greater proportion of their life in poor health. The English Indices of Deprivation 2019 is the key measure for comparing levels of deprivation between areas. It measures a variety of aspects of deprivation: income, employment, health and disability, education, housing and services, living environment and crime; bringing them together to form the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019, enabling us to know the neighbourhoods where people experience the highest levels of multiple deprivation. Depending on the way it is measured, Coventry ranks between 64th and 81st most deprived local authority area of 317 in England, so at least amongst the most deprived quarter of places in England overall. 14.4% of the city’s neighbourhoods are amongst the 10% most deprived areas in England and over a quarter, 25.6%, are amongst the most deprived 20% of areas, the most deprived ‘quintile’, a particular focus for the health system for tackling health inequalities (the ‘Core20’).
Those coming to the UK as asylum seekers and refugees are likely to have less access to employment, have worse quality housing, live in more deprived areas, and have worse mental and physical health. The city’s refugees and asylum seekers are nearly twice as likely to reside in the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods than the wider population. Research shows that newly arrived communities are at increased risk of poor mental health, particularly asylum seekers. Respondents to engagement undertaken for Coventry City Council’s “One Coventry ‘Together’: Newly Arrived Communities & Migrants’ Strategy’ felt that most of Coventry’s asylum seekers and refugees had poor mental health. This reflects a key finding of the Coventry Migrant Needs Assessment 2018 that there is an under-provision of specialist mental health services and access for vulnerable migrants.
Digital accessibility and inclusion are increasingly important. Internet and digital technologies have transformed our lives on a global scale. Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The availability of high-speed internet, is an important consideration for residents and businesses when considering living, working, or investing here, and is an asset for the city; but there is some room for improvement in terms of achieving ultra-fast broadband speeds in all homes.
Coventry is the top-ranked local authority in the West Midlands region for gigabit broadband coverage. The telecoms regulator Ofcom measures access to, and the performance of, fixed broadband and the mobile network in its Connected Nations reports. As of May 2022, gigabit availability covered 96.4% of residential premises in Coventry with 93.7% covered by Full-Fibre, up from 91.5% and 75.4% respectfully in January 2021. This compares favourably to the national average; across the UK, 68% of homes can receive gigabit with 37% of homes able to receive Full-Fibre. Furthermore, 99.5% of residential premises have access to decent fixed broadband - defined by the UK government as a data service that provides fixed download speeds of at least 10Mbit/s and upload speeds of at least 1Mbit/s. Decent broadband can also be accessed through the mobile network using 4G services. As of May 2022, 89.65% of all premises have a reliable signal for 4G services while indoors from all four network operators (EE, O2, Three & Vodafone), an increase from 83.06% in January 2021.
Despite Coventry having high levels of gigabit availability, this does not mean residents will be able to afford a home broadband connection. There is no single measure of digital exclusion, however it is possible to measure the risk of digital exclusion. The Digital Exclusion Risk Index (DERI) tool, developed by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, models the likelihood of digital exclusion for all small neighbourhoods (LSOAs) in England by creating an overall score based on a collection of metrics. For each area they give a score between 0 and 10 where 0 represents a low risk of exclusion and 10 a high risk. Coventry’s average score is 3.44, slightly better than the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) area overall which scores 3.55 on average, Coventry being the 2nd best scoring of the 7 areas across the WMCA. Coventry’s 2021 DERI scores range from 6.12 in the Manor Farm area to 1.36 in the Gosford and Gulson Roads area. However, caution should be taken when using the DERI indicator, as it is weighted by connectivity levels in terms of infrastructure, not actual residential connections to broadband, which may underrepresent the risk of digital exclusion in Coventry.
What else is happening in the city? What else can be done?
Coventry City Council has launched a new digital inclusion programme, #CovConnects, which aims to ensure all Coventry residents have equal opportunities to digital technologies, skills, and services in a way that is meaningful to them. #CovConnects follows a Community Based Model for Digital Inclusion and Health Participation based upon the 100% Digital Leeds model. This approach works with community partners to understand the barriers within communities related to digital exclusion, works together to co-design and create sustainable interventions and supports, which meets the needs of our diverse communities. This has led to a complex and varying programme working across communities with the public, private and VCSE sector to help reduce digital inequalities within the city. #CovConnects is now part-funded by the ICB to pilot digital health inclusion interventions to help us understand the role digital plays within healthcare and to pilot community interventions within the Leeds model to improve access to healthcare for Coventry residents.
Community-based Digital drop-ins are now taking place within community venues, where residents can access informal digital skills support, such as using a device for the first time, setting up an email address, staying safe online and accessing online services. Support is offered by Adult Education Digital Skills Tutors, who are supported by digital champion volunteers providing bespoke, person centred supports for what the learner would like to know.
An increasing network of National Databank distribution points across the city is gifting data to residents who cannot afford to stay connected. #CovConnects piloted distributing pre-loaded sim cards with 6 months of data, texts and calls via the National Databank from the Customer Service Centre and Community Support teams in October 22 as part of the wider Cost of Living programme. This has now been rolled out to Libraries, Family Hubs, Job Shop, Through Care and Migration teams. There is also an increasing network across community partners as Databank distributors, which is integral to ensure support is available within trusted locations for our diverse communities. As of August 23, there are 34 Databank hubs across sectors in Coventry.
The #CovConnects Device Bank has been created to ensure VCSE organisations and Council services can access digital devices for digitally excluded residents. Organisations and services can apply for devices to be either used in community spaces or gifted directly to digitally excluded residents as part of the Device Bank. #CovConnects programme provides wraparound, holistic digital inclusion supports in addition to the devices, ensuring the barriers experienced by residents and communities are addressed in a person-centred manner, across skills, support, access, confidence, and connectivity. The #CovConnects Device Bank utilises recycled Coventry City Council devices but has also received substantial investment from the WMCA Connected Services programme, whereby brand-new Chromebooks, laptops, PCs and mi-fi units are available.
#CovConnects has partnered with Barclay’s Digital Eagles to deliver digital champions for organisations across the city to help support residents gain the confidence to access digital tools, technologies, and services. The programme will train frontline staff and support them ongoing to enable residents to access digital services and supports. This growing network across sectors will ensure there is an infrastructure across the city for residents to access support in a person-centred manner to help them gain the confidence and skills to get online.
Community assets are crucial to health through the opportunities and services they provide directly and indirectly, through a sense of empowerment and control. In Coventry we respond to the needs of our communities through our integrated services community prototypes and other placed-based partnerships, rooted in and driven by place, working creatively with shared resources to make positive change.
The One Coventry approach to community involvement highlights the work taking place in communities along with new approaches to engagement and collaboration. Work has been undertaken to develop prototype areas throughout the city, trialling new ways of working and ensuring the needs of the community are met. The prototype areas work on putting support and services in place for people at the right time. It focuses on harnessing community action and intelligence shaping interventions that suit the community. The first pilot was undertaken at Moat House Community Centre and has since been further developed in Tile Hill, Canley, Hillfields and Spon End.
The Marmot Partnership (previously Marmot Steering Group) continues to bring together key stakeholders from across the system to provide an ongoing strategic focus on health inequalities. A new monitoring tool for 2023 onwards has been developed in partnership with the Institute of Health Equity (UCL) and Coventry stakeholders, reflecting the Marmot approach of ‘building back fairer’ as part of Coventry’s COVID-19 recovery. The new monitoring tool uses the eight Marmot policy objectives as the overarching themes to bring together activities, and a new set of indicators to measure the progress made in reducing health inequalities for those living in Coventry.
Community and voluntary groups are working together in the city to ensure support is in place for those who need it. The Coventry Food Network is an example of this, established as a result from the pandemic. Coventry Food Network is a food partnership which brings together several public, private, voluntary and community sector partners to address food poverty and its causes in Coventry by taking a city-wide collaborative and strategic approach towards a unified Coventry Food Network and Strategy. Since 18 March 2020, the Council has been working closely with a range of partners, to create and deliver a system of food provision. Some of the initiatives that have evolved from this partnership are:
- Established 15 social supermarkets/grub hubs throughout the city to provide nutritional food and support to those residents in greatest need.
- Support the delivery of the Household Support Fund by providing emergency food provision to vulnerable residents who needed additional support with accessing/affording food.
- Supported the delivery and developed a model to support those who were clinically extremely vulnerable (Shielding) re: food and basic support.
- Procured food and distributed food parcels to children eligible for free school meals provision during school holidays.
- Continue to support and enhance the offer of healthy, nutritious food to children and families eligible for free school meals through the HAF programme.
It is important to embed access to affordable food into policy and strategy documents when commissioning services and into the Council’s work on addressing health inequalities. For example, targeted support for low-income households supporting them into work higher paid roles; improving the knowledge households have around food through education and practical work; tackling barriers people face in terms of accessing food, understanding the reasoning behind healthy eating, how to cook, budget and how to lead a healthier lifestyle; support the Healthy weight objective to counteract childhood obesity.
The Council have refreshed two strategies which will help to shape the city’s economy, improving outcomes and tackling inequalities. These being the Economic Development Strategy for 2022-2027 and a new Skills Strategy 2022-2030. The two strategies work in harmony to increase the economic prosperity of the city by providing a framework for sustainable growth, whilst continuing to build upon the success in ensuring all communities have the right skills and opportunities to benefit from this growth.
The aim of the new Economic Development Strategy 2022-2027 is to make sure Coventry has a strong and resilient economy where inclusive growth is promoted and delivered, businesses are enabled to innovate and grow, and new local jobs are created for residents. The strategy sets out how the Council will aim to help deliver this through attracting and securing private and public investment, developing first-class infrastructure, and working directly with businesses to ensure they can grow in a sustainable way.