How to check if a building is located in an area with high deprivation and community need

Many funding programmes use the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to identify areas with the greatest levels of need. Increasingly, funders are also using the Community Needs Index alongside this, including the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) and Historic England.

If you’re applying for funding, you may be asked to demonstrate that the building, service, or project you’re supporting is located in an area that is experiencing high need or falls within the top 20% for both measures.

We have put together a freely available Double Disadvantage Explorer to help you identify how your neighbourhood ranks on both the IMD and the CNI. 

This guide gives step-by step guidance on how to access and interpret the data.

 For more in-depth analysis on the CNI, IMD and wider socio-economic and demographic factors that can support your bids, take a look at OCSI On Demand.

What’s the IMD, CNI and Double Disadvantage

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) measures relative deprivation across England, bringing together information on income, employment, health, education, crime, housing and living environment.

The Community Needs Index (CNI) complements this by measuring factors linked to community resilience and social infrastructure, such as civic assets, connectedness and engagement.

Looking at both measures together provides a more complete picture of need within a neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods that fall in the bottom of both measures can be described as experiencing “double disadvantage”. Organisations use different criteria for this – but often this is described as neighbourhoods that fall within the bottom 20% on both measures.

Interpreting the data

Both the IMD and CNI rank each Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) from most deprived / highest community need (rank of 1) to least deprived / lowest community need (rank of 33,755).

Funders will usually ask you to demonstrate whether there is high need in your area – and often this is expressed in terms of percentages (e.g. in the bottom 20% on the CNI) or in terms of deciles (e.g. in deciles 1 – 3 of the IMD).

The table below shows which ranks correspond to which deciles and percentages.

Using the Double Disadvantage Explorer

First, open the Double Disadvantage Explorer in your browser. 

The guide below shows you how to explore each indicator individually and how to view the indicators side-by-side.

View the IMD and CNI individually

1. On the Map, click the Data icon and select either the Index of Multiple Deprivation or the Community Needs Index from the list.
2. The data will load on the map. The legend in the top right will show you what the colours on the map represent.
3. Find the area that you are interested in. You can either zoom directly to it manually or use the search functionality to navigate to a particular postcode or place.
4. The view should now be at LSOA level. You can check this in the legend and change it to LSOA if not. Lock the view to keep the data displaying at this level.
5. You should now be able to pinpoint which LSOA your building or project sits within. Hover over the area to see the CNI or IMD rank for that area.
6. Use the table published earlier in this guide to understand where that rank falls in terms of deciles and/or percentages.

View the IMD and CNI side by side

1. On the Map, click the Data icon. Change the number of maps from ‘1’ to ‘2’ and make sure “Sync Maps” is toggled ON.
2. Select either the IMD or CNI from the list to display as “Map 1” and the other to display as “Map 2”.
3. Find the area that you are interested in. You can either zoom directly to it manually or select “Navigate” from the settings (bottom right corner of each map) to search for a particular postcode or place.
4. You should now be able to pinpoint which LSOA your building or project sits within. Hover over the area and you will be able to see the CNI rank for the area on one map and the IMD rank for the area on the other.
5. Use the table published earlier in this guide to understand where the ranks fall in terms of deciles and/or percentages.

Further support

If you would like to strengthen your funding bids further with broader evidence about your local area, take a look at OCSI On Demand.

Our trusted area profile reports are designed for charities that need robust evidence to back up their local knowledge – without the commitment or cost of subscriptions and consultancy. 

The reports give key insights into a wide range of themes including deprivation, community need, health, crime, employment, living environment, housing and more – giving you the numbers you need to complement on-the-ground knowledge of your communities.

View sample reports and build your own here.

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