Ethnicity data at small area level

It is well known and understood that the decennial Census provides the most reliable and robust picture of small area ethnicity data across England and Wales. This data is always keenly anticipated as it is critical to understanding the many social measurements that go towards building a picture of outcomes for people from minority ethnic groups. 

As we are in the no-man’s land between the Census and the publication of its results we thought it would be an appropriate time to review the availability of small area ethnicity data, including datasets outside of the Census that can help build a picture of the ethnic profile of local areas. 

Small area ethnicity data

National research suggests there have been marked improvements in the outcomes experienced by people from minority ethnic groups across England. This, however, is not reflected by recent analysis by the Runnymede Trust on ethnic inequalities in local authorities. The research highlights an overall trend towards worse outcomes for ethnic minorities compared to white populations, particularly in their experiences of education, employment, health and housing.[1] Drifting upwards or sliding back? Ethnic inequalities in local authorities in England and Wales, 2001-2011, Runnymede Trust (2014). 

We are often asked about the availability of small area ethnicity data, as a high priority topic for users looking to understand their neighbourhoods and gain an in-depth knowledge of the equality of social outcomes across vulnerable and disproportionately affected groups. The need for detailed small area ethnicity data was recently highlighted during the 2021 Census topic consultation, where responses highlighted the need for understanding equality outcomes and the impact of policy and budget plans on minority groups. 

The Census does provide the best available small area ethnicity data across England and Wales, however with data only collected on a decennial basis there is a gap in the availability of robust data in intervening years. Whilst smaller scale survey data can provide some estimates of minority group populations, they are unable to achieve robust enough results in order to explore the data at small area level – making survey and administrative data often not fit for purpose for our users. It’s important to remember too, that we need data to be available at small area across the whole of England before putting it into Local Insight. 

Gaps in ethnicity data

As highlighted, there are a number of gaps in the availability of ethnicity data at Local Authority level or below in England, leading to limitations in the ability to highlight the full extent of inequalities faced by different ethnic groups in local areas. Some of the most significant gaps include:

• Regularly updated estimates of the population by broad ethnic group (census data is only published every 10 years).
• Benefit claimant rates for key benefits by ethnic group.
• Level of disability by ethnicity.
• Income and earnings levels by ethnicity.
• Key health outcomes by ethnicity including, infant mortality, overall mortality, low birth weights, healthy lifestyle behaviours, prevalence of different health conditions
• Victims of crime and perpetrators of crime by ethnicity
• Experience of workplace discrimination/workplace rights
•  Cross correlation between factors e.g. impact of age, ethnicity, disability, low-income, low-education, and gender.

Available data 

A person’s ethnicity is a multi-faceted concept, encompassing common ancestry and elements of culture, identity, religion, language and physical appearance. Given this, there are various ways of using data to understand the ethnic profile of a population, including country of birth, nationality, language spoken at home, national/geographical origin and religion. Overall it is generally accepted that a person’s ethnicity includes aspects of all of these things and more, meaning it is a difficult concept to measure from one dataset. 

Much of the small area ethnicity that we hold on Local Insight is derived from the Census, which is one of the few sources of information with breakdowns by ethnicity that is statistically robust at a sub-regional level. This can, however, be supplemented with data published at Local Authority level where this provides more up to date information on the socio-economic challenges experienced by people in particular ethnic groups. 

The table below lists datasets that are available with ethnicity breakdowns; the majority are Census based, but we have included too, those that are published more frequently and are independent of the Census: 

Indicator	Description	Source and date
Ethnicity profile	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify the usual resident population by ethnic group, for local areas in England and Wales on census day (27 March 2011). The ethnic group classification used in this dataset is an 18 category classification	Census 2011
Multiple ethnic groups	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify households by the diversity in the ethnic group of household members, for local areas in England and Wales on census day (27 March 2011)	Census 2011
Summary country of birth profile	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify the usual resident population by country of birth, for local areas in England and Wales on census day (27 March 2011). The country of birth classification used in this dataset is a 9 category classification	Census 2011
Detailed country of birth profile	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify the usual resident population by country of birth, for local areas in England and Wales on census day (27 March 2011)	Census 2011
Highest National identify non-UK	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify the usual resident population by national identity, for local areas in England and Wales on census day (27 March 2011). National identity is a person’s assessment of their own identity with respect to the country or countries with which they feel an affiliation. It is not dependent on legal nationality or ethnic group	Census 2011
Households with household members where English is not a main language	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify households by the combination of adults and children within a household that have English (English, or Welsh in Wales) as a main language, for local areas in England and Wales on census day (27 March 2011)	Census 2011
People not proficient in English	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates of people who cannot speak English well or at all. Figures are self-reported and taken from the English language proficiency questions in the 2011 Census. QS205EW Proficiency in English (Quick Statistics (QS))	Census 2011
Most common languages	QS204EW Main language (detailed) (Quick Statistics (QS))	Census 2011
Year of arrival in UK	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify the usual resident population by year of arrival in the UK, for local areas in England and Wales on census day (27 March 2011)	Census 2011
Communities aged 65+ by ethnic group	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates of people aged 65+ by ethnic group: LC2109EWls - Ethnic group by age	Census 2011
Households with no access to a car by ethnic group	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates of people living in households with no car or van by ethnic group: LC4203EW - Tenure by car or van availability by ethnic group	Census 2011
Communities providing unpaid care by ethnic group	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates of people providing unpaid care by ethnic group: LC2301EW - Ethnic group by provision of unpaid care by general health	Census 2011
Communities with no qualifications by ethnic group	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates of people with no qualifications by ethnic group: LC5202EW - Highest level of qualification by ethnic group	Census 2011
Communities in overcrowded housing by ethnic group	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates of people living in overcrowded households by ethnic group: LC2405EWls - Ethnic group by occupancy rating (rooms)	Census 2011
Economic activity by ethnic group	This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates of economic activity by ethnic group, covering full-time employment, part-time employment, self-employment, unemployed, long-term sick or disabled, looking after home or family: LC6201EW - Economic activity by ethnic group by age	Census 2011
Admin-based ethnicity statistics	This experimental dataset combines ethnicity data from three administrative sources: English School Census, Hospital Episode Statistics and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies to produce statistics on the population by ethnic group at local authority level for England. These research outputs are not official statistics	ONS 2016
International migration	Overseas nationals allocated a National Insurance Number (NINO) on the National Insurance Recording System. The figures cover overseas nationals allocated a NINO for whatever reason i.e. the figures cover benefit/tax credit recipients as well as workers. All overseas nationals allocated a NINO are included, regardless of their length of stay in the UK. Data is broken down by nationality of the recipient	DWP 2019/2020
Statutory Homeless Prevention Duty by ethnicity	Ethnicity of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention duty. Prevention and relief duties are owed to all eligible households who are homeless or threatened with becoming homeless	Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government 2019/20
Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants by broad ethnic group	Jobseeker’s Allowance is payable to people under pensionable age who are out of work and available for, and actively seeking, work of at least 40 hours a week. Universal Credit has replaced Jobseekers Allowance for new claimant’s post 2016 and existing claimants are being migrated across. However, unlike Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance is available with breakdowns by ethnic groups	Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 2015 to 2020 – rolling average
Asylum seekers receiving support	Proportion who are seeking Asylum and receiving accommodation or subsistence support under the Section 95 support for refugees	Home Office Dec-2020
Syrian Refugees	Syrians resettled under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme by location of resettlement	Home Office Dec-2020
Mothers country of birth	Children born to mothers born outside the UK, by mothers country of birth	Office for national statistics (ONS, 2015)
Population by ethnicity from the Annual Population Survey	Population by broad ethnic group based on the Annual Population Survey. Due to the relatively small sample size these estimates have wide confidence intervals at Local Authority level and are not published at below that level	Annual Population Survey 2020
Ethnicity Estimator software	The Ethnicity Estimator (EE) classifier is based on research which uses names data assembled by the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC). The data are taken from consumer sources and from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which securely host data from England & Wales. Data is safeguarded rather than open data	Consumer Data Research Centre
Pupil ethnicity	The publication combines information from the school census, school level annual school census, general hospital school census and alternative provision census on pupil ethnicity and English as an Additional Language for maintained schools and Local Authorities in England	Department for Education (DfE)

Ethnicity data looking ahead 

The release of the Census 2021 provides the best opportunity for researchers looking to better understand the ethnicity of the populations they work with. Beyond this, ONS have identified a number of areas which they see as key challenges for collecting and presenting data on ethnic groups at small area level across the UK – with the overall aim of making ethnicity data collection more consistent across government:

• making sure any collection of ethnicity data meets the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – in other words, only asking for people’s ethnicity when there’s a clear need to do so and keeping their information secure
• finding the best way to ask people about their ethnicity, using a consistent list of ethnic groups that people identify with and find acceptable
• adapting to the continuing changes in how we think about ethnicity, with even greater emphasis on language, culture and religion, and greater variation in ancestry of those of Mixed origin
• to generate new analysis of ethnicity using administrative data (see details of this approach here) 

Sources and further reading links

• Ethnicity facts and figures: Find national information about the experiences and outcomes of people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds 
• National data from ONS: National data on ethnic identities among the non-UK born population in England and Wales, labour market participation, trends in general health and unpaid care by ethnic group, and inter-ethnic relationships 
• Admin-based ethnicity statistics for England, feasibility research: 2016 – The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not currently produce annual statistics by local authority on the population by ethnic group and the last official statistics were from the 2011 Census. This feasibility research combines ethnicity data from English School Census, Hospital Episode Statistics and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies to explore whether administrative data can be used to produce statistics on the population by ethnic group for 2016 at national and local authority level for England, by five-year age group and sex. These research outputs are not official statistics. 
• Research report on population estimates by characteristics: Office for National Statistics research work on a simple method for producing population estimates by country of birth, nationality and ethnic group 
• Research Outputs: An approach for estimating ethnicity from survey and administrative data, 2011 – using administrative data to boost mid-census years information on ethnicity 
• List of data available with breakdowns by ethnicity from the UK data service
• Measuring equality: A guide for the collection and classification of ethnic group, national identity and religion data in the UK 
• Methods for collecting data on ethnicity

 

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