The Community Needs Index (CNI) is a neighbourhood measure of social infrastructure, social capital and social connectedness.
It brings together data on factors such as access to services, civic assets, and levels of engagement to highlight where communities may be under-supported.
The index was initially developed by OCSI in partnership with Local Trust, to support a better understanding of how social infrastructure shapes outcomes for people and places.
Over time the work has expanded significantly from the original index for England to related measures across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as further research into how this intersects with deprivation and identifying doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
We work with organisations to apply the insights from the CNI to their work, helping them to identify gaps in provision, target investment, and strengthen community resilience.
OCSI has led the development of the Community Needs Index since its inception, working in partnership with Local Trust to design and deliver a robust, evidence-based measure of community need.
Our work has involved developing and refining the methodology, identifying and integrating relevant datasets, and ensuring the index provides a meaningful picture of social infrastructure and need across neighbourhoods.
Across multiple iterations and related analysis projects, we have helped establish the CNI as a trusted tool for understanding where communities may lack the assets and support they need to thrive.
As part of the Big Local Programme, Local Trust identified shared challenges in many communities they worked with, including limited spaces to meet, poor connectivity, and weak infrastructure. At the same time, strong community engagement was considered key to driving change.
The CNI was developed to measure these aspects of social capital, connectedness, and infrastructure quantitatively.
Building on our work with Local Trust, we partnered with Building Communities Trust (BCT) and the British Red Cross to develop a similar measure for Wales.
The WCAI follows a similar methodology to the CNI England, highlighting where communities may face challenges in engagement, connectivity and opportunity.
The British Red Cross commissioned the development of a Scotland-specific Community Needs Index to support their COVID-19 Response work.
The Scottish Community Needs Index (SCNI) has been constructed using the same methodology and domain structure as CNI England but there are substantial differences due to differing geographies and data availability in each of the nations.
Following consultation, we updated the Community Needs Index to use Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs as the underlying geography), update and refine the indicators within each domain and revise the weighting methodology used to construct the index.
The Community Needs Index is one of the core measures used in the allocation of Pride in Place Programme funding across England, Wales and Scotland.
We’re working with the Centre for Collaboration in Community Connectedness (C4) to develop an enhanced UK-wide Community Needs Index. This project aims to create a consistent framework across all four nations, allowing for more comparable analysis of community need across the UK.
Our services
Precision tools and reporting for modern community analysis.
Local Insight lets you explore the Community Needs Index for any area across England, Wales and Scotland, alongside its three domains and 1,600+ additional datasets. Through maps, dashboards, reports and your own service data, you can uncover patterns of need, inequality, demand and provision in your communities.
Pride in Place Analysis helps organisations understand the local needs and challenges that Pride in Place investment is designed to address.
Drawing on our expertise in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), the Community Needs Index (CNI) and a wide range of supporting socio-economic indicators, we analyse how different dimensions of need are distributed across neighbourhoods. This provides a detailed picture of the issues where targeted investment could have the greatest impact.
OCSI On Demand Reports
provide instant community need profiles for any type of area (view a sample report here).
You can extend the analysis beyond the Community Needs Index by adding in other social, economic and demographic themes to support your understanding of your communities and the challenges they are facing.
Designed for organisations that need robust insight without a full consultancy project, these reports are widely used to support funding bids, strategy development, community engagement and background research.
Our Area Needs Analysis offers a fully bespoke approach to understanding community need challenges at a local level.
We use a wide range of social, economic and demographic datasets to analyse patterns and drivers of community need across local areas to identify where issues are most concentrated, where they intersect with deprivation and where support may be most needed.
The result is a set of clear, practical insights tailored to your context, helping you understand complex need, compare areas, and target resources effectively.