Review of Material Deprivation Measures

UK Material Deprivation Measures are one source of data commonly used by impact investors to identify key inequality challenges. LSE Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion have published a review of the measures, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions following recommendations by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) to review the current set of questions which underpin UK material deprivation measures and determine a way to compare material deprivation across groups. The revised measures include updating of individual-level items in the measures for working-age adults, children and pensioners and a core set of household-level items. Improvements to, and standardisation of, data collection methodologies underpin the revised measures, and the new questions were included in FRS 2023/24. Finally, recommendations are made in relation to the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to determining who is materially deprived and further research required to explore a whole population or household level measure. Explore