‘Left behind’ neighbourhoods

• We commissioned OCSI in 2018 to assess levels of social infrastructure in all the wards in England. They looked at whether areas lacked three characteristics to create the CNI.
• Places to meet: Community, civic, educational and cultural assets in or in close proximity to the area
• An active and engaged community: Community and civic participation
• Connectedness: Connectivity to key services, digital infrastructure and a strong local jobs market

This Index is the first of its kind; it maps community need at a hyper-local level in a way that has not been done before. As such it is a powerful tool for analysing and understanding spatial inequalities at the neighbourhood level, and enabling comparisons between neighbourhoods.

The wards that rank in the top 10 per cent most deprived on both the CNI and the Index of Multiple Deprivation are what we define as the most ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods in England. This analysis provided the first quantitative definition of what constitutes a ‘left behind’ area.

These communities suffer from the highest levels of combined economic and social deprivation – which is why we also refer to these areas as doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

In 2022 we started to review and update the Community Needs Index, launching a consultation and engaging experts. The overarching aim was to refine the model, making use of the most up to date data and robust research approaches. The updated methodology which has now been published, will be used to provide further insights into the challenges and experiences of high needs communities.

We do not use ‘left behind’ to imply that the areas so described lack people with skills and commitment or a rich heritage. We know from our experience of the Big Local programme that the reverse is generally the case. However, such areas have tended not to receive their fair share of available investment and they therefore lack the services and facilities that many of us take for granted. It is these services and facilities that help to connect people in a community and bind them together, providing the opportunity for residents to develop and prosper. It is in this sense that they are ‘left behind’.

Local Trust was the secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods, which was active between June 2020 and March 2024.

It was a cross party group of MPs and Members of the House of Lords, committed to improving social and economic outcomes for residents in communities that suffer from a combination of economic deprivation, poor connectivity, low levels of community engagement and a lack of community spaces and places.

Drawing upon our experience of delivering the Big Local programme, Local Trust’s research and policy advocacy have helped build the case for doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods to be recognised and targeted for new funding by the government. 

• In 2026, DCMS announced a new approach to place targeting that will use the Community Needs Index to “implement a tailored focus on targeting these ‘double disadvantage’ places”– this approach is being taken to ensure funding is concentrated in the communities that need it most.  
• MHCLG’s flagship funding programme, Pride in Place programme (Phase 2), gives power to local people and partnerships, bringing together residents, the local MP, the council, businesses and community organisations to decide how they would like to shape their area. 

• Local Trust founded the cross-sectoral Community Wealth Alliance (CWFA) in 2019 to campaign for new funding from the Dormant Assets Scheme to benefit neighbourhoods with high deprivation and low social infrastructure. In 2025, the government confirmed that the Community Wealth Fund would be targeted at doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods, with £175m secured for disadvantaged communities over the next four years. 

• DCMS’s Know Your Neighbourhood Fund was designed to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. 

• Sports England’s Place Need Classification was created to identify the places where investment in sport and physical activity can have the greatest impact.