On this page we have brought together information that can be used to help support work on the Cost of Living.  Below you will find a dashboard, briefing and links to resources to help you understand more about the Cost of Living crisis, the impact on the local population and information to help form plans and target support to communities.

Dashboard

* Due to the nature of address information in the Energy Performance Certificate data, EPCs for some properties were counted twice in previous versions of this dashboard. This issue has now been corrected for.

If you are looking for further information on economic activity, jobs and wages etc. you can find this data on the Economy & Employment page. If you are looking for information on which areas of the borough are most/least affected by different types of deprivation you can find this data on the Indices of Deprivation page.

Briefing

The Cost of Living briefing is designed to aid understanding and provide local context around the Cost of Living – it outlines the drivers and impacts, explores relevant local indicators and provides a summary of support offered by Government. The briefing captures a point in time – data is continually updated so please check the sources for the latest available.

Private rental prices for local areas

Average private rent and annual inflation, local authorities in England and Wales and Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland, January 2015 to March 2024

Private rent by property size

Average private rent, local authorities in England and Wales and Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland, March 2024

Links to external resources

OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS (ONS) –  Cost of living latest insights: The latest data and trends about the cost of living. Explore changes in the cost of everyday items and how this is affecting people.

Cost of living latest insights – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION BENCHMARKING TOOL (LG INFORM) – An overview of financial hardship and economic vulnerability for a specific authority area. It is intended that this insight can be used to help understand the issues in an area, inform the design of support services, encourage greater partnership working, help make the case for resources and funding as well as aid the development of an effective response. It has been designed for viewing at local authority geographies.

Financial hardship and economic vulnerability in Wandsworth | LG Inform (local.gov.uk)

NOMIS -Local Authority profile bringing together data on: Resident population, Employment and unemployment, Economic inactivity, Workless households, Employment by occupation, Qualifications, Earnings by place of residence, Out-of-work benefits, Jobs (total jobs / employee jobs), Businesses.

Labour Market Profile – Nomis – Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (nomisweb.co.uk)

CENTRE FOR LONDON – Key statistics which showcase the challenges faced in Wandsworth

LevellingUp_Wandsworth.pdf (centreforlondon.org)

CONSUMER DATA REASEARCH CENTRE (CDRC) – Identifying neighbourhoods that are most vulnerable to increases in the Cost of Living and which have a lack of accessibility to cheap, healthy, and sustainable sources of food

CDRC Mapmaker: Priority Places for Food Index for Wandsworth (Overall decile)

TRUST FOR LONDON – Borough-level indicators – providing up-to-date information on how London boroughs are performing on a suite of poverty and inequality indicators from across the five themes of London’s Poverty Profile.

Wandsworth | Trust for London

TRUST FOR LONDON – Levels of poverty in different London boroughs and how housing costs affect these. It also explores how different characteristics, such as gender and working status are distributed within households that find themselves in poverty.

London’s Poverty Profile: borough-level poverty 2022 | Trust for London

OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS – A summary of ONS’ current and future analytical work related to the Cost of Living.

The cost of living, current and upcoming work – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

CENTRE FOR CITIES – Cost of Living tracker tool to see how the Cost of Living crisis is affecting cities and large towns

Cost of living tracker | Centre for Cities

FOOD FOUNDATION – These surveys track and report on people’s experiences of food insecurity particularly focusing on at risk groups such as families, BAME and ethnic groups, people with disabilities and children on Free School Meals.

Food Insecurity Tracking | Food Foundation

THE OPEN DATA INSTITUTE (ODI) –  This report reveals the sections of society that are most affected by fuel poverty, as well as the areas of the country where the problem hits the hardest.

Fuel poverty and data infrastructure: report – The ODI

THE OPEN DATA INSTITUTE (ODI) – New data analysis reveals that there is a marked difference in food poverty across ethnic, social and geographic groups – read the report to find out more.

Food insecurity and data infrastructure: report – The ODI

CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU – A dashboard that shows the trends in Cost of Living crisis and its real-time impact on people seeking the charity’s support. Their latest data highlights a series of trends, including a summer peak to issues traditionally seen in winter.

CA cost of living data dashboard | Flourish

YOUGOV – Analysis pieces and data collected from extensive surveys and snap polls relating to the Cost of Living

Cost of Living polls & surveys | YouGov

THE JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION – An independent social change organisation working to solve UK poverty.

UK Poverty Statistics | JRF

FAIR BY DESIGN – The poverty premium is the extra costs people on low incomes and in poverty pay for essential products and services. Examples include using prepayment meters, higher insurance premiums, paying to access cash, and high cost credit use.

Poverty Premium – Fair By Design

CENTRE FOR PROGRESSIVE POLICY -A new index highlighting spatial patterns of vulnerability to this crisis to gain a greater understanding of which places will be worst hit without further government support. This index takes a broad view by incorporating a range of economic factors to determine:

    • a place’s relative risk of more people being pulled into poverty
    • the relative risk of those who were already hard up being pushed into destitution.

The levelling up outlook #5 | CPP (progressive-policy.net)