Rutland Citizens Advice Bureau

Rural Isolation

-More problems

-Less answers

A profile of Social Exclusion in Rutland
 

  Rural Poverty and Access to Services in Rutland
 

"It is not sufficient to assess poverty by absolute standards.  Nowadays it must be judged on relative criteria by comparison with the standard of living of other groups in the community ….  Beneficiaries must have an income which enables them to participate in the life of the community." (1)
 

 The issues surrounding rural poverty have been researched by various organisations notably the Rural Development Commission (RDC) and Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and are recognised by the government departments involved in rural issues e.g. Environment Committee in the Rural White Paper of 1996. Perhaps the two leading works in this field are Deprivation in Rural Areas (McLaughlin 1996) and Lifestyles in Rural England (Cloke 1994).

"Rural poverty must be spoken about, and its causes and consequences discussed, if perceptions of a rural idyll are to be corrected and hidden pockets of poverty sought out and relieved…"    (2)

Currently poverty is measured nationally through the Index of Local Conditions which provides indices of relative deprivation in the 366 Local Authority areas in England. Their rankings in these indices are deemed to be a measure of poverty and as such have a direct implication for spending decisions since the Standard Spending Assessments (SSA) are related to these indices.

"The UK is skidding even faster than other countries down the slippery slope of increasing poverty and inequality."   (3)

The difficulty for rural areas is that the measures used to create this index are ones that are seen to have an urban bias. For instance measures include ; numbers of people from ethnic minorities living in the area, number of children living in flats (i.e. unsuitable housing) and with car ownership being viewed as a measure of affluence. These are just three of the factors which are used to create the Index of Local Conditions and from a rural perspective are inappropriate. The numbers of ethnic minorities has little bearing on the degree of deprivation in a rural area. The number of flats are small in a rural area and car ownership is more a necessity than a luxury in areas where services are sparsely spread and public transport is restricted or non-existent. It can be that the necessity of car ownership thus deepens the already existing poverty of some country dwellers. The Index of Local conditions uses population density as a measure of poverty. While this may be appropriate for the urban situation where poverty is often concentrated in rundown neighbourhoods or estates, for the rural situation  it can be the population scarcity itself which is an indication of poverty. Isolation itself leads to added costs in accessing services which already have higher unit costs  associated with rural provision.

Another indicator of poverty commonly used by policy makers is the unemployment figure.  The monthly unemployment figures show most rural areas to have unemployment rates below those for urban areas.  However rural areas have relatively large numbers of hidden unemployed (i.e. non-claimants) and experience high levels of low paid employment part-time and seasonal employment.  Some of the part-time employed and all those whose employment is seasonal are additionally disadvantaged by being unable to build up any employment protection.  Add to this the decline in the traditional industry of farming and the lack of accessible and affordable childcare (6) and the employment picture looks less advantageous.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that in Agriculture in 1995 the average earnings for males are £239.80 for a 47.8 hour week and for females £188.00 for a 40.2 hour week.  This is measured against a national average of £351.70 for a 40.2 hour week.  The ONS also records a 34.2% decline in the numbers of full-time employees in agriculture between 1985 and 1995.  However, the similar percentage decline for part-time employees was 8.4% and for seasonal and casual  employees is 13.6%.

The Rutland Citizens Advice Bureau money advice clients provide some useful information on this matter.  While 61% of its money advice clients have earnings (i.e. employed, self-employed, part-time employed and armed forces) 78.2% of its clients have income of less that £220 per week (a figure used by industrial tribunals as representing a national average).
 
 

In an attempt to produce an appropriate measure of rural poverty RDC have commissioned a project
to develop an appropriate formula. Currently the view is that this will be done best by using groups of factors to reflect the overall picture of the countryside. However this work does not look like being completed until late 1998 early 1999.

From the above it can be seen that the current measures are inappropriate to the rural situation and this combined with the view that the country is a pleasant place in which to live leads to the widespread perception that rural areas do not have a poverty problem.

Amongst those who work in the field of rural economies and are aware of the problems of rural poverty and social exclusion there seems to be a large measure of agreement as to why poverty in rural areas is not measured and so seems invisible.

The Acre briefing paper (Rural Poverty: The Facts) states ‘Rural Poverty is often hidden. It is physically hidden because of the scattered communities; culturally hidden because our national image of the countryside is beautiful and idyllic and statistically hidden because poverty is identified only as an inner city problem. In the countryside people seldom live in groups according to their wealth as we often see in cities. People on low incomes live ‘cheek by jowl’ to those who are affluent. This can make people experiencing difficulties feel more isolated and stigmatised which in turn leads them to further efforts to keep their problem hidden’.  Official figures which use averages as a measure to indicate relative poverty are inappropriate in these situations.

Rutland in the general Framework

Rutland is a sparsely populated rural area. Although it has an area of 392km2, the population of the authority is only about 34,600 having grown from 31,500 since the 1991 Census. This gives an average density of 87 persons per km2 and 21%  of the population live in parishes with a population of less than 500 .

"Poverty is as real in rural areas as in urban areas, but rural poverty is different in its depth, colour and dynamics."    (4)

The population of the parishes in Rutland is shown  below and illustrates clearly the rural isolation and the scattered population which exists in Rutland.

The relationship of population size to available services is shown below and at Annex 1.

 It can be seen that in Rutland 75% of parishes have no shop and 69% have no post office with the particular difficulties that this brings for benefit claimants to be able to access their  income.  This compares with the figures of 42% and 43% nationally. (1997 Survey of Rutland Services - Rural Development Commission.)

The infrequency and inconvenience of bus timetables (Annex 2) means that many people are unable to use buses and that a car is regarded as a necessity rather than a luxury or status symbol. "The County has a relatively high car ownership level of .47 cars per head, in comparison with a National Average of .38 (both 1991 Census figures).  Relatively high car ownership levels can, however,  disguise significant problems of transport need.  In the rural wards in 1991, 14% of households had no cars and 45% had only one car, mostly in areas where there is no frequent public transport.  It is inevitable in many one car owning households that the car is used by the main wage earner, leaving the rest of the household cut off during working hours in areas lacking access to the most basic facilities including shops, education, leisure and other community facilities.  Thus a significant  proportion of the rural population is affected by a lack of a basic level of personal mobility" (Rutland County Council: Transport Policies and Programmes 1998/9).  It is interesting to note that Oakham and Uppingham have the lowest level of car ownership while the levels rise in the areas which may in general terms be described as increasingly isolated.
   

Some Rural Facts Nationally:-

10 million people live in rural England
42% of parishes have no permanent shop
43% no post office
49% no school
75% no daily bus service
83% no GP based in parish
 

(Rural Development Commission - Survey of Rural Services)

Rutland County Council has recognised the difficulties that a rural area has with transport  and access to services and one of their first moves on attaining County Status was to devise and implement a transport policy for the County as a part of addressing the needs of the community.

The provision of advice services within the County is very limited.  The providers are 5 firms of solicitors, with legal aid franchises and the CAB.  All are situated in either Oakham or Uppingham.  There are no other major voluntary advice agencies situated in the County.  For instance, the nearest Shelter office is Leicester and the nearest Relate office, Peterborough.

None of the firms of solicitors list Welfare Benefits in their areas of work in the Solicitors Regional Directory and a local solicitor has said that they are not really interested in Welfare Benefits work. This is borne out by the fact that of the 268 legal aid bills raised in 19967 only one was for welfare benefits.  Social Services are too stretched to provide welfare benefits advice other than in an emergency and have referred clients to the CAB.  Analysis of Rutland CAB enquiries shows that 30% of all enquiries relate to Welfare Benefits (Annex 3).  This clearly indicates that the CAB is in effect the only provider of welfare benefits advice with the County. Nationally there is overwhelming evidence of underclaimed benefits details of which can be found in Income-related benefits - estimates of take-up in 1995-6 produced by the analytical Services Division of DSS.  Figures for pensioners in 1995/6 indicate that the take-up range for Income Support is only 60-66%, Housing Benefit 86-89% and Council Tax Benefit 66-74%.  The only Benefits Agency provision is a caller office open one day a week. The appropriate Benefits Agency office is in Leicester a distance of 25 miles from Oakham and approximately 40 miles from the parishes such as Caldecott. There is a rail service from Oakham (the only station in Rutland) to Leicester. The cost of a cheap day return is £4.90 and a standard return £8.90. In practice the only appropriate means of travel to Oakham railway station from the rural parishes is by private car or taxi.

At the Citizens Advice Bureau we have looked at illustrating the indicators of rural poverty through actual examples. We have done this through an analysis of our Case Records dating back to January 1997, an inspection of the 1997 electoral register and an analysis of some Council Tax information.   We have also studied the statistics we keep of our money advice clients in relation to employment and income  (see above).  We have looked at characteristics of one village and three settlements to illustrate the particular problems that isolation produces and the difficulties for measures which depend on homogeneity within an area as an indicator of poverty.
 

Rural Facts In Rutland:-

34,600 people live in Rutland
excluding Oakham & Uppingham
75% of parishes have no permanent shop
69% no post office
80% no school
24% no bus service
94% no GP based in parish
 
  

Rutland CAB Parish Survey (Annex 1)

EXTON

This is a village that lies about 4 miles from Oakham and is about 2 miles from the nearest classified road the A606 Stamford Oakham Road. It is bounded on the northern side by the Exton Estate which has no public highways crossing it. It is entered by two unclassified roads only, one to the west of the village and one to the South East of the village.  A  qualitative assessment would be that it is an isolated village which has a high polarisation within its population consisting of high income commuters and a number of  people who have their second homes there. This is coupled with low income families permanently resident in the village. Social housing comprises approximately 100 out of 248 properties identified in the 1998 Council Tax opening balances report for Exton Parish Council. Added to this the Exton estate used to own almost all the other properties in the village but over the last 20 years or  so have been selling properties resulting in a mixture of owner occupied private rented and a small number of tied cottages comprising the balance of the housing within the Parish. The population shown in the 1997 Register of Electors is shown as 471. The Council tax opening balances report shows a spread of properties utilising the full range of banding. This illustrates the probability of the polarisation of incomes within this small community.  There are a number of properties in the mid band range which qualify for two discounts - a feature often associated with second homes and which therefore bring little benefit to the Local Authority or the local community as these houses are not their owners sole or main residence.  The Citizens Advice Bureau records show that they have advised 10% of the population  many on more than one occasion. The advice they have required has covered means-tested benefits, disability benefits, employment problems, housing problems and relationship problems. A wide but important range of advice issues.

Horn

This is what can only be described as a beautiful but isolated settlement. It is however a polling district and as such the Register of electors provides interesting reading. It had 8 electors in 1997 comprising the Earl and Countess of Gainsborough and two members of their family. Also four other electors who comprise a family who were reliant on severe disability benefits coupled with low paid part time employment and topped up by means-tested benefits. The nearest accessible public highway is approximately 1 mile by footpath or 2 miles by bridleway.  A clearer demonstration of rural isolation and low income adjacent to affluence is hard to imagine.

"Arguments may do little to dint the chocolate box image of the countryside which can be so reassuring to the wistful nostalgist, pleasing to the urban escapist, and soothing to the many who seek it out when they are under stress.  But statistically-backed facts indicate that, according to widely accepted criteria, as many as one in four country-dwellers may be living in or near the margins of poverty.  And they can't eat the scenery."      (5)
 

Normanton Cottages

Another isolated settlement  of a row of  10 cottages standing by themselves on an unclassified road of less than 4 m wide approximately .75 mile from the nearest road of over 4m wide which has a bus service. It is approximately 1.5 miles from the nearest shop and is very prone to being cut off during bad weather. The CAB has been involved with advising clients from this settlement on housing issues and benefit matters. All matters again of seriousness to the clients and those associated with low income.
 

Tickencote Warren

Tickencote Warren is a settlement of four houses to the East of  but immediately adjacent to the Great North Road. Access to the A1 is comparatively simple but there is no bus service available. The nearest village is Pickworth a distance of approximately 2 miles but this village has no services at all (e.g. Post Office, shop etc.) the next nearest is Empingham about 2.5 miles away which does boast the basic village services.  Our client from this settlement had been referred to us by Rutland County Council over a matter of  repossession. During the interview we realised that it needed more than one session to resolve the matter. This caused anxiety to the client since he then told us that his only transport was a bicycle and since the journey was 9 miles either way he would find it difficult to call in to the bureau regularly. While geographically he lives closer to Stamford than Oakham he is within Rutland County and so needs to apply to Rutland County Council for re-housing.

These examples are designed to be just a snapshot to show how Rutland demonstrates all the features of rural poverty in rural communities which are hidden by the current measures that are used to determine poverty and need. A cursory glance at the ordnance survey map shows that isolated communities such as those cited are scattered over the whole of the County.

The main centres of population, Oakham (population 9,685) and Uppingham (population 3,781) are small and therefore lack many services  needed by a community. It is unrealistic to expect many of our clients to travel to Leicester to be able to receive the help and assistance they need. Unrealistic not only in terms of time and expense but also in terms of  ability to cope with the stress of  a strange large urban town. The difficulties facing our clients living in the beautiful but isolated settlement of Horn dependant on disability benefits and other state benefits in using the sorts of advice services they need in Leicester should not be underestimated.  Their need is clear; but in practical terms the barriers are insurmountable.

The perception of Rutland providing an idyllic rural way of life where poverty and problems do not exist is prevalent.  Many colleagues envy our rural location and think that a rural caseload is light both in content and number.  We know the reality is different and this is borne out statistically.

Annex 3 shows the percentage distribution of enquiries in the main advice areas both nationally and in Rutland.  It also shows the areas within Rutland where people have the greatest difficulty in accessing CAB services.  It can be seen that Rutland CAB enquiries show the same distribution of enquiries as the national figure.  The only major area of advice not included is Immigration and Nationality.  Rutland CAB figures are too small to feature; this being a reflection of the very small immigrant population living in Rutland.  This reinforces the difficulty in using urban factors such as numbers of ethnic minorities to measure rural poverty.  Nationally one in seven of the adult population are seen by the CAB service.  In Rutland this figure rises to one in six.  This higher figure for Rutland may well be a reflection of the fact that there are no other equivalent advice agencies in the county and Leicester or Peterborough are not considered accessible by our clients for advice purposes.

An interesting work of reference is Rural Poverty in Suffolk, . There are very close parallels in regard to the social and economic factors which apply to both areas and the findings of this research would endorse all that we would say about rural poverty in Rutland.
 

JUNE 1998

The Unmet Need - Service Provision Options

"Rural People do not want special treatment, but fair treatment."

In 1996-97 shire areas were expected to spend a total of £417 per person, compared to £485 per person in England as a whole, and £878 per person in inner London.  For every £1 per person spent by Dorset on domiciliary care services, Hackney is expected to spend £2.10.  (7)
 

 Rutland CAB is already helping many clients with a wide range of problems although welfare rights enquiries predominate. Statistically we have proven that there is a considerable amount of unmet need in welfare rights and other subjects within the area.  Currently we are the only organisation with the specialists available to meet this need however, our service is limited by lack of resources.  Clearly existing services are failing to meet the need of the population and therefore it is necessary to consider wider service options if it is to be met in the future.

Outreach

Rutland CAB currently operates 2 Outreach services at RAF Cottesmore and Uppingham.  These operate once a week for up to 3 hours in a Community Centre and a doctors surgery respectively.  Research has indicated that outreach services are only viable within a population of 4,000 or more.  Our experience would endorse these findings.

Rutland CAB operates an outreach service in Uppingham, population 3781, which is just viable with  advisers seeing 2-3 clients per week.  RAF Cottesmore with its joint population of RAF and local villagers of 2988 sustains an outreach service where 2 clients are seen on average per week, however this is boosted by the disproportionately high number of RAF debt and matrimonial cases.

If an outreach service is located in isolation it is necessary to have two members of staff for security reasons, which is not cost effective.

Therefore it seems fair to conclude that none of the remaining parishes in Rutland would sustain a permanent outreach service - certainly not the 80% with a population of under 550.

"The evidence on rural deprivation that we have shows unequivocally that it exists as a function of people rather than places".         (8)

Mobile

The next logical step may appear to be the mobile service operating as the mobile library does, once a fortnight.  Mobile services have several serious flaws.  Not only are the initial capital outlay and daily running costs expensive but the service offered is largely ineffective.

A fortnightly service is useless for clients who require emergency advice, or who would have considerable anxiety until the problems was discussed and resolved.

Confidentiality is a universal problem with mobile services.  In small communities everyone rapidly becomes aware of who is waiting or using the service which is often parked in a prominent place to heighten awareness.  This actively discourages people from using the service.

The mobile library service has a very tight schedule of 15 minutes per village (7.5 minutes per week) which would be impossible to maintain in a mobile advice service.  Interviews can vary between 10 minutes and 2 hours which would completely destroy any pre determined schedule.

There would be a need for two members of staff to be present for security reasons.

The service remains untargeted and could easily be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Home Visits

Home visits are not without their problems but do provide some advantages.

Home visits are time consuming and therefore a drain on resources.  The average home visit interview can be longer than a bureau generalist interview.  Many of the clients because of isolation, enjoy the occasion as a social event.

If the client is unknown to the adviser it may be necessary to take an extra member of staff along for security.

There is an additional cost factor for travel.

On the plus side, visits are targeted to those who need assistance.

For those in rural isolation or with disabilities, it may be the only way of receiving advice.

Laptop computers provide access to the full range of information and services available in the bureau.

 Telephone Services

Rutland CAB receives 28% of its enquiries by telephone.  Similar sized rural bureau in the East Midlands receive up to 50% of their enquiries by telephone.  This would indicate that there is capacity to improve telephone advice services within this
bureau.  In the UK, 98% of all households have a telephone available to them.  The advantage of telephone advice are:

It is readily available when a client needs to discuss a problem.

Only one adviser need be resources at any one time.

Confidentiality is completely maintained.

Although different interview techniques may need to be deployed, the full range of bureau services are available.

It would be straight forward to extend the service to wider opening hours to facilitate access.

Bureau Services

The main bureau remains the central resource of the service.  By offering a range of initiative services such as home visits and telephone to reach clients in the first instance,  some clients would subsequently be able to access the bureau if given specific appointments times which considered individual transport arrangements.

 Considering all the options available to meet the unmet need, we conclude that given the necessary resources we would:

Operate a fully telephone advice service

Offer a comprehensive, targeted home visit service

Offer specialist appointments in the main bureau.

The Future

  References:-
 

1) OPPENHEIM Carey: Poverty the Facts. (1993, CPAG)

2) Environment Committee Third Report, Rural England:  The Rural White Paper p.xii (1996 HMSO)

3) TOWNSEND Peter: A Poor Future (1997 Lemos & Crane)

4) ACRE: Rural Poverty: The Facts - briefing paper (1997)

5) Simmons Michael: Landscapes of Poverty Aspects of Rural England in the late 1990’s (1997 Lemos & Crane)

6) Childcare in Rural England:  Rural Development Commission

7) Rural Research Report 27: Rural Development Commission (1996)

8) Rogers Alan:  English Rural Communities: An Assessment and Prospect for the 1990’s (1993)

9) Rural Development Commission:  Some Rural Facts & Issues
 
 

Other sources:-

Rural Development Commission:  Fair Shares for Rural Areas

Rutland County Council: Transport Policies and Programmes 1998/99.

ACRE: Equal Treatment for rural people: Briefing Paper 1997.

Rural Development Commission: Rural Disadvantage and Needs Indicators January 1998.

Office of National Statistics: Employment 1997/98.

National Association CAB and Rutland CAB: Rutland Enquiries Compared With All UK.

Rural Development Commission:  Research Findings: 1997 Survey of Rural Services
 

ANNEX 1

BREAKDOWN OF SERVICES INTO PARISHES RANKED
BY SIZE OF POPULATION
 

ANNEX 2
 

NOTES

1. The very limited infra structure of public transport in Rutland is exacerbated by the high number of car owning households.  For Rutland as a whole 47% of households own one car and a further 35% have 2 or more cars.¹  The rural parishes unquestionably have even higher levels of car ownership.  For those without private transport travel is extremely difficult and the burden must, inevitably, fall most heavily on the young, the elderly and the less well off members of our community.

2 The chart showing the frequency of bus services in Rutland conceals further difficulties:

· Even among those parishes which have three or more services each week only a very few have more than one service a day.

· Services are targetted mainly at shoppers and / or market days and timings are consequently of little help to other categories of potential users including those who need to travel to work, or to attend medical or dental surgeries or other services, or for social use in the evenings or at weekends.

· Destinations are quite often not those which are most needed by users. Stretton has currently submitted an 80 signature petition to the RCC asking for a bus service to Oakham.  Access to railway stations is particularly difficult.

¹     Reference 1991 Census Data
 

ANNEX 3