Introduction: Inequalities in Gateshead

Around 32,700 (16%) people in Gateshead live in one of the 10% most deprived areas of England.

There are ten wards containing areas within the 10% most deprived in England. It is estimated that around 3.7% (7,500) of the Gateshead population are from a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) group. This does not include Gateshead's orthodox Jewish community; over 3000 people state that their religion is Jewish, although this also includes the non-orthodox Jewish population. (Gateshead JSNA)

Gateshead's increasing diversity and the uneven distribution of groups within our localities may have implications in terms of support for different communities. Bridges ward is home to the largest number of people from BAME groups, followed by Saltwell ward.

We are also welcoming increasing numbers of asylum seekers who are adding to the diversity of our population. Many have significant challenges due to the trauma they are fleeing and also the complexity of the UK asylum seekers process.

The map below, produced on the Gateshead Local Index of Need (LIoN) mapping tool clearly shows the our most deprived areas. The wards that have a high proportion of children in poverty are clustered in or around the central area of Gateshead and include Felling (40.4%), High Fell (33.8%) and Deckham (33.1%). Small pockets of significant child poverty are evident in Old Fold, North Felling, Beacon Lough East, Springwell Estate and Sheriff Hill, where more than four in 10 children live in families below the poverty line. (Gateshead JSNA Local Index of need)

A recent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies7 (June 2020) comments that the economic shock associated with COVID-19 has exacerbated old inequalities. Most people in the bottom tenth of the earnings distribution are in sectors that have been forced to shut down.

These are people who are unlikely to have been able to work from home and who are now facing significant hardship and job losses. Employment is changing, many were dependent on the gig economy with zero hours contracts. Current forecasters are talking about unemployment rates of 10-15%.