About Place Explorer

What is Place Explorer?

Place Explorer is a tool developed by Rose Regeneration and Social Value Engine to make deprivation and place-based data accessible and easy to understand. By entering a postcode or LSOA/Data Zone/SOA code, you can instantly view how an area ranks across multiple domains of deprivation, explore Census 2021 demographics, community survey data, economic output (GVA), employment by industry, population estimates, neighbourhood trust, and rural-urban classification.

Place Explorer covers all four UK nations: England (IMD 2025), Wales (WIMD 2025), Scotland (SIMD 2020), and Northern Ireland (NIMDM 2017).

The Indices of Deprivation 2025

The English Indices of Deprivation measure relative deprivation across small areas (Lower Layer Super Output Areas, or LSOAs) in England. The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) combines seven weighted domains into an overall measure:

• Income (22.5%): proportion of the population experiencing income deprivation
• Employment (22.5%): proportion of the working-age population involuntarily excluded from the labour market
• Education, Skills and Training (13.5%): lack of attainment and skills in the local population
• Health Deprivation and Disability (13.5%): risk of premature death and impairment of quality of life through poor health
• Crime (9.3%): risk of personal and material victimisation at local level
• Barriers to Housing and Services (9.3%): physical and financial accessibility of housing and local services
• Living Environment (9.3%): quality of the indoor and outdoor local environment

Areas are ranked from 1 (most deprived) to 33,755 (least deprived) and grouped into deciles, where Decile 1 represents the most deprived 10% of areas nationally.

In addition to the seven domains, Place Explorer shows two supplementary indices:

• IDACI (Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index): the proportion of children aged 0–15 living in income-deprived households
• IDAOPI (Income Deprivation Affecting Older People Index): the proportion of older people aged 60+ living in income-deprived households

Place Explorer also shows the Indices of Deprivation 2019 for comparison where available, enabling users to see how deprivation has changed over time.

Devolved Nation Indices

Each devolved nation produces its own index of deprivation using different methodologies and domains. Scores are not directly comparable across borders.

• Wales (WIMD 2025): 1,917 LSOAs across 8 domains (Income, Employment, Health, Education, Access to Services, Housing, Community Safety, Physical Environment)
• Scotland (SIMD 2020): 6,976 Data Zones across 7 domains (Income, Employment, Health, Education, Geographic Access, Crime, Housing)
• Northern Ireland (NIMDM 2017): 890 Super Output Areas across 7 domains (Income, Employment, Health, Education, Access to Services, Living Environment, Crime & Disorder)

UK percentile: an approximate cross-nation scale

The four indices rank different numbers of areas (33,755 English LSOAs, 1,917 Welsh LSOAs, 6,976 Scottish Data Zones, 890 NI SOAs), so a rank like "100th most deprived" means something different in each nation. Place Explorer converts each rank to a UK percentile:

ukPercentile = ((totalAreas − rank + 0.5) ÷ totalAreas) × 100

The result is on a 0–100 scale where higher values mean more deprived (the most deprived area in each nation scores ≈100, the least deprived ≈0). The same formula is applied to the overall index and to each domain rank.

Census 2021 Data

Place Explorer includes data from the Census 2021 (England and Wales), providing demographic context for each area. This covers general health status, disability prevalence, housing tenure, occupation and ethnic group. The Cultural Diversity section shows ethnic group breakdown at Local Authority level (ONS TS021) with a Simpson's Diversity Index measuring the probability that two randomly chosen people are from different ethnic groups.

Population Estimates (mid-2024)

Population estimates at LSOA level are sourced from Nomis (ONS dataset NM_2014_1), based on 2021 census boundaries. Data covers 33,755 English LSOAs with broad age bands (0–15, 16–64, 65+) and detailed quinary (5-year) age bands from 0–4 through to 85+. Available for England and Wales.

Gross Value Added (GVA)

ONS small-area GVA estimates (released 22 September 2025) are official statistics in development, disaggregated from balanced regional GVA. The source covers 1998–2023; charts show 2018–2023 by default, with the full 1998–2023 history available. Values are total output in current-price £ millions on 2011 geographies, not GVA per head. Each area is compared only with the mean for its own nation’s small areas. ONS cautions against cross-country small-area comparisons because the geographies and economic mix differ. Current-price growth includes inflation. There are 42,619 areas: England and Wales LSOAs, Scotland Data Zones and Northern Ireland SOAs.

Employment by Industry (BRES)

Employment data comes from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), published by the ONS and accessed via the Nomis open API. Place Explorer shows employee counts by broad industrial group (SIC 2007 sections A–S, covering 19 sectors from Agriculture to Other Services) at local authority level. A comparison of 2019 (pre-COVID) and 2024 figures reveals how the employment structure of each area has changed. Figures are rounded to the nearest 25 by ONS. Available for England, Wales, and Scotland (NI has a separate survey).

Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26

Place Explorer includes data from the Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26, published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This survey covers social trust, neighbourhood belonging, community cohesion, local area satisfaction, neighbourly interaction, loneliness, and volunteering. Figures are for local authorities only (not postcodes or LSOAs), for adults aged 16+ in England. The October 2025–March 2026 survey replaced the Community Life Survey. Its questionnaire, design and weighting differ, so earlier estimates are not directly comparable. Trust means "many people can be trusted", loneliness means "often/always", and volunteering includes formal or informal activity at least once in the last 12 months. The Isles of Scilly estimates are suppressed in the source tables.

Neighbourhood Trust (Good Neighbours)

Place Explorer includes neighbourhood-level social trust estimates from UK Onward's Good Neighbours report (2023). Using MRP (Multilevel Regression and Post-stratification) modelling based on a survey of over 42,000 adults, the report estimates the proportion of people in each MSOA who say "most people can generally be trusted" versus those who say "you can't be too careful". A net trust score shows whether an area leans trusting or cautious overall. England only.

Rural Urban Classification

Place Explorer includes the 2021 Rural Urban Classification at MSOA (Middle Layer Super Output Area) level. This classifies each area into one of six categories based on settlement type and proximity to major towns:

• Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
• Urban: Further from a major town or city
• Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
• Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
• Smaller rural: Nearer to a major town or city
• Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city

England only.

Account Registration

Anyone can search for an area and view its deprivation profile. A free account adds detailed map layers, saved collections, area comparisons and PDF/CSV exports.

Sign in with your Social Value Engine account, or with a one-time link sent to your email address. Links expire after 15 minutes and work once. Place Explorer does not create or store passwords.

Your Data and Privacy

What we store, why, and when we remove it.

What we store

• Email address: used to send your sign-in link and identify your account.
• Registration date: when you created your account.
• SVE account ID: if you sign in with Social Value Engine, so we recognise you next time.
• Saved collections and searches: any area collections or searches you choose to save.
• Activity log: a record of searches, profile views, exports, and comparisons you make while signed in, along with a timestamp of your last visit.

Why we store it

Your email address signs you in. Saved collections and searches let you return to them later. The activity log shows which datasets and features are used most, so we can improve Place Explorer. We do not share your data with third parties.

When we remove it

If you would like your account and all associated data deleted, please contact us at enquiries@socialvalueengine.com and we will remove your account, saved collections, activity log, and any other personal data within 30 days. Magic link tokens are automatically deleted after they expire or are used.

What we do not store

We do not store passwords (there are none), payment information, IP addresses, or any personal data beyond what is listed above. We do not use cookies for tracking or advertising. The only cookie is a session cookie that keeps you signed in.

Data Sources

Every dataset Place Explorer uses, by nation. See the Data page for coverage, quality and when each was last updated.