Hillfields place based profile

Why is this important?

Understanding Coventry's economic, cultural, educational, and early childhood prospects can help us better understand the effects these factors have on the wellbeing of the local populations. A person's lifelong health, happiness, and productivity are affected by preventable health inequalities that can arise during pregnancy, childbirth, and the early years.

Best Start in Life

What else is happening? What else can be done?

The Family Hub located in Hillfields is highlighted as an asset in the community. Harmony Family hub, located in Hillfields helps co-ordinate early intervention and support. By bringing together different professionals such as, Health visitors, social workers, midwives, police, and others the hub can offer holistic and tailored support to families who face challenges.

Health visitors can help children and families make the best start in life. They visit all parents with children under the age of 5 in the city and offer health promotion and write developmental reviews during their home visits to promote childhood development. Schools, faith groups and community centres can work together to help reach socially isolated families, helping bring support to those who need it.

There is a variety of practical support for families and children in the area. Hope Community Projects Coventry supports families in the Hillfields in a variety of ways. They provide childcare, work with parents of preschool children to help them understand and meet the needs of their children and become involved in their learning and development. The project works with the whole family to give them the confidence to access services that help them improve their lives and overcome barriers.

The areas youthful population makes it even more important to create engaging opportunities for young people so that they can reach their full potential. Positive Youth Foundation (a charity that helps young people reach their full potential) is very active in the area and across the city. They operate various sessions from their centre in Hillfields that are designed to give support and education to young people so that they can secure their future and attain their full potential.

Education and skills

Why is this important?

Poor work chances, social alienation, and difficulties with mental and physical health are just a few of the social disadvantages that people could potentially face later in life as a result of low educational attainment and low expectations. By supporting high levels of educational attainment and boosting their expectations, these barriers can be removed so that children and young people realise their full potential in life.

There have been significant disruptions to education over recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing schools to close and move to digital classrooms. It is fair to say that this has had an impact on education and some children’s school readiness as a result. Therefore, the Department of Education are reluctant to directly compare attainment statistics between 2019-2022, we have included some for your information here.

What is the local picture? How does it compare?

There are 4 Primary schools and 1 Secondary school in Hillfields. The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, also known as Ofsted, inspects services providing education and training for learners and regulate services that care for children and young people. 3 of the 4 primary schools are rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ and one was rated as 'Requires improvement’. The secondary school in the area was rated ‘Outstanding’.

In May 2023 a relatively low proportion of children who live in Hillfields attended a 'Good' or ‘Outstanding’ 73.0% of children who live in Hillfields attend a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ school, 22.9% of attended a school with the rating 'Requires improvement' or 'Inadequate' and 4.1% attended a school that hadn’t been recently inspected. This means that 76.2% of those whose school had been inspected, attend a 'Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ school, lower than the city average of 83.5%.

The number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) is in line with the city average (18.2%). In 2023 18.5% of children living in Hillfields were SEN pupils. SEN can be divided into two types, those with a Statement or an Education, Health & Care (EHC) plan, and those with SEN support. In total 484 pupils are identified as having Special Educational Needs, 3.2% were in receipt of an EHC plan and 15.2% were receiving SEN support.

Hillfields attainment performance at the end of year 6 (key stage 2) is lower than Coventry averages and national averages. In 2022, 52% of students living in Hillfields at the end of year 6 met the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined, compared to 54% for Coventry as a whole and 59% for England.

The average attainment 8 scores for pupils at key stage 4 in Hillfields is similar to the Coventry average. Based on attainment 8 scores, which are an average score used to measure an individual student's progress across their 8 best performing subjects taken at GCSE level, the average attainment 8 score for pupils in Hillfields was 45.9 slightly lower than Coventry 46.2 and lower than England (48.9) in 2022.

Free school meals eligibility in Coventry continues to increase and is relativity high in Hillfields. In 2022 38.4% of children from Hillfields (approximately 1,006) were entitled to free school meals, compared to 24.8% across Coventry.  When comparing to other areas of Coventry, the percentage of Hillfields pupils eligible for free school meals is amongst the highest in the city.

There is variation across neighbourhoods with less students being eligible for free school meals in ‘City Farm North’ (24.9%) compared to ‘Hillfields Village’ (50.3%) and ‘Hillfields - Coronation Road Swanswell Basin’ (47.5%).

More residents in Hillfields have little or no qualifications than the city average. 22.1% of Hillfields residents aged 16 and over have no formal qualifications, significantly higher than Coventry (19.4%) and England (18.1%). Having no qualifications may limit a person’s ability to gain more rewarding employment in the city or push them to be redeployed as the city’s jobs increasingly require qualified people.

25.7% of Hillfields residents aged 16 and over are qualified to level 4 or above, which means they have a foundation degree or above, compared to 30.6% for Coventry as a whole and 33.9% for England.

What else is happening? What else can be done?

Local initiatives and creating community champions in the area could positively impact the ways in which people connect to each other and the community. Hillz FM, a community radio station, serves disadvantaged, marginalised, and culturally under-represented groups. It aims to provide relevant media coverage to those underserved by mainstream media. Programs are broadcasted in English and community languages based on demand and volunteer availability, including Kurdish, Polish, Punjabi, Hindi/Urdu, French, and African languages.

Community support is available for young people through homework clubs and advice and support. The Hillfields Cross Cultures Project hosted at the WATCH Centre is aimed at young people between the ages of 16-30, not in education, training, or employment or at risk of becoming NEET. Careers advice, CV support, job searches, interview techniques and support in gaining work experience is available. Positive Youth Foundation “Raising Aspirations Programme” is designed to support young people achieve their potential and helps those experiencing challenges in mainstream education. The programme is designed and tailored to the needs of individuals.

“I enjoyed everything I learned about and meeting new people on my previous skills and training courses.”

“Practical. I love to try new things, beyond the theories. I love to put whatever I learn into practice.” 
 

“Courses can sometimes be overwhelming as they are full on with lots of information, big groups         “

“It helps me more skilled and more capable in my job.”

The library also supports children through programmes such as Bookstart. Through Bookstart, children of preschool age receive a free information pack containing a variety of activities, guidance for parents and a book. This is in the hope that good literacy habits will be formed at a much younger age. Rhyme Time is also an opportunity for the formation of good literacy habits and encourage the development of language and social skills amongst babies and toddlers.

Coventry Skills Survey was conducted to find out what Coventry residents think about skills training courses in the city. It found that residents in St Michaels wards (which includes Hillfields) felt the biggest barriers to undertaking skills or training course were a lack of information surrounding what courses were available, followed by time restrictions and concerns over eligibility for courses. Outlining the digital divide 6 of those responding to the survey said they cannot access IT equipment. When asked what would help to overcome these barriers, more information along with careers guidance and opportunities to learn online were the most popular responses. More than 2/3 felt that they have the skills to either gain employment or progress in their career.

Coventry University Group are developing a national skills hub aimed at supporting the Power Electronics, Machines and Drives community by providing an extensive range of training and development opportunities to help upskill the UK’s workforce to help deliver clean solutions such as the next generation of electric transport. They have partnered with Jaguar Land Rover to develop a pilot training scheme to help upskill 1200 engineers so they can learn the key skills needed for electric vehicle development. This will not only help the production of electric cars which will help lower emissions, but it is also providing workers with key skills for the future.

Economy and growth

Why is this important?

A protective factor for health is having meaningful employment. Reducing avoidable health disparities will involve tackling the unequal distribution of money, wealth, and power by improving opportunities and skills.

Hillfields neighbourhoods have higher levels of multiple deprivation than most other areas of Coventry. This is measured using the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019, it measures the extent to which people in each neighbourhood (LSOA) in England experiences ‘multiple deprivation’ across the factors of employment, income, education, health, crime, housing and services and living environment; it is the headline measure of deprivation at a local level. This measure remains valid, although the data is now a little old as it is only refreshed every five years on average – the insights from this should be considered in conjunction with other more up to date statistics.

44% of the population live in neighbourhoods (LSOAs) that are amongst the most deprived 10% LSOAs in England and over half (57%) live in neighbourhoods that are amongst the most deprived 20% LSOAs in England.

The map below indicates that half of the neighbourhoods across Hillfields are amongst the most deprived 10% of areas in England, those in the darkest red colour. It shows ‘Hillfields Village’, ‘Hillfields - Coronation Road Swanswell Basin’and ‘Hillfields - Cambridge Street’ neighbourhoods have higher levels of deprivation, ‘Hillfields - Canterbury Raglan Streets’ and ‘Hillfields - Swans Lane Thacknall Street’ neighbourhoods less so, but these neighbourhoods are still experiencing higher levels of multiple deprivation than average.

These pockets of deprivation limit people’s opportunities to succeed and transforming life chances requires addressing the social inequalities that are established right from the earliest years.

The unemployment rate in Hillfields is much higher than the city average. A contribution to this will inevitably be the disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic and slow growth in the national economy in 2022, however rates have been consistently above average. The unemployment rate according to the 2021 Census for residents in Hillfields was 11.1% of all aged 16-64 (1,077 people), much higher than the Coventry average 5.9% and amongst the highest rate of all areas in the city.  While the unemployment rate is higher than average in all parts of Hillfields, there is variation across the area. ‘Hillfields - Canterbury Raglan Streets’ area has a much higher unemployment rate at 14.8%, whereas ‘Hillfields - Cambridge Street’ has a lower unemployment rate at 6.4%.

From the 2021 Census, 43.7% of those aged 16-64 were in employment, compared to 64.2% across Coventry overall. The Census measures employment and unemployment rates differently to other data sources and was produced during a unique time for the labour market due to the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore the percentages used from the Census are lower than other official data and employment rate sources.

The number of residents claiming unemployment benefits is significantly higher in Hillfields. The claimant count increased significantly in early 2020, an indication of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on employment, and while it has fallen since 2020 it remains significantly higher than 2019 levels. Between August 2019 and August 2023, the proportion of the local working aged (16-64) population claiming unemployment benefits in Hillfields increased by 3.0 percentage points from 6.8% to 9.8% (945 people from in total), significantly higher than the city average of 5.6%.

Economic inactivity rates in Hillfields are significantly higher (45.3%), than the city average (29.9%), this area being home to a much higher-than-average number of students. So, in addition to the around one in ten of the working aged population that are unemployed, nearly half are economically inactive.  Economic inactivity refers to people who are neither in work nor unemployed, they are not actively seeking work for various reasons. This includes full-time students, those looking after a home, people living with long term illness, retired people, and others. Economic inactivity rates are particularly high amongst people who are inactive students, in Hillfields 23.7% of all aged 16-64 are economically inactive full-time students compared to overall city average of 12.8%.

Overall inactivity amongst non-students in this area is also higher than average, although it varies by reason. 10.2% of all working age people who are inactive and ‘looking after home/family’ compared to the rest of city’s rate of 6.0%. and people who are ‘long-term sick or disabled’, making up 4.8% of all working aged people compared to the city’s average of 4.9%.

0.6% of working aged residents of the area are retired (Coventry 2.3%). 6.0% of working aged residents of the area are ‘Inactive Other’ compared to the overall city average 4.0%.
Hillfields ‘Canterbury Raglan Streets’ has some of the highest rates in the whole city of Inactive students, making up 44.1% of all people aged 16-64.

Household income is lower than the city average for residents in Hillfields, amongst the lowest in the city.  The ‘UK Paycheck’ dataset from CACI estimates average gross annual household income for 2023, for Hillfields the mean average is estimated at £30,309 compared to the Coventry average of £41,552 and the UK average of £47,621. A higher proportion of households in this area are on low incomes, 39% of households are on an annual income of less than £20,000, compared to 27% across Coventry overall and 22% across the UK.

Average household income is at its lowest in ‘Hillfields Village’ at £22,675, lower than all other areas in the city. The ‘City Farm North’ neighbourhood has the highest average income amongst Hillfields neighbourhoods at £38,282 in Hillfields, but this is still lower than average for Coventry.

People living in Hillfields are more likely to worry about money, this in part can be attributed to the cost-of-living crisis. The Household Survey 2022 found that 63% of residents said they had been worried about money often or almost all the time in the last few weeks, this is much higher compared to the city’s average of 40%.  47% of residents surveyed in said that all their household always have enough of the food they want to eat, this is lower than the city’s average of 69%.

Making sure that everyone can access and use digital resources and services is very important. Coventry has a great benefit of having fast internet in general, but this does not guarantee access and there are many people in the area who may experience digital isolation. The Ofcom Connected Nations report 2022 provides us with local data, and there is a high level of ‘gigabit’ availability in Hillfields, with 92.6% of premises having access to fixed broadband that can deliver 1,000 Megabits per second (Mbit/s), although this is notably lower than Coventry overall at 96.9%. All premises have access to ‘Superfast Broadband’ (30 Mbit/s or more), but the actual performance measured is lower, with only 85.6% having average measured speeds of connections 30 Mbit/s or faster. However, having good connection levels overall does not mean that residents have the ability to access fast broadband or afford it.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority created the Digital Exclusion Risk Index (DERI) tool to estimate the chance of digital exclusion for all small neighborhoods (LSOAs) in England. They used different metrics to measure the risk factors of demography, deprivation, and broadband availability and gave each area a score between 0 and 10. A score of 0 means a low chance of exclusion and a score of 10 means a high chance. This data reveals a varied picture for the area, with slightly higher than average risk scores than the Coventry average.

Hillfields has many areas that score higher than the city average. ‘Hillfields Village’ is ranked 5th in the city with a score of 4.22. Overall, four of the six LSOAs that make up Hillfields have scores higher than average for Coventry and amongst the amongst the highest 20% of neighbourhoods in England. The other 2 LSOAs (‘Hillfields - Canterbury Raglan Street and ‘Hillfields - Swans Lane Thacknall Street’) have lower than average scores for the city.

Another method to assess digital exclusion is the Internet User Classification 2018 data set from the Economic and Social Research Council, which used various statistics to put each LSOA in Great Britain into 10 different categories based on the internet use and participation of its residents. There is variation by neighborhood in Hillfields for this measure, aligning with the areas with the relatively high and low DERI scores shown above. Three of the neighbourhoods in Hillfields were in the ‘e-Withdrawn’ category, the one that has the lowest engagement with the internet, but other neighbourhoods are categorised as more engaged. The parts of Coventry that were given this category were usually those with higher levels of multiple deprivation.

What else is happening? What else can be done?

Increasing the economic prosperity of the city is important to those living Hillfields. The One Coventry Plan sets out the council’s ambition to ensure more residents of Coventry are fulfilling their ambitions, living healthier lives for longer and living in safer, connected, and sustainable communities.

One Coventry plan engagement found that residents in Hillfields felt that the most important priority was increasing the economic prosperity of the city and of the region, closely followed by improving outcomes and tackling inequalities within our communities and finally tackling the causes of climate change.

Community and voluntary groups are working together in the city to ensure support is in place for those who need it. The Coventry Food Network is an example of this, established as a result from the pandemic. Coventry Food Network is a food partnership which brings together several public, private, voluntary and community sector partners to address food poverty and its causes in Coventry by taking a city-wide collaborative and strategic approach towards a unified Coventry Food Network and Strategy. Since 18 March 2020, the Council has been working closely with a range of partners, to create and deliver a system of food provision. Some of the initiatives that have evolved from this partnership are:

• Established 15 social supermarkets/grub hubs throughout the city to provide nutritional food and support to those residents in greatest need.
• Support the delivery of the Household Support Fund by providing emergency food provision to vulnerable residents who needed additional support with accessing/affording food.
• Supported the delivery and developed a model to support those who were clinically extremely vulnerable (Shielding) re: food and basic support.
• Procured food and distributed food parcels to children eligible for free school meals provision during school holidays.
• Continue to support and enhance the offer of healthy, nutritious food to children and families eligible for free school meals through the HAF programme

The cost-of-living crisis is undoubtedly having a huge impact on residents, however there is a more coordinated approach to help and support on offer to residents. Citizen Money Advice team has provided housing and/or money advice drop-in clinics from Harmony Hub and Thomas King House to any local residents.

“more support for underprivileged families”

#CovConnects device bank is helping residents to become less digitally excluded. ​The #CovConnects Device Bank received digital devices from the West Midland's Combined Authority's Connected Services program. Donations included laptops, Chromebooks, PCs, and mi-fi dongles and are being distributed through the #CovConnects Device Bank to Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise organisations in specific communities across the city. By distributing these devices directly to these communities, the Council aims to tackle digital exclusion and improve residents' access to the digital world. Additionally, the #CovConnects team offer support for organisations and their residents in connectivity, skills, and support to maximize the recipients' benefits.

Business rates were raised as a concern by residents. Residents saw business rates in the city centre as a potential barrier for smaller businesses, making it difficult for them to operate or grow. They fear this could reduce local business diversity and limit entrepreneurship, leaving only larger companies able to afford the rates. This could harm the area's vibrancy and community feel, potentially weakening the local economy. Residents suggested reviewing business rates to better support small businesses.

“Fix the issue of business Rates in the City Centre - so that more diverse, smaller businesses are also incentivised to set up there”

Hillfields residents stressed that a sustainable food strategy could address multiple issues, including climate change, local economic development, health, and social inclusion. By promoting local food production, reducing waste, and encouraging plant-based diets, thus reducing the community's carbon footprint. Economically, it could support local farmers and businesses, create jobs, and boost food security. The strategy could also improve public health by promoting healthier diets and addressing food insecurity. Additionally, social inclusion could be enhanced through community gardens and food-sharing initiatives, fostering stronger community bonds while ensuring access to affordable, nutritious food.

 “A sustainable food system strategy would complement and add weight to the climate change strategy, allowing the Council to leverage more influence and resources towards the climate agenda whilst also meeting many other needs”