Using the FPI

The website contains maps for every county in England and shows the level of fuel poverty (using the 'full income' definition) for each Lower Super Output Area (LSOA), containing about 400 households each.

The website also includes a FPI database at LSOA level (see Data downloads) which gives the number and proportion of households in fuel poverty according to the four fuel poverty definitions described in Data sources and definitions. Please note that the maps correspond with the 'full income fuel poverty' data columns in the dataset.

Once you have downloaded the FPI map and data for your area, you might find the following helpful in interpreting the distribution of fuel poverty in your area. Please note that this is only meant to provide a basic guide.

Comparisons

  • How does average fuel poverty in your area compare with county, region and England averages?
  • How many LSOAs in your area fall within the 'worst 10%' of LSOAs in England?
  • How does average fuel poverty in your area compare with similar areas, e.g. metropolitan, rural, core cities?

Distribution of fuel poverty

  • What is the pattern of distribution of FPI scores in your area?
  • Are LSOAs with high scores concentrated in certain parts of the area or are they spread out?
  • How much variation is there in FPI scores in your area? Is the difference large or small?
  • What are the characteristics of high-scoring LSOAs? For example, are they inner city, rural or suburban?

Relationship to other indicators

  • How does the FPI distribution correlate with other deprivation indicators, e.g. health inequalities, indices of deprivation, poor housing, decent homes?
  • What are the socio-economic characteristics of high-scoring LSOAs, e.g. tenure, household type, social class?
  • What are the housing characteristics of high-scoring LSOAs, e.g. age of housing, access to gas, type of housing, fuel payment method?

A warning...

Be careful in making associations between high fuel poverty areas and other area characteristics. For example, there may be inter-dependencies between the variables used for constructing the FPI and the characteristics you are investigating.