Unemployment, deprivation and low wellbeing: Council report highlights Rochdale’s plight

People are more likely to be unemployed, deprived and have a lower quality of life in Rochdale than many other towns in the UK, according to a damning council report outlining health and social habits of residents.

Presented to the Rochdale Borough Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in November, the fact file-style document also highlights above average levels of smoking and alcohol related deaths in the town.

Nearly half of Rochdale’s residents (47.4%) are found to live with ‘relatively high levels of disadvantage’ – and of those, close to 45,000 are deemed to be in the most vulnerable rung of society.

‘Employment levels are low’, according to the report, with only 62.8% of adults in work, with that figure dropping to 46.4% for the number of employed adults in black and ethnic minority communities.

And while Rochdale has seen a decrease in anti-social behaviour since 2011, that improvement is overshadowed by a rise in both hate crime and domestic abuse. It is estimated that close to one in five domestic abusers in the town are repeat offenders, and they were responsible for 35% of reported cases in 2013.

The report also notes that Rochdale 'had the second lowest wellbeing of 20 boroughs across the North-West' in 2012. Wellbeing is a measure of quality of life. Factors taken into account include people’s realisation of their own potential, their ability to cope with the stress of everyday life, and their contributions to society.

Health statistics outlined in the report were also bleak. More people in Rochdale die from smoking than in other areas, with annual deaths from the habit totalling 263 people per 100,000. The England national average is 201. Alcohol-related hospital admissions in the Borough are also higher on average.

The report concludes by noting that, since 1991, life expectancy in Rochdale has increased – but people in the town still live, on average, two years less than nationally.