1. Relationships. The membership of formal groups in a community and their participation in activities with many people. This considers the clusters of social but formally organised groups of people in the public sphere of a community and community-owned assets.
2. Physical Infrastructure. The physical assets that are present in communities which facilitate, structure and organise people within a community. It explores the resources and infrastructure of place that act as centres of daily life interactions and social connections between people.
3. Civic institutions. The health of democracy and governance at both the local and national level. This considers the quality, trust and satisfaction of people with public institutions in the community in which they live.
4. Economic value. The tangible assets which hold a monetary and/or economic value to an individual or family within a community.
5. Positive Social norms. The personal well-being and cultural attitudes of individuals and families in a community. It explores the influence of people’s wider habits, behaviours and activities that are at play in a community,

Hover your mouse over your the map to see how your local authority measures up.

For the full index contact director@ukonward.com

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This is the latest release of Onward’s new research programme Repairing our Social Fabric, a cross party review into the state of community in the UK.

This in-depth research project looked at how communities were responding to the crisis, particularly Glasgow, Grimsby, and Barking and Dagenham. This work involved qualitative research interviews with key civic leaders, including volunteers, local authority staff and charity workers. 

The report warns of the risk of thousands of local charities and community groups becoming unviable just at the moment when they are needed to support vulnerable and isolated people during lockdown and to bring society together as the immediate crisis abates. Charities and groups interviewed for the research reported being “overwhelmed by volunteers” and told how local people had “stepped up, the community dragging it [the response] forward” but that because volunteers had been redirected “to help the wider community… this will have an effect on our finances down the line.”

Onward published its 15-point plan for a social stimulus to strengthen society in the short, medium and long-term. Key recommendations include:

1. Allowing charities to redeploy furloughed front-line workers as time-limited volunteers, with charity directors having to self-declare to the Charity Commission to reduce the risk of charities claiming for non-frontline staff.
2. Following up the initial £750 million grant support for charities with alternative forms of financing to give charities confidence to continue supporting those in need. This could include zero-interest charitable loans from HM Treasury, bringing together large endowments to release £2.5 billion in assets early, or reforming tax relief to allow corporations to donate to charities more easily. 
3. Rolling out a nationwide mental health package, including free access to NHS-approved wellbeing apps, a larger role for civic organisations in delivering mental health support in communities, and using the BBC and other public service broadcasters to combat mental illness. 
4. Prioritising families, parks and informal carers in the emerging plan to end the lockdown. This would mean reopening parks first, allowing contact between family members as a priority and making tests available for informal and family carers after NHS and public sector staff. 
5. Opening up digital access by asking telecommunication firms to make digital hotspots freely available for community groups and charities and giving vulnerable individuals unlimited data, and re-opening local library networks to give the digitally excluded access to connection.
6. Turning the NHS Volunteer Army into a long-term civic institution that lasts beyond the pandemic.  One way to do this would be to decentralise the app over time, to allow charities and community groups to post volunteering jobs locally that volunteers could sign up to.
7. Launching a national fundraising drive to raise a £1 billion ‘Community Recovery Fund’, which would support local areas to rebound after the crisis. This would be modelled on successful initiatives like Live Aid and should include a commitment from the Treasury to match-fund every £1 donated by individuals, corporations or endowments. 
8. Using the honours system to recognise the contribution of people during the COVID-19 crisis. The Government should canvas the public for coronavirus heroes who should be recognised for their outstanding contribution, including key workers and those supporting communities directly.

Lord O’Shaughnessy, chairman of Onward’s Repairing our Social Fabric programme, and co-author of the report said:

“This crisis has brought out the best of Britain’s spirit. We see it in the daily acts of kindness playing out across the country, whether that’s delivering food parcels, phone calls to those who are lonely and isolated at home, or the amazing response to the NHS Volunteers programme.”

“As the crisis continues, we need to amplify that spirit and make sure everyone across the country can benefit – not just during the crisis, but as the country gets back on its feet too.”

“Our plan for a social stimulus, to sit alongside the extraordinary public health and economic responses from the government, would strengthen Britain’s communities so that we emerge from the crisis a stronger, more connected society.” 

Will Tanner, Director of Onward, said:

“The paradox of the pandemic is that it has divided society physically but brought us together socially. There is such a thing as society and it has proved its value as communities came together during lockdown to support each other and save countless lives.”

“But Britain’s communities are fragile and they will need help as social distancing becomes the new normal in the months to follow. It is essential that ministers apply the same attention to strengthening local communities as they do to the NHS and the economy – not least because both will suffer if society crumbles.”

The full list of experts included:

• Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
• Alex Evans, Founder, the Collective Psychology Project
• Alex Smith, Founder/CEO, The Cares Family
• Andrew O’Brien, Social Enterprise UK
• APLE Collective
• Cassie Robinson, The National Lottery Community Fund
• Chris Wood, Assistant Director, Research, Policy and Public Affairs, Shelter
• Clare Mills, Head of Communications and External Affairs, NAVCA
• Ed Wallis, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Locality
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• Ian Cooke, Director, Development Trust Association Scotland
• Kitty von Bertele, Luminate
• Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales
• Louisa McGeehan, Director of Policy Rights and Advocacy, Child Poverty Action Group
• Matt Leach, Chief Executive, Local Trust
• Vidhya Alakeson, Chief Executive, Power to Change
• Will Somerville, UK Director, Unbound Philanthropy

For media inquiries please contact Will Tanner at will.tanner@ukonward.com

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The paper, authored by Will Tanner and Guy Miscampbell, argues that Ministers should give Britain’s private renters a new Chance to Buy their rented home by rewarding landlords who sell to long-term tenants.

Under the proposals, Onward’s proposals:

• Existing buy-to-let properties would be eligible for 100% capital gains tax relief if the property is sold to a sitting tenant who has lived there for 3 years or more.
• The gain from this tax relief would be split evenly between the landlord and the tenant, giving the landlord a windfall when they sell and the tenant thousands of pounds towards their mortgage deposit.
• Onward proposes that the Treasury should pay for this policy by tightening other tax reliefs for buy-to-let investors, including reducing the Private Residence Relief period from 18 months to 6 months and abolishing Lettings Relief of up to £40,000.

Onward’s modelling estimates that 88,000 households would take up the relief each year, meaning nearly half a million households could benefit over 5 years. Accounting for multiple-person households, this would support the transition of a million people from the private rented sector into home ownership by 2023.

The average gain per property would be £15,000, meaning the average first time buyer could expect to benefit by £7,500. Because the gain is affected by property prices and their historical growth, this rises substantially in some parts of the country, with the average buying tenant in London receiving £19,500 under the scheme.

If the Government wanted to go further to incentivise longer-term tenancies, Onward argues that they could make other allowances, such as Wear and Tear Allowance, conditional on the properties being offered on a tenancy agreement of 3 years or more. The changes could be introduced alongside or instead of the Government’s proposed introduction of fixed 3-year tenancies for everyone.

The report comes amidst growing political interest in the changing nature of Britain’s private rented sector, with Ministers recently consulting on proposals to bring in mandatory three-year tenancies.

• In the last two decades, the private rented sector has doubled in size, with more than 20% of homes, or 4.7 million households, now rented privately.
• The average length of residence in the private rented sector is 3.9 years. In 2016-17, half of renters had lived in private rented accommodation for more than 5 years, compared to fewer than a fifth in 2008-09.
• Households pay a greater proportion of their living costs towards rent per month than previous generations. From the 1960s to the early 1980s private renters spent on average around 10% of their income on rent in most of the country, and around 15% in London. Today those figures have increased to over 30% and nearly 40% respectively.
• Unsurprisingly, the vast majority want to own: nine in ten people prefer home ownership over renting. 65% of 18–40-year-olds who currently do not own a home hope to
  do so one day.

This has considerable political implications. Research shows the political challenge facing the Conservative Party amongst private renters, including in marginal seats, in particular:

• According to Ipsos Mori, private renters were significantly more likely to vote Labour (54%) than Conservative (31%) at the last election and the Labour Party’s lead amongst private renters grew by 12 points.
• Recent polling for Shelter showed the Conservatives trail Labour by an average 22 points amongst private renters in the 60 most marginal constituencies. 61 per cent of voters in those seats do not have confidence in the Government’s housing offer.
• Onward research published in the Sunday Telegraph has shown that by 2022, there will only be 88 parliamentary seats where homeowners comprise more than 70 per cent of all homes, down from 330 in 2001.

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