Place

Earnings across Norfolk are generally lower than England. Median annual resident salaries for 2018 in Norfolk were £21,542, for England £24,298. Employment in Norfolk is slightly higher than that of England with about 79.4% (16-64 year olds) in employment compared to 78.5% for England. Unemployment rates follow the same pattern with Norfolk at just over 4.7% and England 4.2%.^[12] An indication of the activity in an economy is the number of Active Enterprises along with those new start-ups and closures. Norfolk has about 33,000 active enterprises each year.^[13]

The balance of urban and rural varies across the districts with Norwich the most urban and North Norfolk the most rural. 60% of our population 65+ live in a rural area.^[14] The rural nature of Norfolk presents opportunities in providing access to natural greenspace but higher risk of being killed or seriously injured on the roads. Across Norfolk the Rural-urban classification varies from Urban within Norwich to Mainly Rural Breckland, North Norfolk and South Norfolk. 88% of North Norfolk is classed as rural. This variation across the county provides challenges to the delivery of services.

Currently more than 120,000 people in Norfolk live in areas categorised as the most deprived 20% in England.^[15] These are mainly located in the urban areas of Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Thetford and King’s Lynn together with some identified pockets of deprivation in rural areas, coastal villages and market towns.^[16] However, some of the smaller areas of rural deprivation, which can make delivery of services more difficult and reduce accessibility for the population, remain hidden.

Health services in Norfolk are commissioned by 5 Clinic Commissioning Group’s and include 3 Acute Hospitals with about 170 GP practices and branches. Mental health services are provided by the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation trust. In Norfolk, for adults both working age and 65+ there are 63 residential nursing providers, 299 residential care homes, 85 homecare providers, 205 day-care providers (accredited to provide services to Norfolk County Council), 1 shared lives, 17 extra care housing and 35 supported living providers. Estimated to employ over 27, 000 jobs and approximately one third of spending on social care is commissioned by Norfolk County Council, supporting over 16,800 social care service users.^[17]

The highest rates of fatal injuries at work are falls from a height, contact with moving machinery and being struck by a vehicle of self reported work-place injuries. Approximately 30% result in over 7 days absence, and a total over 611,000 non fatal injuries across Great Britain in 2014/15. Most frequent causes of injury are manual handling, slips and trips and falls from a height. Ill health caused or made worse by work is estimated to be approximately 1.2 million cases nationally resulting in approximately 22.3 million nationally, most frequently stress, depression or anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders.^[18]

Norfolk remains a very safe place. It continues to have one of the lowest crime rates in England, with the level of crime and disorder in most places being well below the national average. Although this varies across the county with a Norfolk average at just over 65 per 1,000 population (Feb-18 to Jan-19) highest in Norwich and lowest in Broadland.^[19] Within the English Indices of Deprivation the Crime domain for Norfolk is within the lowest 7% of all upper tier local authorities.^[20]