State of the Borough

• Life expectancy for Wirral males is 77.8 years (England males is 79.4 years)

• Life expectancy for Wirral females is 81.6 years (England females is 83.1 years)

• Life expectancy for males decreased by -0.7 years compared to the previous year

• Life expectancy for females decreased by -0.7 years compared to the previous year

• The gap in life expectancy between Wirral and England for males is the widest it has ever been (1.6 years). This is also the case for females (1.5 years)

• Males are estimated to live 78.2% of their lives in good health (60.8 years)

• Females are estimated to live 77.3% of their lives in good health (63.1 years)

• Life expectancy varies by Ward, with males in Birkenhead and Tranmere estimated to live 70.4 years whereas males in Greasby, Frankby and Irby live 83.0 years (a gap of 12.6 years)

• Life expectancy also varies by Ward for females, with those in Birkenhead and Tranmere estimated to live 75.4 years, whereas females in Greasby, Frankby and Irby live 87.3 years (a gap of 11.9 years)

• The gap in life expectancy between the most deprived (top 10%) and least deprived (bottom 10%) deciles has increased from 11.0 years in 2013-15 to 12.4 years in 2018-20 (+1.4 years) for males in Wirral

• The gap in life expectancy between the most deprived (top 10%) and least deprived (bottom 10%) deciles has increased from 9.8 years in 2013-15 to 10.0 years in 2018-20 (+0.2 years) for females in Wirral

• The population of Wirral was 324,336 in 2020 (most recently available data)

• In terms of the age of the population of Wirral, 17.4% are aged under 15, 60.6% are aged 15-64 (working age) and 22.0% are aged over 65. This is an older population than the England average

• The population is forecast to increase by 4.1% to 336,300 by 2043. Older age groups will see the biggest increase, with the number of residents aged 65 plus expected to increase by 33.2% per cent. It is predicted that there will be more than 93,000 local people over 65 by 2043

• According to the 2021 Census, 7.6% of residents were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, far lower than the 26.5% England average. Polish was the most frequently spoken non-English language according to the 2021 Census (0.3%)

• The largest business sectors in Wirral (in terms of the number of businesses) are those in the professional, scientific and technical (1,365), construction (1,200) and retail (935) sectors

• The sectors with the highest number of employees are health (22,750), retail (11,600) and education (9,700)

• Recent figures show that new businesses increased slightly from 1,380 in 2020 to 1,460 in 2021, whilst the number of businesses that ceased also rose slightly from 1,100 in 2020 to 1,275 in 2021

• The Gross Value Added (GVA) per head (i.e. the measure of the value of goods and services produced) in the borough over the last ten years (2011-2021) has increased from £13,143 to £17,526, but remains lower than both the North West (£26,411) and England (£31,138)

• The local employment rate increased in Wirral to it's highest level in December 2022 (76.9%)

• Of those currently in employment, 62% are working full time (30+ hours a week), with 38% working part time (less than 30 hours a week)

• Modelled unemployment figures for December 2022 show that the proportion of people unemployed is 3.0% of the working age population. Claimant counts of residents of working age have slowly decreased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with rates as of June 2023 roughly reflecting the modelled unemployment figure at 3.7%. This compares to a high of 6.8% in May 2020

• Claimant counts vary significantly by constituency. In Birkenhead constituency, the proportion of residents of working age claiming out-of-work benefits is 5.5% compared to 1.8% in Wirral South (this does not include those out of work for health reasons)

• 17,291 people commute into Wirral for work (with Cheshire West and Chester being the most popular source), 44,332 commute out of the borough for work (Liverpool being the most popular destination)

• GP data shows that cancer is more prevalent in Wirral (4.2%) than in the North West (3.4%) and England (3.3%)

• GP data shows that COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) is more prevalent in Wirral (2.6%) than in the North West (2.4%) and England (1.9%)

• GP data shows that CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) is more prevalent in Wirral (3.9%) than in the North West (3.4%) and England (3.0%)

• Data from the Active Lives Adult Survey show that, in 2021/22 70.9% of adults in Wirral were overweight or obese – an increase from 59.4% in 2015/16 – and significantly higher than the England figure of 63.8%

• Wirral has a higher rate of premature death (deaths under 75 years of age from all causes) (405.94 directly standardised rate per 100,000) than the North West (398.79 directly standardised rate per 100,000) and England (336.46 directly standardised rate per 100,000)

• Wirral has a higher rate of premature death (deaths under 75 years of age) related to cancer (144.65 directly standardised rate per 100,000) than the North West (142.36 directly standardised rate per 100,000) and England (129.63 directly standardised rate per 100,000)

• Wirral has a higher rate of premature death (deaths under 75 years of age) related to cardiovascular disease (71.55 directly standardised rate per 100,000) than England (70.45 directly standardised rate per 100,000) but lower than the North West (86.06 directly standardised rate per 100,000)

• In recent years, local data on infant mortality rates showed a reduction and is currently lower than the North West and England average in 2019-21

• Similarly, the proportion of low-birthweight babies has also shown a decrease, with 6.4% of babies born in Wirral of a low-birthweight, compared with 7.0% in the North West and 6.8% England in 2021

• The National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP) data in 2021/22 show that 23.1% of Reception aged children (4 to 5 years) were overweight or obese, followed by 34.3% of children in Year 6. These are lower than the North West and England average

• Educational attainment (using average Attainment 8 scores at GCSE level) in Wirral shows that children eligible for free school meals (FSM) perform worse (34.2) than those not eligible (53.8), although the gap has narrowed in recent years

• The same pattern is also apparent for children with Special Education Needs (SEN), with non-SEN pupils (52.5) outperforming pupils with SEN support (35.4) in Wirral on average Attainment 8 scores in 2022

• In 2021/22 both measures of child poverty (absolute and relative low income) have shown a decrease in Wirral compared to the previous year. There are large inequalities in child poverty by ward, however, with almost 1 in 4 (24.6%) children in Birkenhead and Tranmere living in absolute low income in 2021/22, compared to only 1 in 25 children (3.9%) in Clatterbridge

• The Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI, 2019) showed that 36.0% of children live in the 20% most deprived areas in England, primarily on the East side of the borough in Birkenhead and Wallasey constituency.

• Almost 1 in 7 households in Wirral were estimated to live in fuel poverty in 2021, with large inequalities between wards - over 1 in 4 households in Seacombe ward (26.7%) compared to 1 in 12 in Greasby, Frankby and Irby ward (8.4%)

• The 2021 Census showed that 15.7% of people aged 65+ lived alone

• Data from the 2021 Census also showed that almost a third of all households were owned outright (35.8%), followed by just under a third owned via a mortgage or loan (29.2%), whilst just under a fifth were privately rented (18.9%)

• The housing affordability ratio (how much greater house prices are compared to wages) has increased in recent years and now stands at 5.94 for Wirral in 2022. This is lower than the England housing affordability ratio of 8.28 (meaning that housing is slightly more affordable in Wirral compared to England)

• The average net income of households in Wirral was £30,337 in 2018, compared to £34,875 in England

• The Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD, 2019) shows that 114,900 of the Wirral population (35.6% - or more than 1 in 3 people) lived in the 20% most deprived areas in England

This priority has not been included within the State of the Borough as of yet. Wirral’s Health and Wellbeing Insight Group are establishing an ongoing programme of community insight with local people linked to the strategy priorities, to measure impact, and influence ongoing action and strategy delivery which will then feed into the State of the Borough at a later date.

• Immunisation coverage for children aged between 2 and 5 years old was higher than the North West and England average for all vaccinations: DTaP (diptheria, tetanus and pertussis), IPV (innactivated polio vaccine), Hib (haemophilus influenza B) - otherwise known as the 6-in-1 vaccine, Meningitis C, Hib booster, PCV (pneumococcal vaccine) and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) at 2 and 5 years old. The only exception to this is Flu, where Wirral has a higher coverage than the North West, but lower coverage than England. There has in recent years however, been a trend of decreasing uptake both locally and nationally

• First and second doses of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccinations in females aged 12 to 13, and 13 to 14, were significantly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, but are now beginning to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Most recent Wirral data, however, shows a decrease on the previous year in first dose uptake (89.0% in 2020/21 to 68.7% in 2021/22), but an increase in second dose uptake (64.2% in 2020/21 to 68.9% in 2021/22)