Cumbria Community Foundation - Furness: Opportunities and Challenges 2021

F U R N E S S – O P P O R T U N I T I E S & C H A L L E N G E S 12 O P P O R T U N I T I E S n Housing in Low Furness is relatively plentiful and cheap compared with many parts of the UK. n BAE Systems and its supply chain provide well-paid jobs, secure employment and high-quality training opportunities and career paths. n High Furness is home to a number of successful engineering and technology, businesses. n A unique natural environment including Morecambe Bay and a sizeable portion of the Lake District National Park. Challenges: n Tackling high levels of youth unemployment. n Addressing pockets of severe deprivation and child poverty. n The high numbers claiming illness and disability benefits. n Fuel poverty. n Responding to the needs of an ageing population. n Availability and affordability of housing in High Furness. n Rural isolation in High Furness. n Protecting the natural environment to safeguard it for future generations. Living Standards in Furness There are stark inequalities in Furness, not simply between rural and urban areas but even within communities. BAE Systems in Barrow is the largest employer. There are also other successful businesses in the area. Many who work in them are likely to have secure, well-paid jobs. Yet often they live cheek by jowl with those on low pay and insecure contracts or struggling to get by on benefits because of illness or unemployment. Annual household incomes 1 are lower in Furness than the national average by roughly £6,000. Housing costs, particularly in Low Furness, are relatively modest and average household income after housing costs across Furness is £25,592. Economy The latest figures 1 for Gross Value Added (GVA), the Government’s preferred measure of economic output, show Barrow had a GVA per filled job of £54,010 in 2018. This is the highest in Cumbria and only slightly below the UK average of £56,387, which is inflated by the very strong performance of London. The largest sector is manufacturing, employing 26.1% of the workforce, followed by health (15.8%) and retail (10.6%). The largest sector in High Furness is agriculture. The Office for National Statistics classifies the population by sub-groups intended to characterise areas by demographic structure, household composition, socio-economic characteristics and employment patterns.