Local Futures have have now embedded the Output Area Classification (OAC) into Local Knowledge. The OAC typologies enable you to easily summarise the characteristics of differing local neighbourhoods. The pages in this section of the website will explain more about OAC and how it can help you to better understand your citizens, customers and communities. There are also links to a training guide demonstrating how to use OAC within Local Knowledge and more information about the consultancy and research based on OAC that Local Futures can help you with.

What is OAC?  Proceedings OAC event July 2009 Brochure Courses How to use OAC in LK (subscribers only) OAC Consultancy - Collective Insights OAC in detail Useful links

What is the Output Area Classification?

The Output Area Classification is the only geodemographic tool accredited as a National Statistic. OAC distils key results from the 2001 Census for the whole of the UK at output area level to indicate the character of local areas. It is made up of three hierarchical levels: the top Supergroup level of 7 categories; the Group level with 21 categories; and the Subgroup level with 52 categories.

The classification is based on output areas, which were defined for Scotland at the 1981 Census and for the rest of the UK at the 2001 Census.  The advantage of the output area geography is that these areas are a stable geography and they allow for a finer resolution of data analysis. There are over 218,000 output areas in Great Britain. 

Benefits of OAC

There are a range of geodemographic tools available, some of which may already be used within your local authority or partnership. OAC has the following major benefits:

• Freely available (no annual licence fees)
• National Statistics accredited
• Classifies every Census Output Area across GB (over 218,000, with an average size of 120 households) into 7 Supergroups, 21 Groups, and 52 Subgroups
• Open source – the data and methods used are completely transparent
• Office for National Statistics surveys are now being coded to OAC, which expands the possible data that can be modelled at Census Output Area level.
• OAC is a common language for understanding citizens, customers and communities

One frequently asked question is whether OAC is a poorer analysis tool because it is based on output areas as opposed to postcode or household. However, there has already been some research which shows that output area level tools are more robust because they need to be refreshed less often than those at lower spatial levels. In effect, small changes in population will not alter how an area should be classified because the average characteristics of residents will remain the same at the aggregate level (Singleton, A. CASA Working Paper 127: Comparing Classifications: Some Preliminary Speculations on an Appropriate Scale for Neighbourhood Analysis with Reference to Geodemographic Information Systems).

What questions can be answered by using OAC analyses?

Geodemographics classifications such as OAC can help local councils and partnerships to answer such questions as:

• How can I easily summarise the characteristics of our differing local neighbourhoods?
• What are the profiles of the users of our various services?
• Are there big variations in take-up of services according to type of neighbourhood?
• How can we target our resources where they are most needed – for example, healthy eating initiatives, policing, and recycling?
• Do we need to relocate some of our council facilities to areas in most need?
• Which other partnerships across the country have a similar mix of population?

OAC Brochure

  This is a detailed brochure explaining more about OAC, how it was developed, and how it can help you to better understand your communities and customers.

We run a range of training courses in how to make the most of Local Knowledge. We have introduced two training courses in using OAC:

Introduction to OAC

This course will explain more about OAC and how it can help you to better understand your citizens, customers and communities. We will demonstrate how to profile your areas within Local Knowledge and present case studies from several policy areas. If you want to be invited to the next OAC training in 2010, please email us.

Analysing Survey Data using OAC

This course presents techniques for matching your own customer or survey data to OAC and how to then produce your own indices and propensity scores to apply data across your area.

Please contact us for more details oac@localfutures.com.

Local Futures is part of the new Collective Insights partnership which is dedicated to promoting and supporting the use of OAC and creating across public agencies a common language for understanding citizens, customers and communities. 

Collective Insights offer strategic advice and support to ensure organisations make the most of this free resource. The support includes:

- Workshops to identify your strategic needs and define services that will benefit from OAC
- An audit of existing classification systems used within your organisation
- A report with actionable recommendations
- On-site training
- Advice via telephone and email

Key individuals involved in Collective Insights bring a wealth of experience in geodemographics and local area analysis:

John Fisher, Director, The Local Futures Group

Prof Keith Dugmore, Director, Demographic Decisions Ltd

Michael Willmott, Director, The Trajectory Partnership

Prof Martin Callingham, Birkbeck College, University of London

In collaboration with the LGA, IDeA and Customer Insight Forum, we organised a conference on 10^th July on ‘Understanding your citizens, customers and communities using OAC’. Attended by over 70 local authority representatives OAC was promoted as a national language for understanding communities, with discussion focusing on the need for practical case studies and the support required to exploit this powerful resource. For further information on access to OAC and available support please contact oac@localfutures.com.

Understanding your citizens, customers and communities using OAC 10 July 2009

The event aimed to raise the profile of the Output Area Classification (OAC) and demonstrate its potential applications within local government. Peter Sloman, in his role as Acting Chair of the Local Government Customer Insight Forum, introduced the workshop. He outlined the work of the Forum and placed the event in the national context of delivering better services within the squeeze of public sector finances. Making the most of what is a freely available resource in order to improve efficiency was a recurring theme of the workshop, with Tim Allen, Programme Director at LGAR raising this in his presentation. The creator of OAC, Dr Dan Vickers of Sheffield University, discussed the analysis behind the classification and how OAC compared favourably to the other commercial systems.

Prof. Martin Callingham demonstrated the power of OAC and geodemographics for improving the understanding of customers and for providing a vehicle for strategic partners to work together better. John Fisher, Director of the Local Futures Group, outlined how OAC could be visualised within Local Knowledge and how understanding communities using OAC could be used for place-shaping, customer insight and improving efficiency. John also introduced two case studies using OAC for Wakefield and King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and representatives from both Councils outlined how they had started to use the results for informing staff and stimulating discussion on improving service delivery.

Keith Dugmore, Director of Demographic Decisions spoke about the wealth of OAC-coded data becoming available from national surveys, with examples of household expenditure and income from the Expenditure and Food Survey. Michael Wilmott of the Trajectory Partnership, outlined the use of OAC in Social Research and how it had been used to add local colour to a recent project using data matched to the British Household Panel Survey. In the concluding session, there was a discussion on how best to promote OAC and its benefits, where it was felt that OAC should be promoted more and more case studies were required to show how OAC could benefit local authorities. The workshop closed with a series of informal discussions with participants and the expert speakers to provide more detail on the work that is being done using OAC.

As a result of the event we are discussing with LGA and others how best to raise the profile of OAC and how to support local authorities in utilising this resource. We will also be developing more case studies and interested local authorities are encouraged to contact us at oac@localfutures.com.

    Introduction to the OAC Classification system, Dr Dan Vickers, University of Sheffield

    Using OAC for customer segmentation, Prof Martin Callingham, University of London

    Analysing your communities and citizens using OAC, John Fisher, Director, Local Futures Group

    Local Authority case studies

    Using OAC and national surveys to generate new data, Keith Dugmore, Director, Demographic Decisions

    The future of OAC in social research, Michael Willmott, Partner, Trajectory Partnership

Useful Links

* CASA Working Paper 127
Comparing Classifications: Some Preliminary Speculations on an Appropriate Scale for Neighbourhood Analysis with Reference to Geodemographic Information Systems.Alex Singleton

"This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis between the National Statistics Output Area Classification (OAC) and the commercial postcode level classification Mosaic. It assesses the degree to which commercial classifications constructed at the scale of unit postcode leverage greater insight about the composition of neighbourhoods over those built at output area. It is argued here that the inclusion of additional data at finer spatial granularity in commercial classifications do present added information about the composition of neighbourhood areas; however, the information loss experienced by switching to classification using output area is reasonably low."

* A Proposed Quantitative Comparative Analysis for Geodemographic Classifications.
A. Ojo. Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

Ojo compared several classifications, including OAC, Mosaic and Acorn. He concludes: "Our findings suggest that no one system supersedes the other as different systems have their benefits and/or shortcomings. In addition to how well systems uncover inequality, the use to which they are to be put, knowledge of input variables and other embedded analytics can be considered when deciding which system to use. Future directions to this work will consider using age standardised and possibly income (deprivation) populations to investigate the patterns of hospital admissions, discriminatory and predictive power."

* OAC User Group The OAC User Group (OACUG) was formed in late 2006 with the mission of promoting the use of the Output Area Classification. The Group is affiliated to the RSS’ Statistics User Forum. The aims of the Group are to help users apply OAC, to provide opportunities to share experience and build expertise, and to help advances to be made through new methods and applications. Operating through open meetings, a self help network, and a dedicated website, the Group represents the interests of the OAC user community.