Socio-economic statistics for Handside, Hertfordshire

Is Handside in Welwyn Hatfield a nice place to live or is it a bit rough? We have collated a series of socio-economic statistics and demographics from UK government sources such as the 2021 Census and the Index of Multiple Deprivation. They should give you a broad snapshot of the area and the surrounding locations. Are the residents of Handside older than the national average or younger? What is the population of Handside and Welwyn Hatfield? What is the claimant count in Handside and how many residents are unemployed? This page should provide you with the answers.

How many residents own or rent their home in Handside and Welwyn Hatfield

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census and calculated what proportion of people in Handside either own or rent their home. All percentages have been rounded to two decimal places. 64.26 of residents own their home either outright or mortgaged. 35.74 of Handside residents rent their home either privately or through a social landlord.

Area	Owned	Rented
Handside	64.26%	35.74%
Welwyn Hatfield	56.65%	43.35%
East	65.23%	34.77%
England	61.31%	38.69%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Handside has a higher level of home ownership than than the national average.

Handside compared to other wards in Welwyn Hatfield

#	Ward	Owned	Rented
1	Northaw and Cuffley	83.09%	16.91%
2	Brookmans Park and Little Heath	81.21%	18.79%
3	Welwyn East	75.57%	24.43%
4	Welwyn West	73.27%	26.73%
5	Sherrards	68.31%	31.69%
6	Handside	64.26%	35.74%
7	Panshanger	61.79%	38.21%
8	Howlands	55.6%	44.4%
9	Haldens	54.03%	45.97%
10	Welham Green and Hatfield South	53.06%	46.94%
11	Hatfield Villages	49.07%	50.93%
12	Hollybush	47%	53%
13	Hatfield East	45.85%	54.15%
14	Hatfield South West	42.98%	57.02%
15	Hatfield Central	38.26%	61.74%
16	Peartree (Welwyn Hatfield)	34.86%	65.14%

Handside is ranked 6 out of 16 wards in Welwyn Hatfield for the percentage of home owners.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

What are the occupations of the residents of Handside?

The largest employment sector in Handside is Professional Occupations. The smallest employment sector is Process Plant & Machine Operatives.

Sector	Proportion
Professional Occupations	29.35%
Managers, Directors & Senior Officials	17.79%
Associate Professional & Technical	15.84%
Administrative & Secretarial	9.68%
Skilled Trades	6.74%
Caring, leisure & Other Services	6.4%
Elementary Occupations	5.63%
Process Plant & Machine Operatives	2.85%

Source: Office for National Statistics (30 June 2020)

Handside Health Statistics

Handside has more residents (very_good_pc-$country_health->very_good_pc, 2)%) describing their health as very good than the national average for England.

Area	VG	G	F	B	VB
Handside	49.58%	33.53%	12.27%	3.72%	0.89%
Welwyn Hatfield	51.65%	33.55%	10.96%	3.06%	0.79%
East	48.28%	34.64%	12.5%	3.58%	1%
England	48.49%	33.71%	12.65%	3.98%	1.17%

VG = Very Good, G = Good, F = Fair, B = Bad & VB = Very Bad

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Handside Unemployment Statistics

Since the introduction of Universal Credit, The Department for Work & Pensions have not issued any statistics (in our view) that can be used to ascertain the levels of unemployment or under employment in the UK, just meaningless geographic counts. However, the Office of National Statistics does publish claimant counts of people receiving out of work benefits, be that legacy Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit as a proportion of people over 16. These figures are usually updated once a month and are for Local Authority Districts and Unitary Authority Districts. So below are the figures of Welwyn Hatfield.

Area	Unemployed	Yearly Change
Welwyn Hatfield	2.5%	-0.4%
East of England	3%	-0.3%
England	3.8%	-0.3%
UK	3.7%	-0.3%

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Last Retrieved: March 2023

The 2021 census had data on people who were economically active (seeking work) yet unemployed on Census day (Sunday March 21st 2021). These statitics do cover Handside on a ward level. However, it has to be noted that the Census day was during the height of the Covid19 pandemic and therefore are not reflective of normal levels of unemployment. For example, between March 2020 and June 2020 people claiming Universal Credit doubled in most areas of the United Kingdom and then steadily declined up to the day of the Census and beyond. This data also contains the proportion of people in part-time work (working between 1-35 hours per week), which maybe an indicator of under employment in Handside.

Economic Status	Proportion
In Employment	55.04%
In Part-Time Work	25.16%
Unemployed	3.12%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

74.84% of the people in work, are in full-time employment in Handside

Handside Education Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census to found of the level of education Handside residents have in terms of formal qualifications as a percentage. The UK government breaks qualifications down into 7 levels. A detailed explanation of these levels can be found here. However, the Census groups these into just 4 \'levels\'. Here are some examples of the qualifications each census level represents when not stated;

Level 1 - GCSE grades D, E, F, or G & below
Level 2 - GCSE A*, A, B, C or O Level grades A, B or C
Level 3 - A or AS qualification at any grade
Level 4 - HNC, Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree or Phd

In this first table we have compared Handside to the national average for England.

Level	Handside	England
No Qualifications	12.15%	18.08%
Level 1	8.05%	9.69%
Level 2	12.22%	13.32%
Apprenticeship	3.43%	5.32%
Level 3	14.36%	16.92%
Level 4	47.59%	33.92%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Handside Age Distribution Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 Census and the calculated the proportion of age groups in Handside.

Age Band	Proportion
4 & under
5 - 9 years
10 - 15 years
16 - 19 years
20 - 24 years
25 - 34 years
35 - 49 years
50 - 64 years
65 - 74 years
75 - 84 years
85 years & over

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Handside & Welwyn Hatfield Immigration Statistics

We have analysed the Census 2021 raw data on country of birth and compiled immigration statistics as percentages of the population. All percentages have been rounded to two decimal places. Below are the figures for Handside in the Welwyn Hatfield local area district.

Handside has a lower rate of immigrants than Welwyn Hatfield, the East of England region and England as a whole.

Area	Born in UK	Born outside UK
Handside	85.94%	14.06%
Welwyn Hatfield	77.99%	22.01%
East	85.09%	14.91%
England	82.65%	17.35%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Handside compared to other wards in Welwyn Hatfield

#	Ward	Born in UK	Born outside UK
1	Hatfield South West	60.52%	39.48%
2	Hatfield East	65.19%	34.81%
3	Hatfield Villages	65.43%	34.57%
4	Hatfield Central	65.92%	34.08%
5	Welham Green and Hatfield South	75.05%	24.95%
6	Hollybush	82.03%	17.97%
7	Peartree	82.45%	17.55%
8	Panshanger	83.73%	16.27%
9	Howlands	85.03%	14.97%
10	Handside	85.94%	14.06%
11	Haldens	86.46%	13.54%
12	Northaw and Cuffley	86.51%	13.49%
13	Sherrards	86.51%	13.49%
14	Brookmans Park and Little Heath	86.69%	13.31%
15	Welwyn East	87.63%	12.37%
16	Welwyn West	89.6%	10.4%

';Handside is ranked 10 out of 16 wards in Welwyn Hatfield for the number of residents born outside of the UK.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

What is the population of Handside and Welwyn Hatfield?

The table below contains the populations figures for each ward in Welwyn Hatfield including Handside. These population ONS figures are estimated are dated Mid 2020.

Ward	Population
Brookmans Park and Little Heath	6179
Haldens	6515
Handside	7041
Hatfield Central	9041
Hatfield East	9064
Hatfield South West	12678
Hatfield Villages	12923
Hollybush	6763
Howlands	7477
Northaw and Cuffley	5677
Panshanger	6144
Peartree	7555
Sherrards	6058
Welham Green and Hatfield South	8116
Welwyn East	6717
Welwyn West	5945
Welwyn Hatfield Total	123893

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Last updated: 20/02/2024, Additional Sources: Office for National Statistics & Department for Work & Pensions.

Top 20 most depressing towns in Britain 2024