Plunkett UK has shared its insights and policy suggestions to tackle deprivation in rural areas with the Labour Rural Research Group in response to its call for evidence to inform an upcoming report on rural poverty.

Rural deprivation is frequently hidden within national datasets, masked by averages and low population density. Yet rural communities face persistent and interconnected challenges across income, employment, access to services, housing, health, and skills.

Drawing on Plunkett UK’s evidence from over 850 community-owned businesses, this submission demonstrates how community ownership offers a proven, cost-effective policy response to multiple domains of rural deprivation identified in the 2025 Indices of Deprivation.

Community-owned businesses sustain essential services, create local employment, reduce isolation, and retain wealth locally. With targeted government support and rural-sensitive policy design, they can play a central role in tackling deprivation and supporting inclusive rural growth.

Our policy submission explores challenges and solutions relating to six Indices of Deprivation

Challenges

  • Higher living costs in rural areas (‘rural premium’) for transport, fuel, and energy.
  • Hidden poverty among households in insecure or seasonal work.
  • Acute fuel poverty due to off grid housing and poor energy efficiency.
  • Limited access to advice services suppressing benefit take up.

Community Ownership Solutions
Rural community businesses:

  • Retain local services enabling people to continue living locally, without the need to relocate or to travel further afield.
  • Act as multi-service hubs, providing much more than a traditional shop or pub for example
  • Keep prices affordable, due to the role of volunteering which subsidises the general running costs.
  • Exist for the benefit of their community – not just their members – and they typically take care of local residents through tailored initiatives and schemes which support those less affluent households e.g. pay it forward schemes, luncheon clubs etc.

Challenges

  • Limited access to stable, well paid employment.
  • Underemployment and reliance on insecure or part time work.
  • Decline of agriculture, forestry, fishing, and related industries.
  • Housing and transport barriers restricting labour mobility.
  • Lack of apprenticeships and training opportunities – especially for people with additional needs and disabilities

Community Ownership Solutions
Rural community businesses:

  • Employ nearly 5,000 people and engage 20,000 volunteers.
  • Typically employ people facing barriers to work.
  • Offer local, flexible employment and skills development.

Challenges

  • Limited access to further education, apprenticeships, and adult learning.
  • Transport and digital connectivity barriers.
  • Skills leakage as young people leave rural areas.

Community Ownership Solutions
Community businesses provide:

  • Informal and formal training through employment and volunteering.
  • Employment mobility, especially for people experiencing mental health, disability and additional needs.
  • Board level governance experience and leadership pathways.
  • Opportunities for lifelong learning embedded in place

Challenges

  • Reduced access to primary care, pharmacies, and social care.
  • Social isolation, particularly among older and disabled residents.
  • Mental health impacts of service withdrawal and loneliness.
  • High mileage trips or expensive public transport to access alternative support

Community Ownership Solutions
Community businesses:

  • Act as social infrastructure, reducing isolation and providing trusted local spaces.
  • Provide satellite health care
  • Work in partnership with health care providers to deliver essential prescriptions and/or co-ordinate transport to health centres.

Challenges

  • High closure rates of GP surgeries, post offices, food shops, and schools.
  • Resulting in high transport costs, infrequent public transport, and car dependency.
  • Digital exclusion limiting access to services and opportunities.
  • Removal of informal places for people to gather and socialise

Community Ownership Solutions

  • Community businesses are often the last remaining access point for food, postal services, cash, and social interaction in rural areas.
  • Their long term survival rates (94–99%) demonstrate resilience where the market fails.
  • They act as multi-service hubs – with over one in five hosting a Post Office service, supporting access to cash, banking, and advice.
  • They reinvest surpluses locally – £2.4M in 2024
  • For every £1 spent, 56p remains in the local economy, supporting the resilience of other local businesses and the economy in general.

Challenges

  • Severe shortages of affordable rural housing and family homes.
  • Poor housing quality driving increases in fuel bills.
  • Poor housing supply causes workforce recruitment challenges for essential industries.
  • Hidden rural homelessness.

Community Ownership Solutions

  • Plunkett works with partners such as the Community Land Trust and ACRE – seeking to increase the supply of affordable housing for local people e.g. Hook Norton CLT
  • Increasingly, Plunkett is working with major housebuilders and land promoters to integrate the inclusion of community-owned businesses into new developments – helping to overcome resistance to housing development and creating resilient communities people want to live in
  • Community pub projects often integrate an element of housing within ancillary outbuildings and carparks – cross subsidising schemes and increasing housing supply for local people

“We have been disappointed by the current government’s policies which have resulted in a deterioration in the viability of rural community-owned businesses and risks of associated job losses, and to the quality of life in general in rural areas. Our submission to LRRG’s call for evidence demonstrates how Plunkett and its growing network of rural community-owned businesses can contribute to key Government priorities. We would welcome the opportunity to engage with further on proposals and support the development of more effective, rural-proofed policy solutions.”

James Alcock, Chief Executive, Plunkett UK

Policy suggestions

With the right support and investment, we believe we could grow the opening rate of rural community businesses from 30 to 60 a year over a period of 10 years. This would represent a total growth equivalent to: 1,075 rural community businesses trading in 2029 with a GVA equivalent of £567m or 1,350 rural community businesses trading in 2034 with a GVA equivalent of £713m.

This growth would be dependent on the following interventions:

  • Maintain growth via FREE core advice and support services
  • Accelerate growth via a Rural Community Ownership Fund
  • Power up existing community businesses via Revenue Funding
  • Ensure the Community Right to Buy regulations are strengthened
  • Fairer taxation and appropriate rate relief
  • Legislative reform to embed placemaking within new developments:
  • Tailoring new Post Office Contracts to Partner with Community Business operators (see our proposals to the government’s green paper consultation on the future of the Post Office)

In conclusion

Rural deprivation cannot be addressed through urban policy models alone. Community ownership provides a place based, inclusive, and resilient response that tackles multiple deprivation domains simultaneously.

By embedding community-owned businesses within rural economic, social, and service strategies, government can deliver meaningful progress against the 2025 Indices of Deprivation and ensure rural communities are no longer left behind.

Plunkett UK stands ready to work with government to implement these solutions and support thriving, resilient rural places.

Join our movement – become a member today

Membership is the cornerstone of our work at Plunkett UK. Without our members, we would not be able to represent the interests of rural communities and champion community ownership across the UK with the media, funders, policy makers, and other stakeholders.

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