More than a third of the adult population of Peterborough and Fenland are “economically inactive”, meaning they’re neither in employment nor seeking work, figures presented at a Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) meeting show. 

While in Peterborough, the figure is just over a third (36%), in Fenland it’s 42% – higher than anywhere else in Cambridgeshire, including Cambridge which has a large population of students. 

The figures include everyone over the age of 16 who are not in employment and have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next two weeks.

Among the over-50s, meanwhile, 56% are economically inactive in Peterborough, while 61% – almost two in three – are economically inactive in Fenland, again the highest proportion in Cambridgeshire and some 10 per cent higher than Cambridge. 

Discussing the figures at the CPCA meeting, East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) councillor James Lay (Conservatives, Woodditton) said that that “we know, in the country, that the decline in the over-50s working is down partly to the fact they’ve been able to draw down their pensions.

“But in Fenland, if we dug down and had a look, the likelihood is that we haven’t got that sort of clientele who’s been able to put away a large pension on which they can live. But it is quite apparent that further education facilities within that particular area are not as good as in some of the other parts of Cambridgeshire and it might be that we should be retraining more people in Fenland.” 

He added that reducing the figure from around 60% to around 50% of people would be useful, “because we need them” in the labour force. 

Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) leader Cllr Lucy Nethsingha (Liberal Democrats, Newnham) added that another reason for the figures is that “the quality of health in Fenland is significantly below the quality of health in the rest of the county”. 

Indeed, the figures show that, in Fenland, long-term sickness or disability is the reason for economic inactivity in 11% of adults, higher than anywhere else in the county other than Peterborough (12%). 

Across the board, economic inactivity has, moreover, increased in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough over the last decade; the most recent figures, drawn from 2021 Census data, are consistently higher than in 2011. 

In order to tackle part of the issue, the CPCA agreed to allocate £300,000 from its Local Innovation Fund as potential ‘match funding’ for adult education schemes otherwise funded by the Government, National Lottery and Youth Futures Foundation. 

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) funds job coaches, tailored support for people aged 50+, in work support and work-place mentoring, while the National Lottery could fund programmes around translating volunteering into employment and helping those who suffer poor mental health staying in work.

The Youth Futures Foundation, meanwhile, supports mentorship programs, vocational training, job placement schemes, and outreach initiatives for young people. 

A CPCA report on the funding says that it wants to “leave a legacy of improved outcomes” and that adult education can reduce inequality, achieve growth and promote public health and wellbeing.