Background
Plymouth is slowly becoming more diverse, though the rate of change is slower than nationally. Plymouth has been a dispersal area for asylum seekers for many years and around 380 people will be accommodated in the city at any given time. The Council participated in the Home Office Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Programme (VPR) and the Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme (VCRS), resettling 49 families (200 people) via these schemes. As of January 2025, 33 families (168 people) have been resettled in Plymouth through the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). The Council also co-ordinates guests arriving through the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Since 2022 over 250 people have arrived via the Homes for Ukraine scheme with over 100 Plymouth residents volunteering as hosts to sponsor a Ukrainian household to share their homes for a period of time. Plymouth also has one permanent local authority managed Gypsy, Roma, Traveller site with 13 plots, which was established in 2001.
Local data
In 2021, 94.9 per cent of residents in Plymouth identified their ethnic group as White, a decrease from 96.1 per cent in the 2011 Census. Across the country, in 2021, 81.7 per cent of usual residents in England and Wales identified their ethnicity as White, a decrease from 86.0 per cent in the 2011 Census.
2.3 per cent of Plymouth residents identified their ethnicity as Asian. This is the second largest ethnic community within Plymouth and has increased from 1.5 per cent of the population in 2011. 1.8 per cent of residents are from a mixed/multiple ethnic background. The proportion of people who identified themselves in both the Black (1.1 per cent) and from an ethnic group not listed on the Census form also increased.
Cohesion
To help us to measure cohesion and feelings of belonging across the city the 2022 Plymouth City Survey[1] asked residents to what extent they felt they belonged to their local area. The results show that 42 per cent of respondents agreed that Plymouth is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together, while 14 per cent disagreed. The proportion of residents agreeing with this statement has increased compared with 39 per cent who agreed in 2020 and 38 per cent in 2018.
The percentage of residents that agreed their local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together in Plympton St Mary (53 per cent) and Drake (51 per cent) was significantly higher than in Budshead (36 per cent), Efford & Lipson (27 per cent), Eggbuckland (34 per cent), Honicknowle (35 per cent), St Budeaux (34 per cent) and Stoke (31per cent).
Plymouth’s cohesion rate, which is calculated by excluding the neutral options, is currently 77 per cent which is a significant increase from 74 per cent in 2020 but remains well behind the most recent national score recorded in the Community Life Survey 2023/24 of 81 per cent.
However, on the 5 August 2024, Plymouth experienced riots related to an anti-immigration protest and counter-protest. This incident increased fear amongst our communities across the city having a demonstrable impact on their feeling of safety and community cohesion. The Government awarded the Council £600,000 through the Community Recovery Fund to support communities that were impacted. The Council recently invited individuals and groups to apply for this funding with successful applications including initiatives to understand the causes of the disorder to enable the city to move forward together and increase community cohesion, ensuring everyone feels safe and welcomed in the city. We recognise though that longer term work needs to be done in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders to promote recovery and build strong cohesive communities across Plymouth.
Employment
Across the UK, the overall employment rate was 75 per cent (of working age population) in 2024. However, there remains a significant difference between the employment rates of different ethnic groups. Nationally, 77 per cent of white people were employed, compared with 69 per cent of people from ethnic minority groups, whilst the highest employment rate was in the Indian ethnic group (78 per cent). The employment rate for Plymouth during the period October 2023 to September 2024 was 73 per cent. Employment for all minority ethnic groups in the city was 61 per cent[2] and 74 per cent of the White working age population were in employment over the same period.
Health
The 2021 Census found that nationally the ethnic groups reporting the poorest health were people who identified as White Irish and White Gypsy or Irish Traveller. People who identified as Bangladeshi also reported poorer health than might be expected since this group is relatively young, with an average age of 27 years.
Justice and Personal Security
Nationally, 68 per cent of people aged 16 and over in England and Wales said they had confidence in their local police in the year ending March 2023. Asian people had the highest rate of confidence overall (73 per cent), followed by people from the ‘other’ ethnic group (68 per cent), while there were lower levels of confidence among black Caribbean people (49 per cent), mixed white and black Caribbean (49 per cent) and those who identify in the black ‘other’ group (48 per cent).
In the 12 months to January 2025, there were 518 hate crimes recorded in Plymouth, an increase on the 435 hate crimes recorded in the 12 months to January 2024. Of these, 320 were attributed to race compared to 222 in the previous year.
References
[1] Plymouth City Survey 2022 is the latest available data. The Plymouth City Survey 2025 data will be available later in 2025.
[2] N.B The confidence intervals are especially high for this data set due to a small sample size therefore these figures are relatively statistically unreliable.