Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2025 technical report - Access to services domain

The purpose of this domain is to capture deprivation as a result of a household's inability to access a range of services considered necessary for day-to-day living, both physically and online.

This covers both material deprivation (for example not being able to get food) and social aspects of deprivation (for example not being able to attend after-school activities). 

The domain has a relative weight of 10% in the overall index.

Travel times by public and private travel (19 indicators)

Type of indicator

Average return travel time (in minutes) from residential dwellings to the nearest service point. The service types included are:

• childcare provider
• food shop
• general practitioner (GP) surgery
• petrol station
• pharmacy
• primary school
• post office
• public library
• secondary school
• sports facility

Each of the 10 service types has a private travel time indicator and 9 (excluding petrol stations) have a public travel time indicator.

Numerator

N/A

Denominator 

N/A

Source and time period

The sources used for the access point locations were:

• GP surgeries: DataMapWales and NHS England, June 2025
• primary schools, secondary schools, public libraries: DataMapWales, March 2025
• childcare provider: Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW), June 2025
• post offices: Post Office branch locations FOIA, December 2024
• pharmacies: NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership, March 2025
• sports facilities: OS AddressBase, September 2025
• food shops, petrol stations: Points of Interest ®, August 2025

Public transport travel times (walking and using a public bus, public train or national coach) to the nearest access point for a given service were calculated using R5 routing engine, using timetable data from the Bus Open Data Service and Network Rail as at 9 September 2025. 

Private transport travel times to the nearest access point for a given service were calculated using the pgRouting library within PostGIS. The vehicular network was captured in the form of Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database Transport data, including average vehicular speed.

See annex 6.1 for further information on travel times sources.

Additional notes

See annex 6.1 for information on the methodology used to calculate the travel times indicators.

Comparability with WIMD 2019

Not comparable due to differences in travel time calculation methodology.

Inability to receive superfast broadband

Type of indicator

Percentage of residential premises unable to receive superfast broadband (30Mbit/s)

Numerator

Number of residential premises unable to receive superfast broadband (30Mbit/s)

Denominator 

Total number of residential premises.

Source and time period 

Ofcom Connected Nations update: Spring 2025 fixed coverage, output areas dataset

Additional notes

Ofcom collects and analyses data from over 50 fixed broadband internet service providers on addresses covered by their service. The Ofcom Connected Nations Update: Spring 2025 collected coverage data as a snapshot in January 2025. 

The Connected Nations 2024 Methodology Report (Ofcom) explains how operators were asked to provide data for each address where a service can be provided. Specific information on the Spring 2025 update can be found in the About this data - fixed coverage and full fibre take-up (Ofcom) document. 

Comparability with WIMD 2019

Broadly comparable. In September 2019, Ofcom changed the definition of the premise base used in the Connected Nations reports. More information can be found in the Connected Nations 2019 methodology report (Ofcom). 

There are 20 indicators in the access to services domain, split into a physical access subdomain and a digital access subdomain. The domain score is weighted 90% physical access and 10% digital access. 

The 19 travel times indicators form the physical access subdomain. For each service type, combined public and private travel times scores were produced for each LSOA. These combined scores weighted public and private transport travel times for each LSOA using data from the 2021 Census on car ownership and the number of adults aged 17 and over. Factor analysis was then applied to these combined scores to calculate the service weights, which are:

• 20.6% pharmacies
• 14.6% GP surgeries
• 12.7% food shops
• 8.6% childcare providers
• 7.7% public libraries
• 6.5% post offices
• 6.2% primary schools
• 5.7% sports facilities
• 3.7% petrol stations
• 3.7% secondary schools

The combined travel time scores were then weighted, summed and ranked to produce physical access ranks, before being exponentially transformed to produce the physical access sub-domain score.

The digital access sub-domain consists of the single indicator measuring inability to access superfast broadband. Data for this indicator was ranked and exponentially transformed to produce the digital access sub-domain score.

Finally, to produce the access to services domain ranks, the two sub-domain scores were weighted (90% physical access and 10% digital access), summed and ranked.

The domain has a relative weight of 10% in the overall index.

Changes since WIMD 2019 

The methodology used to calculate all travel times indicators has been updated since WIMD 2019. Full details of the new methodology can be found in annex 6.1.

‘Childcare provider’ has been added as a service type to the physical access subdomain for WIMD 2025. There are 2 new indicators measuring the average return travel time to the nearest childcare provider by public and private transport. Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) for all registered service providers in Wales were supplied by Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW), the independent regulator of social care and childcare services in Wales. The types of childcare provision included are:

• children’s day care
• full day care including day nurseries
• sessional day care (e.g. playgroups)
• crèche
• out of school care
• open access provision
• childminder

There have also been changes to the data sources for some of the service types included, compared to WIMD 2019.

Only public libraries which meet the 13 core entitlements in the seventh quality framework of Welsh public library standards 2025 to 2028 have been included in the travel times to public libraries indicators. As a result, some community libraries included in WIMD 2019 are not included in WIMD 2025.

Post office locations data was sourced from a dataset published in response to an Freedom of Information (FOI) request in December 2024 (Post Office Corporate). This was previously sourced from Points of Interest ® in WIMD 2019. 

Ordnance Survey (OS) data was used to obtain sports facility locations. The data was filtered to match as closely as possible the SportWales data used in WIMD 2019. Although the positional accuracy is greater, the OS data has a lower granularity, and some sites are missed due to being located within a higher-level classification of site. The definition of “commercial” was too broad to match the filtering of the SportWales dataset.

Additional information

In addition to domain ranks and indicator values, we have published travel times sub-domain ranks. 

Travel times to local services are used to calculate 19 indicators in the physical access sub-domain of the access to services domain. There are 10 indicators measuring travel times by public transport and 9 indicators measuring travel times by private transport. Public transport includes travel by public bus, public train, foot and national coach. Private transport is transport by private car.

Services

There are 10 service types included in the WIMD 2025 physical access sub-domain. 

Where possible, the most authoritative data set has been used. A citizen’s ability to use any of the services included in this domain is independent of their geography (i.e. being a Welsh resident). This exercise, therefore, acknowledges that a citizen’s nearest service may fall beyond the border of Wales. To accommodate this, service locations falling within a 10-kilometre buffer of the Welsh border were included where possible. Consequently, some data sets have a substitute source to cover England in cases where the primary and preferred Welsh source is unavailable for that geography. Not all service types include locations in England.

Pharmacies are stores where medicinal drugs are dispensed and sold. This includes pharmacies within a larger complex or supermarket. There are 792 pharmacy locations included in WIMD 2025.

Food shops are stores that sell everyday essential such as bread and milk. This includes convenience stores, newsagents, independent supermarkets, frozen food retailers and supermarkets. There are 3,692 pharmacy locations included in WIMD 2025.

General practitioner (GP) surgeries are facilities where NHS GPs are registered to practice including branch surgeries. There are 578 GP surgery locations included in WIMD 2025.

Childcare providers are those registered with Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) to provide childcare. This includes full and sessional daycare, crèches, open access play provision and childminders. There are 2,789 childcare provider locations included in WIMD 2025. Services in England are not included.

Public libraries are libraries that are open to the public. Community libraries which do not meet all 13 of the core entitlements in the seventh quality framework of Welsh public library standards 2025 to 2028 are not included. Mobile libraries are also not included due to a lack of geographical data. There are 230 public library locations included in WIMD 2025. Services in England are not included.

Post offices include all static post offices. There are 1,069 post office locations included in WIMD 2025.

Primary schools are schools that deliver education to children aged 5 to 11. Travel times included in the calculation were limited to those where a child within the postcode was enrolled at a primary school. School enrolment data were sourced from PLASC. There are 1,230 primary school locations included in WIMD 2025, including 31 middle schools. Services in England are not included.

Sports facilities are a non-private (i.e. free or pay-for-play) site containing one of the following: Sports Hall, Studio, Grass Pitch, Synthetic Turf Pitch, Sports ground (Participation), Swimming Pool, Health and Fitness Suite, Squash Court, Outdoor Tennis Court, Outdoor Bowling Green, Indoor Tennis Centre, and Indoor Bowls. There are 2,742 sports facility locations included in WIMD 2025. Services in England are not included.

Petrol stations are stores selling fuel for personal vehicles. This service type is only included in the private transport element of the sub-domain. There are 688 petrol station locations included in WIMD 2025.

Secondary schools are schools that deliver education to children aged 11 to 16. Travel times included in the calculation were limited to those where a child within the postcode was enrolled at a secondary school. School enrolment data were sourced from PLASC. There are 205 secondary school locations included in WIMD 2025, including 31 middle schools. Services in England are not included.

Residential addresses

The location of residential addresses for Wales were captured using an agreed definition from the NGD Built Address dataset, obtained under the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement. 

For the purposes of the access to services domain, a residential address is included in the analyses if the address is an active record and a valid domestic council tax record or adheres to one of the following classifications:

• residential
• residential dwelling
• caravan (and has a valid domestic council tax record)
• detached
• semi-detached
• terraced
• self-contained flat (includes maisonette or apartment)
• house boat (and has a valid domestic council tax record)
• sheltered accommodation
• House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)
• HMO parent
• HMO bedsit or other non self-contained accommodation

There are 1,462,468 residential dwellings in Wales in the origins dataset.

Travel times

The journey to a service from a residential dwelling is defined as the journey to the service. The journey to a residential dwelling from a service is defined as the journey to the residential dwelling. The combination of these one-way single journeys is defined as the return journey.

The travel time for a journey is defined as the time taken in minutes to travel from a residential dwelling to a service access point or vice versa. Travel times are calculated for a one-way single journey over a specific time window which varies by service type and transport mode. 

The maximum specified travel time for a single journey will be 90 minutes (1.5 hours) and any travel times over 90 minutes will be given the value of 90 minutes.

The private travel time and public travel times may refer to different services of the same type (i.e. an individual using public transport may go to a different GP than an individual using private transport).

Each indicator in the sub-domain is the average return journey time (in minutes) to the nearest access point for the given service type and travel mode. 

Public transport

The public transport methodology has been refined to calculate travel time to the doorstep of every residential address, rather than the 5-minute isochrones used in WIMD 2019. For 2019, trips were run at 3 set departure and arrival times. For 2025, a departure window was used to calculate travel time for trips leaving every minute over a 2 to 3 hour period and the median value across all trips was used to more accurately reflect accessibility.

For public transport routing, R5, an open-source, multi-modal routing engine, was used. R5 was developed from OpenTripPlanner (OTP), used for public transport routing in WIMD 2019. R5 focuses on performance for large-scale analysis, while OTP v2 has tightened its focus on passenger information. More information can be found in OpenTripPlanner’s Travel Time Analysis guidance. 

The R5 network is built using timetable data in General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format. GTFS allows public transit agencies to publish their transit data in a format that can be consumed by a wide variety of software applications. It includes information surrounding the geometry of the stops, as well as the route information and times of each service. 

Bus timetable data was obtained from the Bus Open Data Service in GTFS format. Downloads are available as a national (GB) dataset or per-region. For WIMD 2025, data from Wales, South West England, West Midlands and North West England was used. The English regions’ data was clipped to the 10km border area using UK2GTFS

Data for rail journeys across Wales was sourced from the Rail Delivery Group and was downloaded in CIF format. Registration is required for access. UK2GTFS was used to convert the CIF data to GTFS. 

R5 uses the following assumptions:

• the default walking speed is 1.25 m/s
• walking speeds are irrespective of terrain and obstacles, but walking is not permitted on roads deemed non-pedestrian in OpenStreetMap (e.g. motorways)
• a maximum walking time of 20 minutes was set, applied to each leg of the trip
• this could mean walking up to 20 minutes walking to a stop/station (ingress), between stops/stations (transfer) or from a stop/station to the destination (egress)
• public transport can be provided in England or Wales, where cross border travel is required to a citizen’s nearest service
• travel times are taken from the median result across the departure window
• any residential addresses exceeding a 90-minute travel time from a service is automatically set to 90 minutes
• inbound (residential property to service) trips are calculated from all properties reachable on the outbound trip
• return trip time is calculated from the fastest inbound/outbound pair for every property to a single service 

For each residential dwelling, one journey per minute across the specified departure window was calculated for both the journey to the service and the journey to the residential dwelling. 

Departure time windows for journeys to the service by public transport are as follows:

• primary school, secondary school, childcare service: 8:00 to 9:00
• food shop, GP, pharmacy, public library, post office: 9:00 to 11:00
• sports facility: 16:00 to 18:00

Departure time windows for journeys to the residential dwelling by public transport are as follows:

• primary school, secondary school, childcare service: 15:00 to 16:30
• food shop, GP, pharmacy, public library, post office: 11:00 to 13:00
• sports facility: 18:00 to 20:00

Petrol stations are not included in public transport travel times.

The average (median) travel time of all journeys to the service were added to the average travel time of all journeys to the residential dwelling. Calculating the average of all journeys in both directions reflects the service frequency for a particular journey.

When a median return journey travel time had been calculated for all dwellings, each LSOA was assigned the median of these values for dwellings in that LSOA to produce the public transport travel time indicator.

Private transport

Private transport travel times to the nearest access point for a given service were calculated using the pgRouting library within PostGIS. 

Journey times were calculated from every service origin to every residential address within Wales. The shortest of all travel times per indicator (in decimal minutes) equals the shortest journey time to the nearest service.

The vehicular network was captured in the form of Ordnance Survey (OS) National Geographic Database (NGD) Transport data which Welsh Government access from OS under the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA). NGD Transport is the most complete, detailed and accurate navigable road network dataset for Great Britain. 

For the purposes of Access to Services private transport calculations, NGD Transport RoadLink geometry was broken up into smaller links to create a new node in front of every residential address at their closest point on the road associated (by Unique Street Reference Number (USRN)) to that property. This ensured time travel calculations per dwelling were not falsified with an additional distance to the nearest node in the standard link-node data structure. 

Average vehicle speeds were applied to every road link within the network. The speed is based on Trafficmaster data sourced from Basemap, made available as part of the NGD Transport theme under the PSGA. This data identifies the average speed travelled across all roads in Great Britain at different times of day. The average speed is calculated based on detailed historical speed information, which is collected every 6 months by in vehicle telematics devices and mapped to each unique OS NGD Transport RoadLink ID. The average speed value is provided in both directions.

More information on the average and indicative speed data can be found in the NGD Transport documentation.

A singular journey from every service to all residential dwellings was calculated, using average speed data for the appropriate time window. Travel time windows for journeys by private transport are as follows:

• primary school, secondary school, childcare service: 7:00 to 9:00 (peak AM)
• food shop, GP, petrol station, pharmacy, public library, post office: 10:00 to 16:00 (off peak)
• sports facility: 16:00 to 19:00 (peak PM)

Where average speed data was not available for any given road link, indicative speed data was used instead. For every residential address, the smallest travel time was therefore taken as the quickest travel time. This journey was doubled to represent a return journey to and from the service.

This has the same effect as averaging the two values and then doubling to take into account the return journey. Doubling the single journey time as the journey to and from the dwelling will show very little difference by private transport. This wouldn’t be the case by public transport.

When a median return journey travel time had been calculated for all dwellings, each LSOA was assigned the median of these values for dwellings in that LSOA to produce the private transport travel time indicator.

Quality assurance 

Data were quality assured by the Data and Geography department and CGI, as well as the WIMD team.

The Digital and Geography department and CGI quality assured the calculation of the travel times indicators by:

• quality assuring all UPRNs whose travel time exceeded 90 minutes qualitatively sense checking all indicators across Wales by visualising the travel times as a heat map
• conducting randomised checks of individual routes against bus and train timetable information to ensure services are accurately reflected and being modelled (public transport indicators)
• conducting network level checks through sampling of the OS NGD Transport Network geometry and average speed data to ensure no anomalous links or obstructions with the routing graph (private transport)
• comparing results to Google Maps routing platform for a sub-set of services against all indicators (private transport)

The WIMD team then undertook statistical quality assurance checks for both public and private travel times for each of the indicators, by checking LSOA travel times for WIMD 2025 relative to WIMD 2019. This involved:

• sense-checking data by observing maximum, mean and median absolute changes in indicator times for LSOAs between 2019 and 2025
• sense-checking travel times in outlying LSOAs, and in those in which a decile had shifted by 4 or more deciles in either direction
• sense-checking the distribution of travel times across all LSOAs, local authorities, and settlement types
• investigating LSOAs with large absolute changes in return travel time compared to WIMD 2019 for new or closed services
• using the Google Maps routing platform to verify 2025 travel times for LSOAs with large absolute changes