The Countryside Agency (Public Sector)

The Countryside Agency is a statutory body working to conserve and enhance England's countryside, to ensure the sustainability of the rural economy, and to help everyone enjoy the countryside.

Each year the Agency produces a snapshot of the countryside. This report provides a framework from which past polices are evaluated and future decisions are made.

There are, however, concerns that the extremes in circumstance that often exist side by side in rural areas are not always addressed by Government Statistics.

PayCheck, CACI's household income classification, provides a unique opportunity for the Agency to go beyond the generalist statements that; "households in rural areas have, on average, high incomes".

PayCheck is available in incremental income bands of £5000, ranging from £0 to £100K plus, providing a robust measure of household incomes across each enumeration district in the UK. This level of detail allows the agency to quantify and address the many pockets of low household income, particularly those in isolated communities that are often overlooked in statistics for larger areas.

The Agency has identified a number of CACI's proprietary datasets to enhance their knowledge of specific indicators such as; affordable housing, rural unemployment and the additional costs of rural mobility.

"Crucially, they are up to date and available at geographical levels that allow the Agency to build up a detailed picture of rural life. CACI's datasets have enabled the Agency to fulfil its indicator obligations, as set out in the Rural White Paper."

- Alastair Cox, The Countryside Agency

Paycheck