Acorn Profile

• ACORN can be used to classify the population into 7 Categories, 22 Groups or 65 Types, based on their postcode.

• The largest ACORN Category is 4: Steadfast Communities, with 92,505 people, or 28.3% of the Wirral population classified as belonging to this Group; this Group is typically ‘middle of the road Britain’, with working families on incomes just below the UK average.

• Over half of the population of Wirral (54.8%) are classified as belonging to just 4 ACORN Groups, 3G: Settled Suburbia (12.1%), 4L: Traditional Homeowners (16.8%), 5R: Hard-Up Households (12.2%) and 6S: Cash-Strapped Families (13.7%).

• Eight ACORN Groups exist in such small numbers in Wirral, they can mainly be disregarded in analysis concerning the Wirral population; these are 1A: Exclusive Addresses (0.0%), 1B: Flourishing Capital (0.0%), 2E: Prosperous Professionals (0.0%), 3I: Up-and-Coming Urbanities (0.5%), 3H: Metropolitan Surroundings (0.0%), 3J: Aspiring Communities (0.8%), 4N: Urban Diversity (0.3%) and 7V: Not Private Households (0.9%).

• The geographic distribution of the different ACORN Categories, Groups and Types in Wirral reinforces very clearly, what is already known about deprivation in Wirral, with the east of Wirral is dominated by deprived Categories such as 5: Stretched Society and 6: Low-Income Living; the west of Wirral on the other hand, is dominated by more affluent ACORN Categories 1: Luxury Lifestyles and 2: Established Affluence.

• Although the majority of the UK adult population (83.6%) now own a smartphone, this varies considerably; among the most common ACORN Group in Wirral (Group 6: Low-Income Living), this figure is much lower at only 80.4% compared to 85.3% in Group 3: Thriving Neighbourhoods.

Acorn reports are provided by CACI, a company that specializes in geodemographic segmentation of the UK's population.

Acorn segments households, postcodes, and neighbourhoods into various categories and types, offering insights into the demographics, lifestyles, and behaviours of individuals in different areas.

By analysing demographic data, social factors and consumer behaviour, Acorn can provide an innate understanding of people and places across the country. 

Acorn has been developed by combining the comprehensive detail provided in the Census with the wealth of data included in CACI’s Postcode ‘Spine’ to ensure the data is consistently up-to-date and provides an accurate view into the UK population.

CACI’s Postcode ‘Spine’ has been built by combining millions of data points from dozens of data sources, such as The Financial Research Survey (FRS), Channel Preference Survey and 
Understanding Society, to create a file of updateable information available at postcode level to build a complete picture of the UK population. It includes data on property type and tenure, house 
prices, student housing, gentrification, urban and rural areas and much more.

The Census data provides a complete picture of the UK population as of the date of the Census. It covers a range of questions including details about the demographics of those who live in the 
house, particularly their age, ethnicity, occupation, and education.

It also includes information related to the property they live in, such as the house type, tenure, and size. 

CACI has taken a snapshot of the Postcode Spine data on the date of the Census to provide a common baseline for CACI to update this data with further information, which is refreshed 
regularly.

The benefits of using non-Census data include the finer level of geographic detail and better affluence indicators as well as the ability to update Acorn more frequently, whereas the Census data provides full coverage across the UK.

ACORN enables users to make more informed decisions to assist planning and marketing strategies by painting a detailed picture of the kinds of people living in a catchment or region or using services.

Acorn is a new and exciting tool we can use in the development of local insight and intelligence. We have our ideas as to the type and range of future reports we can produce but are happy to discuss your ideas and suggestions too. Please drop us an email at phintelligence@wirral.gov.uk

Please note: Due to changes in methodology by the provider of this data, it is not possible for these reports to be exactly compared to newer information in the main as some groups have been reclassified.

• Wirral Mosaic Profile 2021 (accessible)

  Wirral Mosaic Profile 2021 (colour accessible)

  Please note: Mosaic uses both alphabetical and colour referencing which can be difficult to read for some groups, we have added an additional version without these colour issues.)

• Wirral Mosaic Profile 2017

• Birkenhead Parliamentary Constituency
  

• Wirral South Parliamentary Constituency
  

• Wirral West Parliamentary Constituency

• Wallasey Parliamentary Constituency

• Analysis of Wirral Stop Smoking Service clients

• Communication preferences of the Wirral population

• Wirral population

• Smoking in pregnancy

• Breastfeeding

• Looked after children 

Mosaic is one of a number of tools which can help health, local government and third sector organisations gain more insight about their residents, target services at those most in need of them and communicate with people in the way they prefer. 

Mosaic segments the population according to postcode and is constructed from a range of sources including the Census, consumer behaviour, financial data, hospital episode statistics (HES) and lifestyle data.

In the current climate of financial challenge, Mosaic can be a very useful tool, as it allows organisations to target information at those who may find it most relevant or useful. Mosaic segments the population into 15 groups (A-O), and the Wirral Profile 2021, shows how those 15 groups are distributed across Wirral, with tables and maps explaining the differences between the groups and how Wirral looks compared to England for example.

• Packages such as Mosaic have become more widely used by the public sector in recent years because they are useful in providing in-depth information about the needs and behaviours of local people.

• They use a large number of open data sources including the Census, health, education, criminal justice system, housing and consumer data (i.e. about products that people buy and their finances for example) to ‘segment’ the population into different groups, who can then be better targeted based on their preferences, needs and behaviours.

• Using Mosaic means that information can be targeted just where it is needed. For example, information on how you can reduce your risk of falling as you age is not appropriate for people in their 20’s, but it may be of interest to people in their 70’s and 80’s.

• Targeting messages more effectively and ensuring that the right message is read by the right person at the right time is also cost-effective, as resources are not wasted informing everybody about issues which may not affect them.

• The profiles we produce using Mosaic are used to inform and commission services. Below are some examples of the information we have provided to various teams and departments in Wirral to enable them target their work more effectively, as well as an overall profile of Wirral.

• Mosaic is not appropriate for every situation or service of course, but it is one of several useful tools our team has access to, which informs and provides us with additional insight into the needs of Wirral residents.