We visit the Birmingham area dubbed Britain's Universal Credit capital to find out what life is really like

According to recent reports, the Birmingham suburb, has the highest fuel poverty and child poverty rates in the country.

The Daily Mail revealed in an exclusive article that Hodge Hill is “so desperately poor that even the beggars have moved out to find leafier streets”.

They reported that it has the highest levels of Universal Credit claimants and the highest levels of unemployment against a backdrop of the council’s financial crisis, the cost-of-living saga and a lack of local jobs.

BirminghamWorld went out to the streets of Hodge Hill to find out what the people living there think about this.

But according to most people we spoke to in Hodge Hill, they praised the thriving, in some parts ‘affluent’ suburb and said they enjoyed living there.

It paints a different picture to that reported nationally, but generally speaking residents did not feel it was any worse than other areas of the city.

Watch the video to find out more.

Residents said: “I don’t think it’s a big issue here, most people are well-to-do, we do have small pockets of people who are unemployed. I think it’s down to current climate there’s a cost-of-living crisis, costs have gone up. Local authorities and energy companies should do more to reduce costs but that’s the picture nationally too not just here in Hodge Hill.”

Another added: “I’m surprised about the high unemployment - if you look around there’s some really decent areas, the houses are quite expensive. Hodge hill is a very affluent area I think, we’ve got a decent hospital down the road, we need a bit more investment into the businesses.”

One lady said: “My parents worked hard and taught me a very strong work ethic, I think that’s what it is about. If people aren’t willing to work and their families are on benefits then they know no better.”

The suburb is six-miles out of the city centre of Birmingham.

The Daily Mail reported that the city centre was “a ghost town of empty shops” with the “the highest proportion of people claiming unemployment benefits in Britain at 8.9 per cent”.

This comes as a number of stores open this month in Birmingham’s Bullring including Sephora, two new Zara stores and an array of new restaurants on the horizon including a new restaurant in Moseley next week.

It said DWP statistics for June 2024 showed a total of 202,475 people on Universal Credit in Birmingham - the highest number of any local authority area in Britain - with only 61,473 of those in employment. 

Hodge Hill also has the highest fuel poverty and child poverty rates in the country, it was reported, while data from the Department of Work and Pensions found that 46 per cent of children, around 3,400 of them, were living in poverty in Hodge Hill.

It follows Birmingham City Council declaring itself bankrupt by issuing a Section 114 notice last year.

One Hodge Hill resident said: “I’m not aware of this at all, Hodge Hill is an affluent area - yes I suppose there’s unemployment, we lost the car factory and we need more industrial input to get jobs going again.”