ONS Local has been established by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to support evidence-based decision-making at the local level. We aim to host insightful events that connect our users with exciting developments happening in subnational statistics and analysis at the ONS and across other organisations. In April 2022, as the impact of increases in the Cost of Living really came to the forefront, Public Health & Communities, Suffolk County Council published a Cost of Living profile as part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. Alongside a written Cost of Living report ‘Making ends meet: The cost of living in Suffolk’, an interactive dashboard was also created using Power BI. In addition to internal data flows, publicly available data from sources such as the ONS have been used to provide a rich picture of the current situation for the local community. The dashboard was developed in order to: • Provide up to date data and information on the Cost of Living for Suffolk County Council, partner organisations, and members of the public. • Deliver an interactive tool to allow users to focus on areas most relevant to them. • Demonstrate that, while increases in the cost of living affect everyone, impact will be greatest for those who are already under financial pressure, exacerbating inequalities. • Provide a source of actionable insight to support the system with the evidence base needed to support project development, drive change and really make a difference in the community. Features of the dashboard: • Place-focused - published at smaller geographies where possible • Collaborative - Includes local data from across the system such as data shared by Citizens Advice and other system partners. • Automated - Most data sources have automated connections, meaning there is little manual intervention required. • Self-Service - Making the report publicly available puts data at the fingertips of colleagues, system partners and members of the public. • Live - The dashboard is a living report which is frequently updated. This session will: • Provide a demonstration of Suffolk County Council’s Cost of Living dashboard • Give an overview of data sources • Explore opportunities for automation using Power BI • Discuss how the data dashboard is used locally This event is open to all; however, we anticipate it will be of most interest to anyone working on cost of living dashboards at the local level. If you have any questions, please contact ons.local@ons.gov.uk.

1. The Cost of Living
Creating an interactive dashboard for Suffolk
Rebecca Allen & Alex Garwood
Public Health & Communities,
Suffolk County Council
September 2023

2. In April 2022, Suffolk County Council published a Cost of Living profile as part of
the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).
The profile, Making ends meet: The cost of living in Suffolk was used as the
evidence base to support Suffolk County Council’s Tackling Poverty Strategy and
Action Plan
Regular updates were required for councillors, the Health and Wellbeing Board,
the Collaborative Communities Board, and the wider system.
Recognition that written reports can quickly become out of date so there was a
clear need for accessible, self-service, up-to-date Cost of Living data to support
the Suffolk system
Public Health team tasked with developing an interactive data dashboard, as part
of the JSNA, accessible to the whole of Suffolk County Council, system partners
and members of the public
Context

3. Aims of this session:
01
Show some of our
Cost of Living
dashboard
02
Give an overview of
the data sources used
03
Explain how we
maximised
opportunities for
automation
04
Discuss how the
dashboard is used
locally
05
Talk through some
examples of how the
data has been used to
drive action and
create impact

4. Key aims of the dashboard
A frequently updated source of both local and national data and
intelligence
An interactive tool allowing users to focus on areas most relevant
to them
To highlight inequalities across Suffolk and areas of need
A source of actionable insight to support the system with data and the
evidence base needed to drive change, and really make a difference

5. Our tool of
choice….
Power BI was one of the
tools used by the team for
COVID-19 data analysis and
reporting as part of Suffolk
CoronaWatch
Skill and ability levels
developed at pace during
the pandemic
Allows data to be shared
securely and appropriately,
in line with information
governance arrangements
Flexible, user-friendly, easy
for a less technical
audience to navigate
Data from multiple sources
can be brought together
e.g internal data with
national open source data
Low maintenance and easy
to refresh with new data
Why Power BI?

6. Features of the Cost of Living Dashboard
Collaborative
Automated
Self
Service
Place-focused
Live
Data is
published at
Lower Tier
Local Authority
level, where
available, and
at lower
geographies
where
possible, such
as Lower Super
Output Area.
Most data
sources have
automated
connections
e.g. inflation
statistics and
employment
data, meaning
there is no
manual
intervention
required to
update the
data.
Local data
updates are
provided by
colleagues
updating their
own records/
spreadsheets,
such as the
Local Welfare
Assistance
Scheme,
Citizens Advice
and website
data, which the
dashboard
automatically
‘reads’.
Making the
report publicly
available puts
data at the
fingertips of
colleagues,
system
partners and
members of
the public
alike.
The dashboard
is a living
report which is
updated
regularly. New
data sources
can be
incorporated,
and analysis
developed over
time.

7. Dashboard Demo

8. Dashboard Demo

9. Dashboard Demo

10. Dashboard Demo

11. Dashboard Demo

12. So now you’ve seen the dashboard, let’s talk about how we built it…
Stat
Xplore
API
•Universal Credit
claimants
•Children in low
income
NOMIS
API
•Weekly pay
•Employment rate
ONS API
•Excess mortality
LG
Inform
Plus API
•Crime
Static
URL
•Inflation
•House Prices
•Private Rental
Market
‘Piggy
back’
data
•Citizens Advice
•Free School
Meals
•Foodbanks
•Local Welfare
Assistance
Manual
update
•Family spending
•Fuel poverty
•Homelessness
•Fuel prices
•Job postings
Data Sources Key
Automated update
Updated by third party data owner with automated connection to Power BI
Manually updated by Analytics team
Report
Scheduled
refresh
Power BI Dataset
Data
sources

13. Automation techniques
LG Inform Plus Use the Data tool on the LG Inform Plus
website to build a data table
Use the Download tab to get a link to access
the data from Power BI including your public
private key
Static web URL
Go to the website hosting the data source of
interest (such as ONS) and find the required
data file
Copy the link of the data file to access the
data from Power BI
StatXplore Use the Table View page on StatXplore to
build a data table
Use the Download Table function and select
the Open Data API Query to get the JSON
request for the data to use in Power BI
SharePoint data
Go to the SharePoint site hosting the data
source of interest and find the required data
file
Copy the link of the data file to access the
data from Power BI
Embedding HTML Go to the website holding the content you
wish to embed and copy the embed code
Set this code as a value in a data table, then
use this value in a HTML Content visual
ONS API Go to the ONS developer website and follow
the instructions to build a query
Add this query into the Power BI dataset

14. Let’s have a
look at the
dataset in
more detail...
Dataset Demo (please view the session recording to see the demo)

15. So how has the Cost of Living data helped to turn insight into action?
Frequently used as a
briefing tool for VCSE
leaders, Health &
Wellbeing Board and
Collaborative
Communities Board to
facilitate planning and
proactive action
Data used to underpin
Suffolk’s successful Public
Mental Health bid for
£150k to support Citizens
Advice offices
A year after first
publication, the
dashboard was still the
3rd most visited page on
Healthy Suffolk with over
1,000 unique viewers in a
6 month period.
Instrumental in securing
£1.5m from the Suffolk
Public Sector Leaders
Forum in order to
support the Food
Network
Provided the evidence
base for the Suffolk
County Council Poverty
Strategy and Action Plan
Impact of the Cost of Living report and dashboard

16. If you only take away five things from our demo this today…
• Bring internal data together with other organisations’ data, and even national open source data can
highlight inequality and areas of need
The power of bringing data
together
• Colleagues may already be collating data you need – with the right information governance, it’s possible
to tap into and use these sources. Experience of C-19 has opened up cross system data sharing
opportunities.
• Collaboration is also important for gathering soft intelligence and adding context.
Importance of collaboration
• None of our team have an IT background or formal training in coding.
• However, we have sought support from IT professionals, colleagues in other LAs, and the Suffolk Office
of Data & Analytics
You don’t need to be a coder
• Dashboard creation is an investment of resources, but can save time in the long run by automating
updates and making data accessible for those able to self-serve, including members of the public, the
media, and colleagues.
Dashboards can save you time
• Dashboards are popular right now but it’s key that consumers are able to interpret the contents, apply
the intelligence to their area of focus, and make informed decisions.
• They can be iterative to incorporate new data sources – the current version is never the final version!
Turning data into actionable
insight is key

17. Suffolk County Council
Public Health & Communities
Knowledge, Intelligence & Evidence
Analytics
www.healthysuffolk.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter @SCCPublicHealth
Contact us:
phc_analytics@suffolk.gov.uk
Please contact us if you would like to request the
information in this document in another language
or in an alternative format.
Published 06/09/2023