Reading

The town is home to more than 160,000 people, as well as being a working destination for many who travel in and out each day. Look beyond the town itself and around 233,000 people live in Reading’s greater urban area. More than 23,000 students attend Reading University – coming from across the country and across the world to study here.

Reading is well-known as a thriving economic centre. We are home to a number of major businesses, as well as being a major retail and leisure destination and a thriving night-time economy. There are above average rates of employment and wages in Reading are more competitive than the majority of towns in our region.

But it is clear that Reading’s success isn’t as equally distributed as it should be. Many people in our community live with real economic hardship and the social challenges that is inextricably linked to poverty. We see this in acute differences in life expectancy for different demographic groups: in the borough’s most and least deprived areas this difference is 8 years for men and 7.2 years for women. Five of our neighbourhoods are within the 10% most deprived in the country.

It's this complexity that makes Reading such an interesting and rewarding place to work, and why our work is so important.

Reading is a place where your knowledge, commitment and skills can make all the difference.

Supporting the life that matters to you.