People in East Cambs have some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction in the UK, according to a new survey from the Office for National Statistics.

The annual ONS survey, which covers the 12 months to the end of March, asked people aged 16 and over across the UK to rate four areas of their personal wellbeing.

Three of the areas - their happiness, life satisfaction and sense of the things they do in life being worthwhile - are ranked on a scale from zero to 10 with 10 being the highest.

The average life satisfaction score for people in East Cambs was 7.36, one of the lowest scores in the UK compared to an average score of 7.69.

People in Fenland are the most unhappy in the UK with the average score of 6.7.

For happiness, people in East Cambridgeshire gave themselves an average score of 7.54, above the UK average of 7.52.

A fourth question in the survey asked people to rank how anxious they felt on the previous day, with zero being ‘not at all anxious’ and 10 being ‘completely anxious’.

The population in East Cambs appears to have become more stressed over the last year, with anxiety levels creeping up to 2.69 - although this is still below the UK average.

According to ONS research, people’s views about their health, employment, and relationship status are the factors most likely to impact how they rate their personal well-being.

Bad health was the most significant factor associated with reports of poor well-being, followed by being economically inactive with a long-term illness or disability.

Disability charity Scope said employers’ outdated attitudes and inflexible working practices were keeping disabled people out of work.

James Taylor, head of policy at Scope, said: “This needs to change. Government and employers need to all become disability gamechangers – by challenging negative attitudes and tackling the many barriers disabled people face.”

The ONS report noted that employment worries went beyond just having a job, and also concerned the quality of job security, wages and work-life balance.

It continued: “Reducing disparities in life expectancy and health, access to skills and education, good jobs and affordable homes should be an important priority for achieving inclusive growth in all areas.”