1 Introduction

This background note accompanies the main Family Resources Survey 2022/23 report.

The purpose of this report is to provide further contextual information to aid understanding of the statistics presented in the main report and detailed tables. It outlines points to note as well as strengths and limitations of the information presented in each section of the main report; alternative data sources; as well as changes to the survey this year compared to last year.

A detailed description of the Family Resources Survey (FRS) methodology, fieldwork operations, data processing and quality assurance are presented within the relevant sections in this report. These descriptions are intended to help users in the use and interpretation of FRS 2022/23 data.

2 National Statistics

National Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.

In April 2012, the United Kingdom Statistics Authority accredited these official statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for official Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’. Further details can be found here.

It is the Department for Communities’ responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Since accreditation as National Statistics, we have made the following changes, to ensure we continue to adhere to the 3 pillars of trustworthiness, quality and public value:

To improve Trustworthiness:

Reviewed data governance protocols.
Ensured orderly release; reducing numbers on pre-release access list and keeping users informed of publication dates in accordance with Code of Practice e.g. 4 week notice etc.

To improve Quality:

Improved Quality Assurance documentation.

To improve Value:

Requested feedback from users within the report.
Presented FRS analysis at conferences.
Improved clarity and accessibility by changing the layout; removing technical information to a separate report for more advanced users.
Added time series statistics to show trends in data over time.

3 Acknowledgements

Thanks go once again to all the respondents in households across Northern Ireland who agreed to be interviewed; to the staff and interviewers at the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and to the Department for Work and Pensions Family Resources Survey team; to those who have contributed towards this report both through providing figures and checking of the content; and to our support team here in DfC.

4 Background Information

The Northern Ireland (NI) Family Resources Survey (FRS) collects detailed information on various household characteristics from approximately 2,000 households annually. Information from approximately 1,900 households was collected in 2022/23. The FRS was first introduced to NI in 2002/03. Prior to 2002/03 the survey was well established and carried out annually in Great Britain (GB).

Households interviewed in the survey are asked a wide range of questions about their circumstances. Although some of the information collected is available elsewhere, the FRS provides new or much more detailed information in a number of areas and brings some topics together on one survey.

From April 2012 the FRS is also being used as the survey source for the cross-sectional element of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The FRS also provides the first wave of the longitudinal element of the EU-SILC which is carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Delivery of EU-SILC is a European Union (EU) regulatory requirement. EU-SILC is used by Eurostat and the European Commission to monitor and inform policies aimed at combating poverty and social exclusion in the EU. The first EU-SILC findings using the FRS as a source were released in December 2013.

Although the NI FRS was designed with the Department for Communities (DfC) needs specifically in mind, it also contains information that is of interest to other government departments and outside researchers. The database from which it is derived is deposited at the United Kingdom Data Archive (UKDA) and is available directly to other government departments such as Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). See the FRS protocol on United Kingdom (UK) dataset release and control for more details .

The fieldwork for the survey in NI is managed by DfC and is currently carried out by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). The fieldwork for the survey in GB is undertaken by a consortium made up of the ONS and NatCen Social Research.

4.1 Structure of the report

The structure of the FRS report was redesigned in 2014/15 with a further redesign in 2021/22, moving to a more simplified and visually appealing format. This provides a shorter, more focused and more accessible publication without sacrificing the breadth of statistical analysis.

The aim of this change is to tailor our reporting to meet different user needs rather than “one size fits all”. In particular, we are attempting to explain our statistics and their context in an accessible way so that they can be better understood by all users.

The intention is that these changes will not compromise our support to existing users as the full suite of output tables familiar to experienced users of our publications will continue to be made available online. In addition, expert users will continue to be supported via detailed methodological guidance and access to the underlying data via the UKDA.

Similar progress has taken place with the UK FRS report (published by our counterparts in the Department for Work and Pensions), and the NI Poverty and Income Inequality Report (this report combines information that was previously published in the NI Poverty Bulletin and the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) Report for Northern Ireland). All the feedback received from users has been very positive.

4.2 Coverage

Modelling Social Security benefit entitlement is central to many of the DfC uses of FRS information. The data collected reflects this, focusing on income, including receipt of Social Security benefits, housing costs and circumstances of household members, such as whether someone gives or receives care or has childcare costs.

This focus also underlies the routing of some questions. For example, detailed questions on the value of liquid assets held are only asked of those respondents who are willing to provide an estimate of the value of their total savings and report a figure between £1,500 and £30,000. This range is wide enough to capture those who may be entitled to benefit based on their capital but reduces the burden on the majority of respondents.

Further questions address other areas relevant to DfC policy such as barriers to moving off benefits and into work and maintenance payment and receipt.

Survey coverage is detailed later in this report.

4.3 Units and Presentation

Throughout the report, tables refer to households, benefit units or individuals. The definition of a household used in the FRS is ‘a single person or group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room, sitting room, or a dining area’. So, for example, a group of students with a shared living room would be counted as a single household even if they did not eat together, but a group of bedsits at the same address would not.

A household will consist of one or more benefit units, which in turn consists of a number of individuals (adults and children). ‘Benefit unit’ is defined as ‘a single adult or couple living as married and any dependent children’. A dependent child is aged under 16 or an unmarried 16 to 19-year-old in full time non-advanced education. So, for example, a man and wife living with their young children and an elderly parent would be one household but two benefit units. It should be noted that ‘benefit unit’ is used throughout the report as a description of groups of individuals regardless of whether they are in receipt of any state support.

Information on variables and data items tabulated in the report is provided in the Glossary. It should be stressed that definitions of items such as income and its components might differ from those used in other publications and from those used in earlier FRS reports.

4.4 Rounding and Accuracy

In the tables and analyses that follow, the following conventions have been used:

0 nil (none recorded in the sample)

- negligible (less than 0.5 per cent)

. not applicable

.. not available due to small sample size or as a result of less than three years of comparable data in three year average tables.

Within the analysis sections for each chapter, figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand or percentage point. Individual figures have been rounded independently. Therefore, the sum of component items will not necessarily equal the totals shown. Care must be taken when referring to figures based on an individual cell.

Owing to the volatility of single year results, due to small sample sizes, Local Government District (LGD) tables are presented as three-year averages (this year the three year average is based over 4 years – 2019/20 - 2022/23 with the COVID impacted 2020/21 year not included). This methodology enables underlying trends to be identified, whilst smoothing out any random fluctuations.

5 Notes for Analysis

5.1 Income and state support

FRS income data are not equivalised. For analyses where income data have been adjusted for household size and composition see the NI Poverty and Income Inequality publication.

All income figures in the FRS are presented gross of tax and national insurance and before other deductions from wages except where noted.

It is thought that household surveys underestimate income from both self employment and investment income. We rely on respondent recall of very detailed financial information across a comprehensive range of income sources. Some of these are hard for respondents to recall. The FRS interviewers ask respondents to check pay slips, tax returns and other financial paperwork at the time of the interview. This helps to improve the reliability of what respondents report they earn.

Income from dividends have, as last year, been included in the sources of income. For a small group of respondents there has been an adjustment to the treatment of dividends: in cases where respondents are all of (i) self-employed, and (ii) state they are directors, and (iii) where their calculated income rests on profits from annual accounts, as opposed to the other figures reported; then it is assumed that the profit figure is already inclusive of any dividend also reported.

The FRS captures detailed information on benefit receipt. In most cases this is analysed at a benefit unit (family) level because income-related benefits are paid to families rather than being separately assessed for each individual. Some respondents do not know or do not have the necessary information to answer specific questions about individual benefits which makes it difficult to collect accurate information – see State Benefits on the FRS (WP115).

Relative to administrative records, the FRS under-reports benefit caseload and receipt – see Methodology Tables M.5a and M.5b on the comparison between administrative data and FRS data. However, one of the strengths of the FRS is that it collects many personal and family characteristics which are not available from administrative sources. This means that the FRS can be used to analyse income and benefit receipt in ways which are not possible from administrative sources alone.

We have also presented ‘Income from Universal Credit (UC)’ as its own distinct category as a source of income. This has allowed for more detailed breakdowns within Income and State Support tables. This change is because the volume of UC cases is now sufficiently high to allow for meaningful analysis. Also, revisions have been applied to the denominator of overall income where results relate to components of gross household income, to accommodate accurately any income from UC. Note that this affects percentage estimates in the publication data tables only; it has not changed the aggregation of the main income variables in either the FRS tables of pounds of income, or the released dataset (sum of household income and its tributary variables).

5.2 Tenure

As presented in the main FRS report, the “social rented sector” is a combination of the categories “Rented from Council” and “Rented from a Housing Association”. These categories are combined because some housing association tenants may misreport that they are council tenants. For instance, where their home used to be owned by the council and although ownership has now transferred to a housing association, the tenant may still think that their landlord is the council (local authority).

5.3 Disability

The FRS does not record information on individuals in nursing or retirement homes. This means that figures relating to people in these groups may not be representative of the UK population, as many elderly people may have moved into homes where they can receive more frequent help. Therefore, it is likely that disability figures and impairments among all older people are higher than estimated from the FRS.

The ways in which disabled people have been identified in the FRS has changed over time. From 2004/05 to 2011/12 disability was identified based on those reporting barriers across nine areas of life. From 2012/13 disabled people have been identified as those who report any physical or mental health condition or illness that lasts or is expected to last 12 months or more, and which limits their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This new definition is consistent with the core definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010, and complies with harmonised standards for social surveys published in August 2011.

An impairment is different to a medical condition. It looks at the functions that a person either cannot perform or has difficulty performing because of their health condition. For example, glaucoma is a medical condition but being unable to see or being partially sighted is an impairment.

Some people classified as disabled and having rights under the Equality Act 2010 are not captured by this definition, such as people with a long-standing illness or disability which is not currently affecting their day-to-day activities. More information is available from the GSS Policy Store.

5.4 Care

FRS respondents are asked if they receive care from anyone. This includes both professional help – paid-for care from the local authority, health professionals or domestic staff – but it also includes informal care. This is any care where their carer is not doing it as a paid job, it can be for many, or only a few hours a week, and can take several different forms. The survey is intentionally not prescriptive about what counts as care, it could, for example, include going shopping for someone, or helping them with paperwork.

The FRS does not record information on individuals in nursing or retirement homes. This means that figures relating to people in these groups may not be representative of the UK population, as many elderly people may have moved into homes where they can receive more frequent help. Therefore, it is likely that care provision and receipt amongst older people is higher than estimated from the FRS.

Where respondents are receiving care at least once a week, they are further asked about the nature and frequency of that care.

FRS respondents are also asked if they provide care to someone else, on an informal basis. That person could be living with them, in their household, or they could live somewhere else (outside the household).

5.5 Pension Participation

The FRS pension participation reference tables present data for both all adults and working age adults only. Those over State Pension age are often excluded from analysis of pension participation in other publications, although they could continue to work and participate in pension schemes. The ‘all-adults’ category allows data for this group to be represented and also provides continuity across all chapters within the FRS.

Employer-sponsored pensions comprise any company or occupational pension scheme run by an employer including group personal pensions and group stakeholder pensions.

Individual personal pensions include individual stakeholder pensions and retirement annuity contracts as well as individual personal pensions.

Although the numbers are relatively small, self-employed people can contribute to an employer-sponsored pension scheme, for a variety of reasons. Doctors and dentists in private practice can be members of an occupational scheme. People who have recently become self-employed can continue to contribute to their previous employer scheme and people whose main job is self-employed, may work part-time as an employee and contribute to an employer scheme. These circumstances are captured within the FRS tables under the ‘Self-Employed – Other’ category.

5.6 Self-employment

The FRS does not fully capture information on all types of income in kind accurately – for example, benefits of vehicles, computers and mobile phones purchased by the business that are also for personal use. And these benefits are likely to be more important for the self-employed than for employees. Therefore, the FRS earnings measures are likely to underestimate the true monetary and other benefits of self-employment. However it is very difficult to quantify this.

Other benefits of self-employment compared to employment are not captured – such as flexibility in working patterns, independence, and flexibility in the way money is drawn from the business etc. The complexity of self-employment circumstances, with irregular income and benefits in kind coming from a range of sources, could also contribute to inaccuracy of information capture.

For self-employed individuals, net income figures are presented after any deductions which include, but are not limited to tax, national insurance and pension contributions. Where gross income figures are presented, these include all these elements.

One of the significant advantages of the FRS is that it has captured self-employment in a consistent way over time. Therefore the trends in self-employment compared to employment are likely to be reasonably accurate.

The FRS does undercount the number of people reporting self-employment compared to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), although the trends and proportions by age, gender etc. are consistent across the two surveys. The LFS is considered the definitive source when it comes to information on labour market activity.

5.7 Savings and investments

The FRS does not capture information on non-liquid assets. Therefore property, physical wealth and pensions accruing are not included in estimates of savings and investments. It also does not capture detailed information on expenditure (except for housing costs) and debts. Therefore it is not possible to get an overview of how households are coping financially.

However, the FRS does capture information on liquid financial assets, referred to in the survey as ‘savings and investments’. Estimates for savings and investments should be treated with caution, as they are likely to be under-estimates, since respondents often inaccurately report their account details. The process of gathering information on savings and investments maintained the same methodology as that introduced in 2020 to 2021. In view of this, the information is gathered as follows:

Respondents are asked, as a benefit unit, to say which of several £ bands their total level of savings and investments are in.
Benefit units that report between £1,500 and £30,000 are then asked, for each of their accounts and assets, how much each is worth and how much interest they accrue. The total level of savings and investments is then calculated using this set of reported values.
Benefit units with reported savings and investments below £1,500 and above £30,000 are only asked how much interest each account and asset accrues. These respondents are also asked to estimate the value of all of their current accounts and basic bank accounts combined.

5.8 Household Food Security and Food Bank Usage

Since the introduction of questions on household food security in the 2019 to 2020 survey year the FRS continues to provide evidence on this subject. From April 2021, the FRS asked additional questions on food bank usage. Food banks can provide support other than food, such as financial advice or mental health support, but the FRS records “usage” as visits to a food bank for the purpose of obtaining emergency food supplies only.

Questions covering household food security and food bank usage are asked of the person in the household who knows the most about buying and preparing food. In common with the rest of the FRS, household food security questions focus on the period immediately before the interview (30 days).

For household food bank usage, questions are asked about two separate time periods: a lead-in question asks about usage within the 12 months prior to interview; and then households that report using a food bank in the last 12 months are asked about usage within the 30 days prior to the interview. The questions do not directly ask about the food bank usage needs of children, and it cannot be determined which individual or individuals the food parcels are for.

Caution is needed when comparing household food security status with 12-month food bank usage. The effect of household food security upon food bank usage, cannot be fully deduced because the former only asks about the household’s circumstances in the last 30 days.

There is no standard approach to either household food security or food bank usage. The questions used by the FRS are similar to those used by other public bodies in the UK, and also internationally, but there are some differences in their application via interview.

These statistics should be treated with caution when interpreting them:

where a household is food insecure, information about the individual experiences of food insecurity within the household is not available. A young child’s experience in a food-insecure household may be very different from their parent’s, for example;
household food security statistics do not directly measure hunger. They instead explore the financial situation of households and how that affects their access to food. Only households with very low food security would anticipate substantive disruption to their food intake;
the statistics presented exclude shared households, such as a house shared by a group of professionals.

With both measures of household food bank usage captured in the FRS, caution should be taken when interpreting figures and comparing with other sources. Most other sources captured usage from a single period, so may only be comparable to one FRS measure, if at all. It should also be noted that some sources measure individual food bank usage rather than household.

5.9 Employment status

Employment status presented as “inactive” includes the International Labour Organization (ILO) defined groups: Unemployed, Retired, Student, Looking after home/family, Permanently sick/disabled, Temporarily sick/injured and other.

5.10 Adjusting for Inflation

Some figures in the main FRS report and the accompanying tables combine several years of income data. In these circumstances, uprating factors are used to adjust for inflation by bringing values from previous years into current price terms. Prior to the 2014/15 FRS report, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) was used to adjust for inflation.

The UK National Statistician recommended in March 2016 that the RPI should no longer be used to adjust for inflation in statistical publications. From the 2014/15 FRS, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been used to adjust for inflation. More information concerning this methodological change can be found here

6 Strengths and Weaknesses

The FRS is NI’s premier survey on incomes. However, the FRS is a household survey and so is subject to the weaknesses of using a survey, including:

Sampling error. This will vary to a greater or lesser extent depending on the level of disaggregation at which results are presented.
Non-response error. Systematic bias due to non-response by households selected for interview in the FRS. In an attempt to correct for differential non-response, estimates are weighted using population totals.
Survey coverage. The FRS covers private households in the UK. Therefore individuals in nursing or retirement homes, for example, will not be included. This means that figures relating to the most elderly individuals may not be representative of the UK population, as many of those at this age will have moved into homes where they can receive more frequent help.
Sample size. Although the FRS has a relatively large sample size for a household survey, small sample sizes may require several years of data to be combined. See Rounding and Accuracy section.

All tables contain figures based on sample estimates that have been weighted so that they apply to the overall population. This involves the use of a set of adjustment (or grossing) factors that attempt to correct for differential non-response. These factors take into account demographic variables such as age and gender, together with region. Detailed tables give unweighted sample counts (headed ‘sample size=100 per cent’) to help users to judge the robustness of the information (the larger the sample size, the more robust the relevant percentage figure). These are shown in italics on a grey background.

The tables in this publication show the results after validation and imputation for item non-response, and after adjustment for unit non-response using weights that control for a number of factors. However, validation can only be effective where it is possible to correct the response, for example by referring to interviewers’ notes. Weighting can only correct for known non-response biases and results are sensitive to the values of control variables used to generate the weights.

Although work has been undertaken to try to ensure that the figures that have been collected are valid and that adjustments are made for non-response, survey bias may remain. For example, comparisons of benefit recipients in the survey with administrative data still show a mismatch following weighting. This may be partly due to misreporting of certain data items and sampling error, but also may reflect non-response biases not controlled for in the weighting factors. Efforts are continually being made to minimise these problems, for example through greater reliance on documentary evidence at the interview and maintaining response rates.

Specific strengths of the FRS include:

Capturing information on incomes: it captures more detail on different income sources compared to other household surveys.
It collects a lot of contextual information on the household and individual circumstances, such as employment, educational level and impairment. The FRS is therefore a comprehensive data source allowing for a wide variety of detailed analysis.
The NI FRS began in 2002/03 and so allows for comparison over time.

Specific weaknesses of using the FRS include:

Benefit under-reporting – the FRS is known to under-report benefit receipt.
Income under-reporting. We rely on respondent recall of very detailed financial information across a comprehensive range of income sources. Some of these are hard for respondents to recall. For more information on incomes please refer to the Poverty and Income Inequality publication.
The data relating to savings and investments should be treated with caution. Questions relating to investments are a sensitive section of the questionnaire and have the lowest response rate. It is thought that there is some under-reporting of capital by respondents, in terms of both the actual values of the assets and the investment income.
The FRS does not capture information on non-liquid assets. Therefore property, physical wealth and pensions accruing, are not included in estimates of savings and investments. It also does not capture detailed information on expenditure (except for housing costs) and debts. Therefore it is not possible to get an overview of how households are coping financially.

7 Policy Changes in 2022/23

Council Tax

For 2022 to 2023 the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities estimated that the average Band D rate set by local authorities in England had increased by 3.5% from 2021 to 2022 levels. Additionally, in England the Government introduced a £150 non-repayable rebate for households in bands A to D, known as the “Council Tax Rebate”. This was in response to the rising cost of household bills in 2022 to 2023.

In Wales, the average band D rate for 2022 to 2023 represented an increase of 2.7% from 2021 to 2022 levels. In Scotland, the average band D rate for 2022 to 2023 represented an increase of 3% from 2021 to 2022 levels. In Northern Ireland, the rates (poundage) increased by no more than one per cent in some council areas, but in other areas the rates (poundage) remained as in 2022 to 2023.

Housing Benefit

In 2022 to 2023, most Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates remained frozen at 2015 to 2016 cash values. Rates in the least affordable areas were given Targeted Affordability Fund (TAF), which amounts to a three per cent increase.

The majority of Housing Benefit rates for 2022 to 2023 remained unchanged.

Income Tax

In 2022 to 2023, the standard income tax personal allowance stayed at £12,570.

National Living Wage

Employers are legally required to provide a minimum amount that an employee earns per hour, based on their age. This is called the “National Minimum Wage” (NMW). However, there are some employers that provide their employees with a minimum wage that takes into consideration the cost of living, which is higher than the NMW. This is called the “National Living Wage”.

On 1 April 2022, the National Living Wage increased to £9.50 per hour for employees aged 23 years and above.

Employees aged under 23 years continued to receive the National Minimum Wage. On 1 April 2022, the NMW increased to £9.18 per hour for those aged 21 to 22 years inclusive, £6.83 per hour for those aged 18 to 20 years inclusive and £4.81 per hour for those aged below 18 years (but over compulsory school leaving age).

Additionally, the NMW rose to £4.81 per hour for apprentices, both those aged below 19 years and those aged 19 years and above, who were in the first year of their apprenticeship.

Pension Participation

Automatic enrolment completed its roll-out in 2018. From April 2019, the minimum contribution increased by three percentage points to eight per cent with at least three per cent from the employer.

Personal Independence Payment

PIP was introduced from April 2013 for new claimants and from October 2013 DWP began inviting claimants in receipt of DLA for those aged 16 to 64 years on 8 April 2013, or reached age 16 after that date, to claim PIP. PIP launched in NI on the 20th June 2016, and there were 185,000 claims in payment by February 2023. See report published here.

State Pension

The new single-tier State Pension launched on 6 April 2016 for people who reach pension age on or after April 2016, to replace the basic State Pension and additional State Pension. This consolidated the basic State Pension and additional State Pension into a single headline rate. The amount paid to individuals may be less, depending on recipients’ National Insurance contributions.

State Pension Age

From 6 April 2010, the State Pension age has been increasing gradually for both men and women. The data in this report were collected throughout the financial year 2022 to 2023, during which the State Pension age for both men and women was 66 years.

Support for Mortgage Interest

In April 2018 Support for Mortgage Interest Loans (SMIL) was introduced to provide support for mortgage interest through a loan instead of benefits. In tandem with this change, Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) payments are fully disregarded in all income-related benefits if the claimants would be entitled to a SMIL and all MPPI is disregarded in the calculation of Universal Credit.

Universal Credit

Since April 2013, Universal Credit has been replacing income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-based Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Housing Benefit.

National roll-out of Universal Credit, for all new relevant claims, completed in December 2018. Existing exceptions within the two child policy for kinship carers and adopters were extended to apply to any eligible children in a household from November 2018.

Existing claimants on legacy benefits without a change in circumstance can currently remain on their legacy benefit(s) until there is a change in circumstance.

In July 2019, The Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 were introduced. These provided for the removal of the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) Gateway from 27 January 2021, meaning that from this date, SDP recipients will be able to make a new claim to Universal Credit.

The regulations also introduced the SDP transitional payments to those claimants who were previously entitled to the SDP as part of their legacy benefit and had moved to Universal Credit before the SDP Gateway came into effect on 16 January 2019. The SDP transitional payments consisted of:

an ongoing monthly amount of either £120, £285 or £405 depending on a person’s circumstances; and an additional lump-sum payment to cover the period since they moved onto UC.

Up-rating

In April 2022:

inflation-linked benefits and tax credits rose by 3.1% in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), at September 2021
the Basic State Pension and New State Pension increased by 3.1% in line with the ‘triple lock’, which ensures that the Basic and New State Pension increases by the highest of (1) the increase in earnings, price inflation as measured by the CPI, or (2) 2.5%. The increase by CPI inflation of 3.1% applied this time with the Basic State Pension increased from £137.60 per week in 2021 to 2022 to £141.85 per week, a cash increase of £4.25 per week and the New State Pension increased from £179.60 in 2021 to 2022 to £185.15 per week, a cash increase of £5.55 per week
the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit increased by 3.1% for those who were single, the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit increased from £177.10 per week to £182.60 per week, a cash increase of £5.50 per week. For couples, this increased from £270.30 per week to £278.70 per week, a cash increase of £8.40
both the lower and higher Universal Credit Work Allowances rose broadly in line with CPI inflation

Household Support Fund

On 23 March 2022, the Household Support Fund was extended to 20 September 2022. A further extension was announced on 26 May 2022, extending the fund to 31 March 2023. Both extensions provided a further £500 million of funding (£1 billion in total), which will be used by local authorities to support vulnerable households. The aim was to ensure that the daily needs such as food, clothing, and utilities of those in vulnerable households were met.

Energy Bills Support Scheme

From October 2022, all domestic electricity customers in Great Britain began to receive a £400 government Energy Bills Support grant to help with rising energy costs. The £400 was received by customers between October 2022 and March 2023 either as a monthly credit on bills, applied directly to the meter, or paid as a voucher.

Households in Northern Ireland received a different support, of £600 per household.

Cost of Living Payments

Households on income-related benefits, including Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Tax Credits, received a payment of up to £650 this year. This was made automatically in two instalments, one in summer and another in the autumn, and was in addition to the Energy Bills Support Scheme. Eligible households could have received up to 3 different types of payment depending on their circumstances on specific dates or during a particular period, which are as follows:

a Cost of Living Payment for households on a qualifying low-income benefit or tax credits. A payment of £650 was paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324, in summer and autumn respectively, to households already in receipt of the eligible benefits. This payment was made on top of any benefit payments received by the claimants.
a Disability Cost of Living Payment for households on a qualifying disability benefit. A lump sum payment of £150 was paid in September or October, to those already in receipt of the eligible benefits. To be eligible for the payment, households must have received a payment (or later receive a payment) of one of these qualifying benefits before 25 May 2022.
a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment for households entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2022 to 2023. An extra £150 or £300 was paid with eligible households’ normal payments from November 2022. This is in addition to any other Cost of Living Payment received.

8 Uses of the Family Resources Survey

The FRS is used widely across DfC. The main uses are:

Poverty and Income Inequality Report (PII). This publication uses household disposable incomes, adjusted for household size and composition, as a proxy for material living standards or, more precisely, for the level of consumption of goods and services that people could attain given the disposable income of the household in which they live. This new report is a merger of the previous Households Below Average Income (HBAI) and NI Poverty Bulletin outputs.

This publication is available here.

The Policy Simulation Model (PSM) is used extensively by DfC and DWP analysts for the development and costing of policy options. FRS responses are uprated to current prices, benefits and earnings levels and can be calibrated to the DfC/DWP Departmental Report forecasts of benefit caseload. Using FRS data has made it possible to model some aspects of the benefit system which could not be done previously, for example severe disability premiums or allowances for childcare costs. In addition to their use in formal modelling, FRS data play a vital role in the analysis of patterns of benefit receipt for policy monitoring and evaluation, and benefit forecasting.

The FRS has also been used as a sampling frame for follow-up studies to look at particular groups. For example, a follow-up survey of FRS respondents has been used for the Poverty and Social Exclusion survey.

Although primary users of FRS data remain within the DfC, the survey is increasingly being used outside the Department. HMRC, for example, uses the FRS to produce information on the take-up of Child Benefit and Tax Credits.

DWP also uses the FRS to produce similar reports to DfC, focused on the UK as a whole (for more information see here).

FRS data are used by ONS to help develop new measures of national well-being. The aim is to provide a fuller picture of how society is doing by supplementing existing economic, social and environmental measures (for more information see here).

The dataset is provided to other government departments on request. Researchers and analysts outside government can also access the data through the UKDA.

9 Data Collection

9.1 The sampling frame in Northern Ireland

The sampling frame employed on the NI FRS is the NISRA Address Register (NAR). The NAR is developed within NISRA and is primarily based on the Land and Property Services (LPS) POINTER database, the most comprehensive and authoritative address database in Northern Ireland, with approximately 752,000 address records available for selection.

9.2 Sample design in Northern Ireland

A systematic random sample of 4,080 addresses was selected for the 2022/23 NI FRS from the NISRA Address Register. Addresses are sorted by district council and ward, so the sample is effectively stratified geographically.

9.3 Data Collection in Northern Ireland

In NI the sampling and fieldwork (including interviews of re-issued cases) for the survey are carried out by the Central Survey Unit (CSU) at NISRA. The responsibilities for programming the survey questionnaire, making annual modifications, initial data processing and data delivery are retained within ONS and NatCen.

During the first quarter (April to June) of 2022 to 2023 survey year, NISRA interviewers continued with the ‘knock-to-nudge’ methodology whereby they were permitted to visit sampled addresses, as would be usual in face-to-face interviewing, and talk to the residents to encourage participation in the study. Only telephone interviewing was permitted during the first quarter of the 2022 to 2023 survey year. From July 2022, NISRA allowed face-to-face interviewing to resume on the FRS, and interviewers were encouraged to try, where possible, to secure an interview using this method. The option of a telephone interview continued to be offered to respondents throughout the remainder of the survey year.

Before interviewers visit the selected addresses, a letter was sent to the occupier explaining that they had been chosen for the survey and that an interviewer would call. The letter also explained that the survey relies on the voluntary co-operation of respondents and emphasised that information given in the interview would be treated in the strictest confidence and used only for research and statistical analysis purposes. As a token of appreciation and to encourage participation, a £10 Post Office voucher was included with the letter.

The main face-to-face contact with respondents was via doorstep contact. If contact is not made on the first attempt, the interviewer is required to make additional calls to an address. These calls must be made at different times of the day and on different days of the week.

9.4 Data Collection in Great Britain

A consortium consisting of the ONS and NatCen conducts fieldwork for the FRS in GB on behalf of DWP. The consortium also has the responsibility for programming the survey questionnaire, making annual modifications, initial data processing and data delivery.

Each month the Primary Sampling Units are systematically divided between the two organisations and then assigned to interviewers. If more than one household receives mail at an address a single household is interviewed.

Fieldwork operations for FRS 2022 to 2023 returned to large-scale face-to-face interviewing as the preferred method of data collection, and for the duration of the year. Telephone interviewing was retained but used only as and when needed based on household preference and (in the first few months) interviewer availability.

Before interviewers visit the selected addresses, a letter is sent to the occupier explaining that they have been chosen for the survey and that an interviewer will call. The letter also explains that the survey relies on the voluntary co-operation of respondents and emphasises that information given in the interview will be treated in the strictest confidence and used only for research and statistical analysis purposes. As a token of appreciation and to encourage participation, a £10 voucher is included with the letter. If more than one household receives mail at an address then only one household is interviewed.

All ONS addresses receive two letters as standard: one sent out centrally and then another directly from their individual interviewer. All NatCen addresses receive one centrally despatched letter, sent in advance of the start of the fieldwork period.

The main face-to-face contact with respondents is via doorstep contact. If contact is not made on the first attempt, the interviewer is required to make additional calls to an address. These calls must be made at different times of the day and on different days of the week, including at least one weekend call.

9.5 Harmonisation

There are a wide range of government surveys of individuals and households that provide sources of social and economic statistics. As well as the FRS, there are other surveys including the LFS, and the Living Costs and Food (LCF) Survey (previously the Expenditure and Food Survey). These surveys were designed at different times to meet different needs. There is also the Census of Population.

In order to improve comparability of statistics, harmonised concepts were developed to make the interpretation and analysis of these data easier, so that they allow users of published sources to see a more coherent picture of society and trends within it, and to help users plan surveys (e.g. at a local level) that can provide data comparable with national surveys. A list of the harmonised questions (inputs) and outputs is available here.

Different surveys have different purposes and hence cover topics in different depths.

Harmonised questions are designed to provide the recommended minimum information to allow common classifications and facilitate the analysis of data from different surveys in combination. Not all surveys will include questions on all topics or in every year, but the recommendation is that where a topic is covered harmonised questions should be included wherever possible.

Some surveys will require further detail on topics than can be obtained from the harmonised questions alone. It will normally be the case that such surveys already ask for that detail. The harmonised questions have been designed so that these surveys can either derive the response to the harmonised questions without asking them directly or combine them with the further detail without adding to the length of interview.

Harmonisation that extends to nearly all major government household surveys covers a primary set of concepts and questions, whereas concepts and questions that apply only for a selected group of surveys belong to a secondary set.

Harmonised primary standards:

Demographic information, household composition and relationships
Ethnic group
Economic status and industry
General health & carers
Long-lasting health conditions and illnesses: Impairments and disability
Other (including: survey reference period, geography, educational attainment and tenure)

Harmonised secondary standards:

Benefits and tax credits
Consumer durables
Income for analysis and income as a variable
Selected job details
Accommodation, length of residence and motor vehicles
Housing costs and benefits
Crime and fear of crime
Social capital
National and religious identity
Internet access
Sexual identity
Other (including qualifications)

Harmonised outputs have also been produced. The use of these outputs will be affected by the sample size of the individual survey and it is neither feasible nor desirable to produce all outputs from different surveys in a completely harmonised way. The FRS uses harmonised outputs wherever possible, which should allow users to interpret data more easily.

9.6 Differences due to survey design features

The differences in the way in which data are collected, even using harmonised survey questions, are extremely important. There are a variety of factors that can lead to different estimates for harmonised questions across surveys, which include:

Question wording and context effects
Definitional differences
Non-response bias
Geographical coverage
Sampled population
Mode effect (e.g. telephone or face-to-face interviewing)
Organisational effects
Acceptance of proxy information
Treatment of multi-households
Unit of analysis
Field procedures
Item non-response
Time period

9.7 Non-response

The lower the response rate to a survey, the greater the likelihood that those who responded are significantly unlike those who did not, and so the greater the risk of systematic bias in the survey results. Unless information is available about the nature and extent of such bias there are likely to be problems in generalising the sample results to the population. For a United Kingdom survey of the size and complexity of the FRS, the total non-response rate typically seen of around 50% is not considered unreasonable.

Any information that can be obtained about the non-respondents is useful both in terms of future attempts to improve the overall response rate and potentially in improving the weighting of the sample results. It is considered a priority for the FRS to obtain as much information as possible about non-respondents.

10 Validation, Editing, Conversion and Imputation

In addition to unit non-response, where a household does not participate, a problem inherent in all large surveys is item non-response. This occurs when a household agrees to give an interview, but either does not know the answer to certain questions or refuses to answer them. This does not prevent them being classified as fully co-operating households because there is enough known data to be of good use to the analyst.

The fact that the FRS allows missing values in the data collection can create problems for users, so missing values are imputed where appropriate. The policy is that for variables that are components of key derived variables, such as total household income and housing costs, and areas key to the work of the DfC and DWP, such as benefit receipt, there should be no missing information in the final data.

In addition to imputation, prior to publication FRS data are put through several stages of validation and editing. This ensures the final data presented to the public are as accurate as possible. The stages in the validation, editing, conversion and imputation process are laid out below:

10.1 Stage one – the interview

One of the benefits of interviewing using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) is that in-built checks can be made at the interview stage. This helps to check respondents’ responses and also that interviewers do not make keying errors. There are checks to ensure that amounts are within a valid range and also cross-checks which make sure that an answer does not contradict a previous response. However, it is not possible to check all potential inconsistencies, as this would slow down the program to an unacceptable degree, and there are also capacity constraints on interviewer notes. Interviewers can override most checks if the answers are found to be accurate when confirmed with respondents.

10.2 Stage two – post-interview checks

Once an interview has taken place, data are returned to ONS, NatCen, or NISRA. At this stage editing based on any notes made by interviewers takes place. Notes are made by the interviewer when a warning has been overridden, for example, where an amount is outside the specified range, but the respondent has documentation to prove it is correct. Office-based staff members make editing decisions based on these notes. Other edits that take place at this stage are checking amounts of fixed rate benefits such as Child Benefit, and where possible, separating multiple benefit payments into their constituent parts.

10.3 Stage three – data conversion

Before further validation, FRS data are converted from CAPI format into SAS readable tables. Using DWP specifications, SAS tables are created by ONS, with each table displaying information from different parts of the questionnaire. Both the DWP and ONS then carry out validation checks on key input and output variables to ensure that the data have converted correctly to the new format. Checks include ensuring that the number of adults and children recorded is correct, and that records are internally consistent.

10.4 Stage four – state support validation

Information on benefits and Tax Credits received is one of the key areas of the FRS and it is very important that this section is thoroughly validated and cleaned. It is not appropriate to use the imputation methods outlined above for benefits data so instead a separate procedure of validation and editing is used. The following types of validation were carried out for FRS data:

Missing Values

For cases where a respondent had answered ‘yes’ to whether they are in receipt of a particular benefit, but did not give the amount received, an imputation decision has been made depending on the benefit. For benefits such as Universal Credit, where the rate could vary greatly depending on the circumstances of the respondent, we replace all reported amounts with linked amounts, because of the difficulty of making individual benefit assessments.

However, for benefits with no access to suitable administrative data, such as the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, or where fewer rates apply, a more general method has been used and an imputation decision has been made, based upon all the available evidence available about that person’s circumstances.

Near-zero amounts

Where benefit amounts are recorded as near-zero, the case is examined individually and an edit decision is made.

Multiple benefits

Any combined benefit amounts (for example where State Pension is paid with Attendance Allowance) are edited by carrying out benefit entitlement assessments on individual cases, while preserving the reported total wherever possible.

Validation reports

Computer programs are run to carry out a final check for benefit entitlement and to output any cases that look unreasonable. All cases detected as a result of this validation exercise are individually checked and edited where necessary.

10.5 Stage five – other pre-imputation cleaning

In preparation for imputing missing values, data are made as clean as possible. This involves edits and checks of the following nature:

Weekly amounts

In the FRS, monetary amounts are converted to a weekly equivalent. To calculate this, respondents are usually asked firstly the amount and then the length of time this covered. This is known as a period code. Period codes are used in conjunction with amount variables to derive weekly totals for all receipts and payments. Some variables, such as interest on savings accounts, refer to the amount paid in the last year. These are also converted to a weekly amount.

Sometimes the period code relates to a lump sum or a one-off payment. In these cases, the corresponding value does not automatically convert to a weekly amount. In order for the data to be consistent across the survey, edits are applied to convert most lump sums and one-off payments to weekly amounts. In the same way, where period codes were recorded as ‘don’t know’ or ‘refused’, these are imputed so that the corresponding amount can be converted to a weekly value in the final dataset.

Near-zero amounts

It is not possible for interviewers to enter zero amounts where it is inappropriate to do so. For example, in response to a question on receipt of benefit, a zero amount will result in a warning message being displayed. Some interviewers try to avoid this message by recording near-zero amounts. As a result, all near-zero values are examined and a decision taken as to whether the value is genuine or whether the value should be treated as missing.

Outliers

Statistical reports of the data are produced to show those cases where an amount was greater than four standard deviations from the mean. These relate to outliers, which is data that is beyond the expected value range of the variables being explored based on the other data in the set. Outliers are important to be transformed so that they can validly contribute toward the analysis or be omitted. Although if the outliers are omitted this could increase the risk that false conclusions are drawn.

For the seven largest values over four standard deviation from the mean, the individual record is examined and where necessary (but only if a value looks unrealistic), the case is edited. The outliers remaining in the dataset are verified by examining other relevant data for that household; to establish whether the amount is aligned to values reported for other questions. Compared with earlier FRS years, only a small number of these edits are now carried out, because of the many range checks in the computerised questionnaire.

Credibility checks

Checks are carried out for the internal consistency of certain variables. For example, one check ensures that payments to the mortgage from outside the household that are included in the mortgage payment are not greater than the mortgage payment itself. Such cases are examined and edited where necessary.

10.6 Stage six – imputation

The responses to some questions are much more likely to have missing values than others. For example, it is very unlikely that a respondent will refuse to give or will not know their age or marital status, whereas it is much more likely that they will not be able to provide detailed information on the exact amounts of interest received from an investment.

Two areas where missing values are a problem are income from self-employment and income from investments. Data in the tables provided in this publication include imputed values. However, for some variables missing values remain, such as hours of care.

Methodology Table M.3 illustrates the extent of missing values. Of the 16.1 million set values in the 2022/23 FRS dataset, one per cent were originally recorded as either ‘don’t know’ or ‘refused’. Out of 224,867 missing values, approximately 91 per cent were then imputed. The main imputation methods are summarised below, in the order in which they were applied.

Closing down routes

As with any questionnaire, a typical feature of the FRS is the gatekeeper question positioned at the top of a block of further questions, at which a particular response will open up the block. If the gatekeeper question is answered as ‘don’t know’ or ‘refused’, the block is skipped. This results in a potential problem.

A missing gatekeeper variable could be imputed such that a further series of answers would be expected. However, these answers will not appear because a whole new route has been opened. For example, if the amount of rent is missing for a record and has since been imputed, any further questions about rent would not have been asked.

From the post-imputed dataset, it will appear that these questions should have been asked because a value is present for rent. For this reason, routes where a gatekeeper question has been skipped should be closed down. In most cases, gatekeeper variables are of the ‘yes/no’ type. These would be imputed to ‘no’, assuming that if a respondent does not know whether an item is received or paid, then it is not.

Hotdecking

This essentially looks at characteristics within a record containing the missing value to be imputed and matches it up to another record with similar characteristics for which the variable is not missing. It then takes the known variable and copies it to the missing case. For example, when imputing the Council Tax band of a household, the number of bedrooms, type of accommodation and region are used to search for a case with a similar record. This method ensures that imputed solutions are realistic, and gives a wide range of solutions maintaining variability in the data.

Algorithms

These are used to impute missing values for certain variables, for example variables relating to mortgages and to Council Tax. The algorithms range from very simple calculations to more sophisticated models based on observed relationships within the data and individual characteristics, such as age and gender.

Mop-up’ imputation

This is achieved by running a general validation report of all variables and looking at those cases where missing values are still present. At this stage, variables are looked at on a case-by-case basis to decide what to impute.

Credibility checks are re-run to identify any inconsistencies in the data caused by imputation, and edits are applied where necessary.

All imputations, by each of the methods above, are applied to the un-imputed dataset via a transaction database. This ensures that it is always possible to reproduce the original data.

Points to note with imputed data

Although a great deal of time has been spent on imputing missing values, it should be remembered that they represent only a very small proportion (typically 1 per cent) of the dataset as a whole. However, the following points should be noted:

as mentioned above, in certain situations, imputed values will be followed by ‘skipped’ values. It was decided in some cases that it was better to impute the top of a route only and not to impute large amounts of data. For a small proportion of imputations it is not possible to close down a route. These cases are followed by ‘skipped’ responses (where a value might otherwise be expected).
imputation will have a greater effect on the distribution of original data for variables that have a higher proportion of non-response, as proportions of imputed data will be higher.

10.7 Stage seven – derived variables

Derived variables (DVs) are customised variables in the FRS dataset; derived using information collected both in the survey and from a number of other sources. They are created at the data users’ request, as the main purposes of the DVs are to make it easier for the users to carry out analysis and to ensure consistent definitions are used in all FRS analyses. For example, INDINC is a DV that sums all components of income to give an individual’s total income - information on respondents’ income from various sources is collected in the survey.

As new information is collected in the survey, the relevant DVs are updated if necessary.

11 Grossing

The FRS publication presents tabulations where the percentages refer to sample estimates grossed-up to apply to the whole population.

Grossing-up is the term given to the process of applying factors to sample data so that they yield estimates for the overall population. The simplest grossing system would be a single factor e.g. the number of households in the population divided by the number in the achieved sample. However, surveys are normally grossed by a more complex set of grossing factors that attempt to correct for differential non-response, at the same time as they scale up sample estimates.

The system used to calculate grossing factors for the FRS divides the sample into different groups. The groups are designed to reflect differences in response rates among different types of household. The FRS stratified sample structure is designed to minimise differential non-response in the achieved sample. Grossing is then designed to account for residual differential non-response.

They have also been chosen with the aims of DWP analysis in mind. The population estimates for these groups, obtained from official data sources, provide control totals. The grossing factors are then calculated so that the FRS produces population estimates that are as close as possible to the control totals. As an example, a grossed FRS count of the number of men aged 35-39 would be consistent with the ONS population estimates of the same group.

In developing the grossing regime careful consideration has been given to the combination of control totals, and the way age ranges and so on, are grouped together. The aim has been to strike a balance so that the grossing system will provide, where possible, accurate estimates in different dimensions without significantly increasing variances.

Some adjustments are made to the original control total sources, so that definitions match those in the FRS. For example, an adjustment is made to the demographic data to exclude people whose residence is not a private household. It is also the case that some control totals must be adjusted to correspond to the FRS survey year which runs from April to March.

A software package called CALMAR, provided by the French National Statistics Institute, is used to reconcile control variables at different levels and estimate their joint population. This software makes the final weighted sample distributions match the population distributions through a process known as calibration weighting. It should be noted that if a few cases are associated with very small or very large grossing factors, grossed estimates will have relatively wide confidence intervals.

A review of FRS grossing methodology was carried out on behalf of DWP by the ONS Methodological Advisory Service in 2013. In implementing the review recommendations, a number of relatively minor methodological improvements were made to the FRS grossing regime and the grossing calculations were updated to use 2011 Census data. A back-series of grossing factors calculated using the new methodology has been created for each FRS year back to 2002/03.

For the 2022 to 2023 publication year, changes had to be made to the source of the mid-year population estimates and the mid-year private household population estimates. Mid-year population estimates based on 2021 census data were not available in time for the FRS to use for grossing purposes.

For the 2022 to 2023 survey the population estimates used to weight the FRS are primarily based on the mid-year estimates rolled forward from the 2011 Census to mid-2019 and subnational population projections (2018-based) for mid-2020 and mid-2021. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland the projection for mid-2021 was rolled forward to mid-2022 using official estimates of population change. For Scotland, the mid-2022 population estimates are taken from the subnational projections (2018-based). This series of population estimates does not take account of the 2021 and 2022 Censuses across the UK.

The mid-year estimates cover the usual resident population and were adjusted to reflect the population living in private households and covered by the FRS sample. This was achieved by deflating the usually resident population using data from the 2011 Census on the proportion of people usually resident, by local authority, age and sex who live in private households.

Further details on the impact of the change to using 2011 census data, details and impact of the methodological changes are published here.

12 Reliability of Estimates

All survey estimates have a sampling error attached to them, calculated from the variability of the observations in the sample. From this, a margin of error (confidence interval) is derived. It is this confidence interval, rather than the estimate itself, that is used to make statements about the likely ‘true’ value in the population; specifically, to state the probability that the true value will be found between the upper and lower limits of the confidence interval. In general, a confidence interval of the estimate plus or minus two standard errors is used to state, with 95 per cent confidence, that the true value falls within that interval. A small margin of error will result in a narrow interval, and hence a more precise estimate of where the true value lies.

Tables CI.1 to 9 provide confidence intervals for a selection of variables from the FRS.

In addition to sampling errors, consideration should also be given to non-sampling errors. Sampling errors arise through the process of random sampling and the influence of chance. Non-sampling errors arise from the introduction of some systematic bias in the sample as compared to the population it is supposed to represent. As well as response bias, such biases include inappropriate definition of the population, misleading questions, data input errors or data handling problems – in fact any factor that might lead to the survey results systematically misrepresenting the population. There is no simple control or measurement for such non-sampling errors, although the risk can be minimised through careful application of the appropriate survey techniques from the questionnaire and sample design stages through to analysis of results.

13 Glossary and Definitions

Adult
All those individuals who are aged 16 and over, unless defined as a dependent child (see Child); all adults in the household are interviewed as part of the FRS.

Age
Respondent’s age at last birthday (i.e. at the time of the interview).

All in receipt of benefit
Benefit units or households with at least one member who receives at least one Social Security Benefit. This includes receipt of benefits such as Maternity Benefits that are not shown separately in the tables. It does not include tax credits – see All in receipt of tax credits.

All in receipt of state support
Benefit units or households with at least one member claiming any benefit or tax credit.

All in receipt of tax credits
Benefit units or households with at least one member who receives at least one tax credit.

All not in receipt of state support
Benefit units or households with no members claiming any benefit or tax credit.

Any income-related benefit
Benefit units or households with at least one member who receives at least one Income-related benefit – see Benefits

Any non-income-related benefit
Benefit units or households with at least one member who receives at least one Non-income-related benefit– see Benefits

Any other type of asset
See Savings and investments products.

Any pension
Participation in any type of pension – see Pension Schemes.

Any type of account
Possesses any account or investment for which information is collected on the survey – see Savings and investments products.

Attendance Allowance
See Benefits.

Basic bank account
See Savings and investments products.

Benefit unit
A single adult or a married or cohabiting couple and any dependent children; since January 2006 same-sex partners (civil partners and cohabitees) have been included in the same benefit unit.

Benefits
The government pays money to individuals in order to support them financially under various circumstances. Most of these benefits are administered by DWP. The exceptions are Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction, which are administered by Local Authorities in GB and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) in NI. Tax credits are not treated as benefits, but both tax credits and benefits are included in the term State Support. Benefits are often divided into Income-related benefits and Non-income related benefits. Income-related benefit awards vary depending on the recipient’s income and savings. Non-income-related benefit awards can vary depending on the recipient’s circumstances (level of disability, for example), but not on income and savings.

Disability-related benefits is the term used to describe all the benefits paid on the grounds of disability. These are Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA), Attendance Allowance (AA), War Disablement Pension, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) and Northern Ireland Disability Rate Rebate. Prior to 2008/09, Incapacity Benefit (IB) was included in this group. From 2009/10 the Northern Ireland Disability Rate Rebate was included in this group.

The main benefits are listed below. This list is not exhaustive.

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme: It can pay a lump sum and a regular payment to personnel injured or disabled in service in the Armed Forces. A pension can also be paid to surviving partners, including same-sex and unmarried partners if they were in a “substantial relationship” with the deceased.
Attendance Allowance: A Social Security benefit for people aged 65 or over who need help with personal care because of a mental or physical disability. There are two rates, a lower rate for attendance during day or night, and a higher rate for day and night.
Bereavement Benefits: Any or all of the range of Bereavement Benefits that were introduced on 9 April 2001:
- Bereavement Allowance: A Social Security benefit paid for up to 52 weeks to widows and widowers who were aged 45 or over, but less than pension age, when their spouse died. Bereavement Allowance cannot be received at the same time as Widowed Parent’s Allowance. The amount paid is on a sliding scale depending on the widow or widower’s age.
- Bereavement Payment: Widows/widowers are eligible to receive Widow’s/Bereavement Payments if their late spouse satisfied certain National Insurance contribution conditions. Widows are also eligible if their late husband died as the result of an industrial injury or disease and she was aged under 60 when her late husband died; or if she was aged over 60 and he was not entitled to a Category A Retirement Pension when he died. The payment is a tax free lump sum of £2,000. For the purposes of the Sources of Income tables in this publication, this is treated as covering a period of one year (see Weekly Amounts for how this annual value is treated in the FRS).
- Widowed Parent’s Allowance: A widow or widower is eligible if his or her late husband or wife met certain National Insurance contribution conditions. Widowed Mother’s Allowance or Widowed Parent’s Allowance can be paid to a widow or widower as long as he or she is entitled to Child Benefit for at least one qualifying child, or she is pregnant by her late husband, or in certain cases of artificial insemination. Child dependency increases are paid for each child.

These replaced the old system of Widows’ Pension and can be claimed by men and women whose spouse died on or after 9 April 2001. Widows whose husband died before this date receive transitional protection and would continue to receive Widows’ Pension.

Carer’s Allowance: A Social Security benefit for people who are:
- aged 16 or over
- not in full-time education with 21 hours or more a week of supervised study
- not earning more than the lower earnings limit for National Insurance after certain deductions have been made (such as Income Tax)
- spending at least 35 hours a week caring for someone who is ill or disabled.

The ill or disabled person must be getting either higher or middle rate DLA Care component or AA or a Constant Attendance Allowance at the maximum rate under the War Pensions or Industrial Injuries Scheme.

Child Benefit: A Social Security benefit paid for each child aged under 16 years, or aged under 20 and still in full-time non-advanced education (or on unwaged training). This can only be received by one parent. It is administered by HMRC. In January 2013 the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge was introduced, this imposes taxation on child benefit for individuals earning upwards of £50,000.
Council Tax Reduction: From April 2013 a Council Tax Reduction scheme was introduced to replace Council Tax Benefit. There are differing arrangements in England, Scotland and Wales. In England and Wales, each local authority is required to have a scheme in place, subject to certain conditions. Local schemes operate by allowing either a percentage or flat rate discount.

Note: Council Tax Reduction does not exist within NI. Those renting in NI receive help with their rates through Housing Benefit. These cases are included in Council Tax Reduction figures. For tables which show benefit units by benefit receipt, Council Tax Reduction is allocated to the first benefit unit in the household.

Disability Living Allowance: A Social Security benefit for people who become disabled before the age of 65 and need help with personal care, getting around or both. This benefit has two components:
- Care component: For assistance with personal care, e.g. washing, dressing, using the toilet, cooking a main meal. It is paid at three rates depending on the extent of care needed.
- Mobility component: For those who cannot walk or have difficulty in walking. It is paid at two rates depending on the extent of the difficulties.
Employment and Support Allowance: A Social Security benefit that replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support (paid on grounds of incapacity) for new claims from 30 October 2008. There are contributory and income-related components to the benefit. For more information, see here.
Housing Benefit: A Social Security benefit that is administered by local authorities, which is designed to assist people who rent their homes and have difficulty meeting their housing costs. Council tenants on Housing Benefit receive a rent rebate which means that their rent due is reduced by the amount of that rebate. Private and Social housing tenants usually receive Housing Benefit (or rent allowance) personally, although sometimes it is paid direct to the landlord. Also see Extended Payment of Housing Benefit.
Incapacity Benefit: A Social Security benefit paid to people assessed as being incapable of work and who met the contribution conditions. IB was closed to new claims from 30 October 2008; new claimants after that date receive Employment and Support Allowance instead.
Income Support: A Social Security benefit for adults aged 18 or over who are working less than 16 hours a week, or have a partner working less than 24 hours a week and who have lower income than the law says they need to live on. In general, IS is now only available to people who are not required to be available for work such as pensioners, lone parents and sick or disabled people. It is made up of personal allowances for each member of the benefit unit, premiums for any special needs and housing costs, principally for mortgage interest payments. It is often paid to top-up other benefits or earnings from part-time work. From October 2008, IS was closed to new claims made on the grounds of incapacity. Claimants would apply for Employment and Support Allowance instead.
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB): A Social Security benefit provided for employees who are disabled because of an industrial accident or prescribed industrial disease. To get the basic benefit the person needs a medical assessment of the degree of their disability.
Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA): A Social Security benefit that is payable to people under State Pension age who are both available for and actively seeking work of at least 40 hours per week. Certain groups of people, including carers and those with a physical or mental condition, are able to restrict their availability to less than 40 hours depending upon their personal circumstances. There are both contribution-based and income-based routes of entry to JSA. The different elements are separated in the ‘any income-related benefit’ and ‘any non-income-related benefit’ categories. However, the individual row for JSA includes both elements.
Pension Credit: A Social Security benefit paid to those who have reached the PC qualifying age. It is administered by The Pension Service, a part of the DWP. There are two main elements to PC:
- Guarantee Credit: an amount paid to bring a recipient’s income up to the minimum amount a pensioner can be expected to live on. There are additional amounts for owner occupiers’ housing costs, disability and caring responsibilities.
- Savings Credit: this is available only to pensioners aged 65 and over and pays an additional amount to those who have made provision for their retirement over and above the State Pension.

For more information, see here.

Retirement Pension: A Social Security benefit paid to those over State Pension age. There are two categories of contributory Retirement Pension and two categories of non-contributory Retirement Pension. For more information, see here.
Severe Disablement Allowance: A Social Security benefit for people who are incapable of work and who do not satisfy the contribution conditions for Incapacity Benefit. SDA was abolished for new claimants on 6 April 2001. However, certain people entitled to SDA before that date can continue to receive it.
Social Fund: The Social Fund is an amount of money reserved by the government to make one-off payments for various reasons. These include Funeral, Winter Fuel and Cold Weather Payments, Maternity and Community Care Grants and Budgeting and Crisis Loans. They are available to people who are on certain Social Security benefits and who meet various other conditions. Loans are interest free and the amounts, along with Community Care Grants, are discretionary, not a standard amount.
Universal Credit: Universal Credit is a working-age benefit. It supports those on low incomes with their housing and living costs, as well as child and childcare support where appropriate. Universal Credit replaces all of the following state support: income-based JSA, income-related ESA, IS, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Housing Benefit. It replaces the numerous payments these benefits would have given with a single, usually monthly payment, administered by DWP.
Widow’s Benefits/Bereavement Benefits: Widow’s Benefits/Bereavement Benefits includes the receipt of Bereavement Allowance/Widow’s Pension, Widowed Mother’s Allowance/Widowed Parent’s Allowance or Bereavement Payment/Widow’s Payment.

Bereavement Allowance
See Benefits.

Bereavement Benefits
See Benefits.

Bereavement Payment
See Benefits.

Carer’s Allowance
See Benefits.

Child
A dependent child is defined as an individual aged under 16. A person will also be defined as a child if they are 16 to 19 years old and they are:

Not married nor in a Civil Partnership nor living with a partner; and
Living with parents/ a responsible adult; and
In full-time non-advanced education or in unwaged government training.

Child Benefit
See Benefits.

Child Tax Credit
See Tax credits.

Childcare costs
The amount paid for childcare in a week. From 2005/06 the last amount paid was collected instead of collecting both term time and holiday childcare costs.

Company share schemes/profit sharing
See Savings and investments products.

Council Tax
The tax is based on the property value of a dwelling (which is split into bands) and assumes two adults per household. The bill consists of both a property and personal element. Status discounts (which reduce or eliminate the personal element of the tax) are available to single person and certain other household types. An exemption may apply to some households, the most common type being accommodation occupied solely by students or where the accommodation is owned by the Ministry of Defence as armed forces accommodation.

Households where the landlord is liable for the tax, for example where they are sub-let as part of larger premises are not valued separately. The landlord may decide to recover some or all of the cost of the tax by increasing rent charges.

Council Tax Benefit
See Benefits.

Couple
Two adults who are married (spouse), or in a civil partnership (partner), or are assumed to be living together as such (cohabitee).

Credit Union
See Savings and investments products.

Current account
See Savings and investments products.

Dependent child
See Child.

Derived Variables (DVs)
DVs are customised variables in the FRS dataset, derived using information collected in the survey and from auxiliary sources, such as the Average Weekly Earnings series produced by ONS. The main purposes of the DVs are to make it easier for the users to carry out analysis and to ensure consistent definitions are used in all FRS analyses.

Direct payment account
See Savings and Investments Products.

Disability Living Allowance
See Benefits.

Disability status of benefit unit
A classification by disability status of the members of the benefit unit.

At least one disabled adult, no disabled children: The benefit unit contains one or more disabled adults but no disabled children.
At least one disabled child, no disabled adults: The benefit unit contains one or more disabled children but no disabled adults.
At least one disabled adult and at least one disabled child: The benefit unit contains one or more disabled adults and one or more disabled children.
No disabled adults or disabled children: No members of the benefit unit are disabled.

Disability, including limiting long-standing illness
Disability is defined as having any long-standing illness, disability or infirmity that leads to a significant difficulty with one or more areas of the individual’s life. Everyone classified as disabled under this definition would also be classified as disabled under the general definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). However, some individuals classified as disabled and having rights under the DDA would not be captured by this definition. This definition of disability differs from that used for Economic status.

Disability-related benefits
See Benefits.

Economic status (adults)
This classification is equivalent to the harmonised output category for economic status (see the Methodology chapter for more information on harmonisation). It is based on respondents’ answers to questions on current economic status.

The category for ‘workless, other inactive’ also includes those not actively seeking work because they are: classified as a student, looking after the home, temporarily or permanently sick or disabled adults and those who are not actively seeking or available for employment.

Employee - both full-time and part-time: Based on self-assessment for the main job rather than number of hours worked; includes those doing unpaid work in a business that a relative owns.
Self-employed - both full-time and part-time: Based on self-assessment for the main job rather than number of hours worked; includes those doing unpaid work in their own business.
ILO unemployed: Defined as all those who were without a job at the time the survey was conducted but who were able to start work within the next fortnight and had actively looked for work in the last four weeks or had recently found a job and were waiting to start.
Economically inactive: Individuals, who are not actively seeking work, would not like to work and cannot start work within two weeks, are classified in one of the following sub-categories:
- Retired: individuals who are over State Pension Age or say they are retired.
- Student: individuals who have not completed their education.
- Looking after family/home: working age individuals who are looking after their family and/or their home.
- Permanently sick or disabled: working age individuals who have been sick, injured or disabled for longer than 28 weeks.
- Temporarily sick or disabled: working age individuals who have been sick, injured or disabled for less than 28 weeks. Note that the sick or disabled definitions are different to that used for Disability, including limiting long-standing illness, as they are based on different questions that are only asked of working age adults who are not working.
- Other inactive: all respondents not already classified above.

Economic status (benefit units)
This classification is consistent with that used in the Poverty and Income Inequality report and is based on the economic status of adults (see Economic status (adults)). Benefit units are allocated to the first category that applies.

Economically inactive
Individuals who are not in work but do not meet the criteria to be ILO unemployed.

Employer Sponsored Pension
See Pension schemes.

Employment and Support Allowance
See Benefits.

Employment status
This classification is equivalent to Economic status (adults) but includes those in employment only.

Endowment mortgage
An endowment policy is taken out with an insurance company either before or at the same time as the mortgage. When the policy matures the sum received will be used to repay up to 100 per cent of the original sum borrowed under that mortgage. The original mortgage amount remains outstanding until the policy matures; in the meantime the borrower pays interest to the lender and premiums on the endowment policy to the insurance company. Endowment policy premiums are not included as part of Housing costs.

Endowment policy (not linked)
See Savings and investments products.

Ethnic group
The ethnic group to which respondents consider that they belong. The FRS questions are in line with National Statistics’ harmonisation guidance published in February 2013 . There are six main output categories, two of which are further disaggregated. For more information on harmonisation see the Methodology chapter. The categories are:

White
Irish Traveller
Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
Asian or Asian British
1. Indian
2. Pakistani
3. Bangladeshi
4. Chinese
5. Other Asian
Black/ African/ Caribbean/ Black British
Other ethnic group
1. Arab
2. Any other ethnic group

Extended Payment of Council Tax Reduction and/or Housing Benefit
Entitlement to Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance (income related), Jobseeker’s Allowance (income based), Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance can provide a “passport” on to Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction. If the “passporting” benefit ceases because the claimant starts work or their pay or hours of work increases then an extended payment of Council Tax Reduction and/or Housing Benefit may be payable for up to four weeks after their claim has been terminated.

Family type

Pensioner couple: Benefit units headed by a couple where the Head of the benefit unit is over State Pension age. Note that this differs from the definition used in the Poverty and Income Inequality report, which defines a benefit unit as pensioner couple if either adult is over State Pension age.
Pensioner couple, married or civil partnered: Benefit units headed by a couple where the Head of the benefit unit is over State Pension age and the couple are married or in a civil partnership.
Pensioner couple, cohabiting: Benefit units headed by a couple where the Head of the benefit unit is over State Pension age and the couple are not married nor in a civil partnership.
Single male pensioner: Benefit units headed by a single male adult over State Pension age.
Single female pensioner: Benefit units headed by a single female adult over State Pension age.
Couple with children: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) couple with dependent children.
Couple with children, married or civil partnered: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) couple with dependent children and the couple are married or in a civil partnership.
Couple with children, cohabiting: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) couple with dependent children and the couple are not married nor in a civil partnership.
Couple without children: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) couple with no dependent children.
Couple without children, married or civil partnered: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) couple with no dependent children and the couple are married or in a civil partnership.
Couple without children, cohabiting: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) couple with no dependent children and the couple are not married nor in a civil partnership.
Single with children: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) single adult (male or female) with dependent children.
Single male without children: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) single male adult with no dependent children.
Single female without children: Benefit units headed by a (non-pensioner) single female adult with no dependent children.

See also Couple and Child.

Full-time education
Individuals registered as full-time at an educational establishment. Students on sandwich courses are coded as students or as working according to their position at the time of interview.

Group Personal Pension (GPP)
See Pension schemes.

Group stakeholder pension (GSHP)
See Pension schemes.

Head of benefit unit
The Head of benefit unit is either the Household Reference Person if the Household Reference Person belongs to the benefit unit or, if not, it is the first person from the benefit unit in the order that they were named in the interview.

Head of household
Head of household was replaced by Household Reference Person in April 2001. However we have continued to refer to ‘Head’ (of household) in tables. Note: Where we use the term ‘Head’ in reference to households, this is the Household Reference Person. The Head of the benefit unit will not necessarily be the HRP.

Household
One person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area. A household will consist of one or more benefit units.

Household composition
The classification of households into those with and without children leads to mutually exclusive categories, which add to the total number of households in the sample. The remaining categories are:

Households with one or more adults over state pension age
Households with one or more disabled adults under State Pension age see Disability, including long-standing illness.
Households with one or more unemployed adults: Households where at least one adult is unemployed; as defined by the ILO (see ILO Unemployed).

These categories may overlap with one another.

Household Food Security
This is a measure of whether households have sufficient food to facilitate active and healthy lifestyles. This measure has four classifications:

High food security (score = 0): The household has no problem, or anxiety about, consistently accessing adequate food
Marginal food security (score = 1 or 2): The household had problems at times, or anxiety about, accessing adequate food, but the quality, variety, and quantity of their food intake were not substantially reduced
Low food security (score = 3 to 5): The household reduced the quality, variety, and desirability of their diets, but the quantity of food intake and normal eating patterns were not substantially disrupted
Very low food security (score = 6 to 10): At times during the last 30 days, eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food

High and marginal food security households are considered to be “food secure”. Food secure households are considered to have sufficient, varied food to facilitate an active and healthy lifestyle. Conversely, low and very low food security households are considered to be “food insecure”. Food insecure households are where there is risk of, or lack of access to, sufficient, varied food.

Household Reference Person (HRP)
The highest income householder, without regard to gender.

In a single adult household, the HRP is the sole householder (i.e. the person in whose name the accommodation is owned or rented).
If there are two or more householders, the HRP is the householder with the highest personal income from all sources.
If there are two or more householders who have the same income, the HRP is the eldest householder.

Before April 2001, the HRP was known as the Head of Household. Where we refer to ‘Head’ in tables referring to households, this is the HRP. The Head of benefit unit will not necessarily be the HRP.

Housing Benefit
See Benefits.

ILO Unemployed
Unemployed, according to the ILO, are those adults who are under State Pension age and not working but are available and have been actively seeking work in the last four weeks; includes those who were waiting to take up a job already obtained and will start in the next two weeks.

Incapacity Benefit
See Benefits.

Income Support
See Benefits.

Income-related benefits
See Benefits.

Income-related state support
See Benefits.

Individual
An adult or child.

Individual Savings Account (ISA)
See Savings and investments products.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB)
See Benefits.

Informal carers
Individuals who provide any regular service or help to someone, in or outside of their household who is sick, disabled or elderly; excludes those who give this help as part of a formal job.

Investment Trust
See Savings and investments products.

Jobseeker’s Allowance
See Benefits.

Length of residency
The length of time the Household Reference Person (only) has lived at the address. Other household members may have resided there for shorter or longer periods.

Main source of total weekly household income
This is the source of income (see Sources of income) which is the largest proportion of weekly income for the household. Figures should be interpreted with caution. For example a household might have similar proportions of income from two or more sources, so a very small change in income would change the classification.

Maintenance
A payment which is being received from a previous partner either directly, or by being passed on by a court, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) or DfC (separately from any IS payment). From 2008-09, the focus of the questions changed to cover child maintenance only and exclude, for example, alimony.

Marital status
De facto marital status:

Married / Civil partnership: currently married or in a civil partnership, and not separated from spouse (excludes temporary absences).
Cohabiting: not married, but living as a couple; includes same-sex couples.
Single: never married, or never in a civil partnership.
Widowed: widowed and not cohabiting.
Separated: married or in a civil partnership, but separated from spouse and not cohabiting.
Divorced / Civil partnership dissolved: marriage or civil partnership legally dissolved and not cohabiting.

Mortgage interest
For endowment, pension, and unit trust mortgages, quoted mortgage interest figures are used. For repayment mortgages, interest is calculated on the basis of the amount of mortgage outstanding multiplied by the interest rate current at the time of interview.

Quoted interest figures are checked to ensure that other payments (e.g. for mortgage protection policies, structural insurance or interest on top-up loans for purposes unrelated to housing costs) are excluded and adjusted to include payments made by individuals outside the household. Figures are also net of tax relief.

National Savings Bonds
See Savings and investments Products.

Non-income-related benefits
See Benefits.

Non-income-related state support
See Benefits.

NS&I savings accounts
See Savings and investments products.

Occupational pension
See Pension schemes.

Other bank/building society account
See Savings and investments products.

Partner
See Couple.

Pension Credit
See Benefits.

Pension mortgage
Similar to an Endowment mortgage, but is available only to the self-employed and those who are not members of an occupational pension scheme. Interest only is paid to the lender and monthly contributions are paid into a pension plan which is designed to repay the mortgage when the borrower retires. In addition, it is necessary to arrange a separate term assurance policy designed to repay the mortgage if the borrower should die before the end of the mortgage term. The assurance policy serves the same purpose as a mortgage protection policy.

Note: Payments to the pension plan and premiums on the assurance policy are not included as part of Housing Costs.

Pension Schemes

Automatic enrolment requires all employers to enrol their eligible workers into a workplace pension scheme if they are not already in one. This enrolment also commits the employer to make contributions into the employee’s pension. The staged timetable began in October 2012 for larger firms, with enrolment for all employers completed in 2019. To preserve individual responsibility for the decision to save, workers can opt out of the scheme. To be eligible for automatic enrolment, the jobholder must be at least 22 years old, under State Pension age, earn above the earnings threshold for automatic enrolment, and work or usually work in the UK.

However, those not eligible for automatic enrolment may be entitled to opt in. People currently defined as self-employed could have been a member of an employer scheme from past auto-enrolment, and are entitled to remain in their auto-enrolled scheme and make their own contributions. Likewise, someone who is now an employee, who was previously self-employed can have employer contributions to their previous scheme.For more information see here.

Employer-Sponsored Pension: schemes that are set-up and run by the employer.
Group Personal Pension: some employers who do not offer an occupational pension scheme may arrange for a pension provider to offer their employees a personal pension instead. The employer may have negotiated special terms with the provider which means that administration charges are lower than those for individual personal pensions. Although they are sometimes referred to as company pensions, they are not run by employers and should not be confused with occupational pensions; which have different tax, benefit and contribution rules.
Group stakeholder pension: like Group Personal Pensions, an employer can make an arrangement with a pension provider and offer their employees a Group Stakeholder Pension (see Stakeholder Pension).
Occupational pension: an occupational pension scheme is an arrangement an employer makes to give their employees a pension when they retire. Employees may become a member of an employer’s pension scheme on a voluntary basis. Occupational pension schemes can be contracted in to or out of State Second Pension.
Personal pension: a pension provided through a contract between an individual and the pension provider. The pension which is produced will be based upon the level of contributions, investment returns and annuity rates; a personal pension can be either employer provided (see Group personal pension) or privately purchased (see Private pension).
Private pension: includes occupational pensions (also known as work or employer-sponsored pensions) and personal pensions (including stakeholder pensions). People can have several different private pensions at once, but can only have one contracted out pension at a time.
Stakeholder pension: enable those without earnings, such as non-earning partners, carers, pensioners and students, to pay into a pension scheme. Almost everybody up to the age of 75 may take out a stakeholder pension and it is not necessary to make regular contributions. For more information, see: https://www.gov.uk/personal-pensions-your-rights

Pensioner benefit unit
Benefit units whose Family type is pensioner couple, single male pensioner or single female pensioner.

Personal pension
See Pension schemes.

PII
See Poverty and Income Inequality Report.

Post Office Card Account (POCA)
See Savings and investments products.

Poverty and Income Inequality Report
This report combines information that was previously published in the Northern Ireland Poverty Bulletin and Northern Ireland Households Below Average Income reports. It uses data collected from the Family Resources Survey to provide estimates of the proportion and number of individuals, children, working age adults and pensioners in Northern Ireland living in poverty, and other statistics on household income and income inequality. See here for more information.

Premium Bond
See Savings and investments products.

Private pension
See Pension schemes.

Region
Regional classifications are based on the standard statistical geography of the former Government Office Regions: nine in England, and a single region for each of Wales, Scotland and NI. Government Office Regions are built up of complete counties or unitary authorities. Tables also include statistics for England as a whole. For more information on National Statistics geography, see here.

Rent-free accommodation
Accommodation provided free by an employer or by an organisation to a self-employed respondent, provided that the normal activities of the tenant are to further the cause of the organisation (e.g. Church of England clergy). Accommodation is not rent-free if anyone, apart from an employer or organisation, is paying a rent or mortgage on a property on behalf of the respondent.

Repayment mortgage
Money borrowed for the purchase of the house is repaid over a period of years; interest is also paid on the amount outstanding at the time. Usually the payments consist partly of repayments of the original loan and partly of interest.

Retirement Pension
See Benefits.

Sandwich carer
A sandwich carer is defined in the FRS as somebody who is aged 16 to 70 and:

cares for a child within their household and/or has a child dependent on them within their household;
also cares for an adult relative

Savings
The total value of all liquid assets, including fixed term investments. Figures are taken from responses to questions on the value of assets or estimated from the interest on the savings when these questions are not asked. The main text gives more information on the questions asked and data quality. Note that banded savings do not include assets held by children in the benefit unit/household. The derivation of total savings used in the tables means that “no savings” specifically relates to cases where either the respondent said that they had no accounts/investments, refused to answer or didn’t know or that some accounts/investments were recorded but that none of them yielded any interest/dividends.

Savings and investments products
The FRS asks questions about all Savings and Investments Products, including bank and building society accounts and stocks and shares. The products and groups of products used in this publication are:

Basic Bank Account: This type of account is similar to a current account. Payments can be received from other sources and it can pay bills by direct debit, but unlike a current account there are no overdraft facilities. Withdrawals can be made from cash machines and, in some cases, over the counter of the bank or building society itself. See here.
Company share schemes/profit sharing: Some companies provide extra rewards or bonuses to their employees depending on the profitability of the company. In publicly traded companies, this often takes the form of shares in the company. All schemes of this general type are included under this heading.
Credit Union: A credit union is a financial co-operative similar in many respects to mainstream building societies. Its members both own and control the credit union, which is run solely for their benefit. All members of a specific credit union must share what is known as a “common bond” i.e. they must be connected in some way or another to the other members of that credit union. All the members pool their savings together into a single ‘pot’ from which loans can be made to members from that credit union. Members who have deposited money into the credit union receive an annual dividend while those to whom money is lent have to pay interest on the loan.
Current Account: This includes all current accounts, with both banks and building societies, which are used for day-to-day transactions; with a cheque book and/or bank card. Overdraft facilities may be offered, but interest payments will normally be minimal.
Endowment Policy (not linked): An endowment policy taken out to repay a mortgage (see Endowment mortgage) but no longer used to do so. This is where the mortgage has either been paid off or, more usually, converted to a different method of repayment. The respondent has decided to retain the endowment as an investment in its own right, even though it is no longer intended to repay the mortgage.
Informal assets: An informal asset is money that a respondent has given to someone else to look after or save on their behalf, or money that the respondent saves in cash.
ISA: An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a tax free Government savings scheme which replaced Personal Equity Plans (PEP) and Tax-Exempt Special Savings Accounts (TESSAs) in April 1999; it is usually arranged via a bank or building society.
Investment Trust: See Unit Trusts.
National Savings Bonds: All types of National Savings investments in this category collected on the survey, except Easy Access and Investment accounts:
- FIRST Option Bonds: an accumulating lump sum investment of between £1,000 and £250,000. Interest is paid net of tax and credited annually. The rate is reviewed each year and holders have the option to withdraw or continue.
- Fixed Rate Savings Bonds: replaced new issues of FIRST Option Bonds.
- National Savings Capital Bonds: minimum purchase is £100 and a maximum holding of £250,000; interest is fixed for five years and credited annually gross of tax (although taxable).
- National Savings Certificates: fixed or index-linked to changes in the RPI, for lump sum savings of £100 or more. Maximum earnings are obtained after five years and interest on investments is tax free.
- Pensioner’s Guaranteed Income Bonds: available to those aged over 65, giving a fixed interest rate over five years with income paid monthly gross of tax; minimum investment is £500.
- National Savings Income Bonds: minimum purchase is £2,000 and a maximum holding of £250,000; interest is paid monthly gross of tax (although taxable).
- National Savings Deposit Bonds: no longer available, but earlier bonds are still valid. These were available in multiples of £50 and offered premium rates of interest which was paid gross of tax.
- Children’s Bonus Bonds: can be bought for any child aged under 16 as a five year accumulating investment; interest is paid gross of tax.
- Yearly Plan: yearly plan certificates can still be held, though new applications stopped in January 1995. Under the scheme monthly standing order payments of £20 were made (to a maximum of £400); after twelve months a Yearly Plan certificates was issued. The certificates earn tax free interest, paid monthly, and reach maturity value after four years. After the fourth year, interest is paid three-monthly at a lower rate.
NS&I savings accounts: The National Savings & Investments (NS&I) Investment Account and Easy Access Savings Account.
Other bank/building society account: Accounts belonging to adults recorded under categories “savings account, investment account/bond, any other account with bank building society, etc”.
Post Office Card Account (POCA): This type of account can only be used to receive Social Security benefits, State Pensions and/or Tax Credit payments. No other payments, such as Housing Benefit, occupational pensions, or wages can be paid into it. Payments can only be collected over the counter at a Post Office and will not incur any charges or accrue interest on money contained therein. Due to the limited capability to receive payments, these accounts are included or excluded in tables as noted.
Premium Bond: Investments which do not earn interest, but are entered in a monthly draw for tax-free money prizes.
Stocks and Shares: This includes bonds, debentures and other securities which are usually bought and sold on the financial markets. Bonds issued by foreign governments and local authorities are also recorded here. A share is a single unit of ownership in a company. ‘Stocks’ is the general term for various types of security issued by companies to attract investment in the form of loans. Members of a shares club are included with those owning stocks and shares.
Unit Trusts: A collectively managed investment in the financial markets, where investors buy ‘units’ of a fund that invests in shares, stocks, Gilts, etc. Interest (the ‘dividend’) is paid net of tax, usually half-yearly. The data presented for Unit Trusts also includes Investment Trusts, since these two assets are collected together in the FRS.
Any other type of asset: This is a catch-all category for the small numbers who own other types of financial asset. This includes Gilts (HM Government bonds) which raise money for the UK Government by offering a secure investment, usually over a fixed term, and usually with a set rate of interest although some are index-linked. Interest is paid half-yearly.

The above products cover all types of savings. Some of them are grouped together in other ways in the tables:

Direct Payment Account: A direct payment account is one that can accept electronic payment of benefits via the Banker’s Automated Clearing System (BACS) system. The types of accounts included as such in this report are:
- Current Account
- National Savings and Investments Savings Accounts
- Savings, investments etc
- Basic Account

Where noted, Post Office Card Accounts are also included in this group.

Severe Disablement Allowance
See Benefits.

Shared ownership schemes
The householder part-owns and part-rents the property, so pays a mortgage and rent on the same property. In these circumstances, both the rented and owner questions will be asked.

Social Fund
See Benefits.

Social Security Benefits
Refers to all Benefits, but does not include Tax credits.

Sources of income

Wages and salaries: for a respondent currently working as an employee, income from wages and salaries is equal to: gross pay before any deductions, less any refunds of income tax, any motoring and mileage expenses, any refunds for items of household expenditure and any Statutory Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay, plus bonuses received over the last 12 months (converted to a weekly amount) and any children’s earnings from part-time jobs.
Self-employed income: the total amount of income received from self-employment gross of tax and national insurance payments, based on profits where the individual considers themselves as running a business or on estimated earnings/drawings otherwise. Excludes any profit due to partners in the business. Any losses are deducted.
Investments: Interest and dividends received on savings and investments. See Savings and investments products for details of investments covered by the FRS.
Tax credits: Income from Tax credits.
Retirement Pension plus any IS/PC: for any adults who are over State Pension age, any Retirement Pension plus any Income Support or Pension Credit which is received; these benefits are shown together because of known problems with separating these amounts for pensioners.
Other pensions: payments received from occupational, stakeholder and personal pension schemes; widow’s employee pensions, trade union and friendly society pensions, annuity pensions, trusts and covenants.
Social Security disability benefits: payments received from any of the benefits payable due to disability – see Benefits.
Universal Credit: UC is now the primary working-age benefit. Universal Credit replaces all the following state support: income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Housing Benefit. It replaces these with a single, usually monthly payment, administered by DWP
Other Social Security benefits: payments received from any of the other Benefits.
Other sources: payments from all other sources including, for example, baby-sitting, allowances from absent spouses, organisations, royalties, odd jobs, sub-tenants, educational grants, alimony and Healthy Start Vouchers.

Spouse Spouse refers to a married partner (see Couple) and, from 2005/06, included same-sex civil partners. Civil partners are included in the same benefit unit.

Stakeholder Pension (SHP)
See Pension schemes.

Standard Occupational Classification
The UK’s official occupational classification, revised, updated and published in June 2000. For more information, see here.

State Pension age
From 6 April 2010, the State Pension age has been increasing gradually for women and since December 2018 has been increasing for both men and women. The data in this report was collected throughout the financial year 2022-23, during which the State Pension age for both men and women was 66 years. Details of further planned changes to State Pension age can be seen here.

State Second Pension (formerly SERPS now known as S2P)
Available to individuals who satisfy certain contribution conditions, S2P does not have to be claimed separately from the basic Retirement Pension and is not affected by the receipt of other income. Calculation of benefit is by reference to earnings from 6 April 1978 or the start of working life, whichever is later. Individuals can contract out of the State Second Pension as part of an occupational pension scheme or personal pension scheme.

State support
An individual is in receipt of state support if they receive either a Social Security benefit (see Benefits) or a payable Tax credit.

Stocks and shares
See Savings and investments products.

Tax credits
Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit replaced Working Families Tax Credit, Disabled Persons Tax Credit, Children’s Tax Credit and the child dependency element for all new claims to the following benefits:

Income Support
Jobseeker’s Allowance (income based)
Bereavement Benefit
Incapacity Benefit
Retirement Pension
Severe Disablement Allowance

Tax credits are paid by HMRC.

Child Tax Credit: provides support to families with children. Working Tax Credit is a payment to top up earnings of working people on low incomes, including those who do not have children. Tax credits are paid by HMRC. For more information see here.

Tenure
Types of renting or ownership.

Social renting: includes all cases where the local authority is the landlord, and all housing associations including New Town Development Corporations and the Scottish Special Housing Association except where accommodation is part of job.
Rented privately: includes rent free cases
Buying with a mortgage: Includes local authority (NIHE in NI) and housing association part-own/part-rent, and co- and shared ownership arrangements.
Owned outright: Households who have paid off any mortgage or loan used to purchase the property. These households may have other loans secured on their property for which information is collected on the FRS. However, these payments are excluded from Housing costs.

Prior to 2008/09, social renting was split into council and housing association groups. This division has been removed because it was found to be unreliable. Comparison with administrative data showed that a significant number of housing association tenants wrongly reported that they were council tenants. A split between furnished and unfurnished private renting was also removed in 2008/09 due to lack of interest from FRS data users.

Total weekly benefit unit income
Is the total weekly income from all sources (see Sources of income) for all adults and children in the benefit unit.

Total weekly household income
Is the total weekly income from all sources (see Sources of income) for all adults and children in the household.

Total weekly individual income
Is the total weekly income from all sources (see Sources of income) for an adult.

Unemployed
See ILO unemployed.

Unit trusts
See Savings and investments products.

Universal Credit
See Benefits.

War Disablement Pension
See Benefits.

War Widow’s Pension
See Benefits.

Weekly Amounts
All monetary amounts in the FRS are presented as weekly values. If a respondent reported a payment covering a period other than a week (for example a monthly salary), the average weekly amount is calculated. Lump sums and one-off payments are treated as if they were annual payments for this purpose.

Widowed Mother’s Allowance/Widowed Parents Allowance
See Bereavement Benefits in the definition of Benefits.

Widow’s Benefits/Bereavement Benefits
See Bereavement Benefits in the definition of Benefits.

Widow’s Payment
See Bereavement Benefits in the definition of Benefits.

Widow’s Pension
See Bereavement Benefits in the definition of Benefits.

Working
All respondents with an employment status of full/part-time employed or full/part-time self-employed.

Working Age
Adults (see Adult and Child) under pension age (see State Pension age).

Working Tax Credit
See Tax credits.

Family Resources Survey: Quality and Methodology Information Report 2022/23