Important Notice
Important Notice: Changes to the Family Resources Survey
This publication includes substantial methodological updates that affect how income statistics are produced for Northern Ireland.
What has changed?
This publication is now using an updated methodology which replaces survey responses relating to major state benefits and tax credits, with administrative data. The new methodology applies to the most recent year 2024/25, and revised estimates have also been produced for 2021/22 to 2023/24.
Why are these changes happening?
For many years, the FRS has underreported benefit receipt due to respondents not reporting that they receive a benefit, respondents understating the amount of benefit received, and survey sampling not fully capturing all benefit recipients. This undercount means household income has been consistently understated, especially for lower-income households. The integration of administrative data will reduce income underreporting, leading to an improvement in the quality, coherence, and completeness of income statistics.
What does this mean for the Family Resources Survey?
The introduction of administrative data creates a break in the time series from 2021/22 onwards. This means:
Key income measures have changed for all affected years.
Figures before and after the break in the time series should not be directly compared.
In general, the inclusion of administrative benefit data leads to higher recorded incomes, particularly those on lower incomes.
The changes between previously published figures and administrative linked data reflect better measurement, not a change in peoples’ circumstances
Future changes
Further changes are due to be implemented on FRS data in future years, including replacing survey reported earnings with administrative data, and updating the way the statistics are scaled to population totals (known as grossing). While these developments represent essential modernisation, the scale and ongoing nature of the changes introduce uncertainty, and this transition will last for a number of years.
Reclassification to Official Statistics in Development
In order to reflect the evolving nature of the modernised FRS methodology, we have chosen to temporarily suspend the accredited official statistics designation for our FRS publications. Instead, we will release these publications as Official Statistics in Development and for income sections will only include higher level analysis. This is a transparent signal to our users that while these figures remain valuable, the ongoing updates to data linkage and grossing mean they should be interpreted with extra caution, particularly for long term comparisons.
The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is a continuous household survey which collects information on a representative sample of private households in Northern Ireland. Detailed information is recorded on respondents’ income from all sources; housing tenure; caring needs and responsibilities; disability; expenditure on housing; pension participation; savings; family circumstances and food security.
This report summarises key findings from the FRS for the 2024/25 financial year when approximately 1,700 households were interviewed.
Headline Figures
Figure 1: Households by Tenure, 2024/25
In 2024/25:
• 41% of households owned their
home outright.
• 29% of households bought their home with a
mortgage.
• 17% of households were renting in the private rental
sector, while 12% of households were renting in the social rental
sector.
See Table 3.1 for full data.
Figure 2: Households by Amount of Savings and Investments, 2024/25
In 2024/25:
• 11% of households had no
savings/investments.
• 37% of households had less than £3,000 of
savings/investments.
• 20% of households had £20,000 or more of
savings/investments.
See Table 4.4 for full
data.
Figure 3: Households by State Support Receipt, 2024/25
In 2024/25:
• 26% of households were in
receipt of an income related benefit.
• 68% of households were in
receipt of a non-income related benefit.
• 69% of households were in
receipt of an income related or non-income related benefit.
• 31% of
households were not in receipt of state support.
See
Table 2.2 for full data.
What You Need to Know
The primary purpose of the FRS is to provide the Department for Communities (DfC) with data to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of social welfare policy.
The survey is used by many other government departments and is used for tax and benefit policy modelling by HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs. The FRS is also used extensively by academics and research institutes for social and economic research.
Official Statistics in Development
These statistics have been released as Official Statistics in Development due to significant ongoing methodological updates, including the introduction of linked administrative benefit data and planned changes to earnings data and population grossing methods. Users should interpret the figures with caution during this transition period
Households, Benefit Units and Individuals
Results in this report are presented at household, family/benefit unit or individual level depending on context.
Survey Data
Estimates are based on responses from approximately 1,700 Northern Ireland households provided during face-to-face and telephone interviews in 2024/25. Use of survey data means that estimates in this report are subject to uncertainty which can affect how changes should be interpreted in this report especially in the short term. Therefore latest estimates should be considered alongside long term patterns. However, the survey sample is proportionally representative of the Northern Ireland population and is statistically valid.
Where to Find Out More
Further detailed information about FRS methodology, and contextual information to aid understanding of the statistics presented in this report, can be found in the Quality and Methodology Report.
Supporting data tables are available to download here.
Other FRS Publications
The FRS provides the underlying data for the Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality Report, which is also published by DfC.
Detailed Analysis
Income and State Support
Income from employment has formed a large and stable proportion of total household income over the last 4 years.
Figure 4: Sources of Total Gross Household Income, 2021/22 to 2024/25
- Of the gross weekly household income in Northern Ireland in 2024/25, 70% was made up of income from employment which includes wages, salaries, self-employment and employment related dividends. This compares to 72% in the UK overall.
- A further 20% of average gross income came from state support which is comprised of benefits including state pension and tax credits.
- The remaining income was made up from private pensions (7%) and other sources (3%).
See Table 2.1 for full data.
Figure 5: Families (Benefit Units) by Income Received from State Support, 2024/25
From Figure 5 above, it can be noted that during 2024/25
- 41% of families received no state support;
- 23% of families received less than £10,000 a year in state support;
- 10% of families received between £10,000 and £15,000 a year;
- 9% of families received between £15,000 and £20,000 a year; and
- 18% of families received £20,000 or more a year in state support.
See Table 2.5 for full data.
Tenure
The rental sector and buying with a mortgage each account for approximately 30% of household tenures.
Figure 6: Households by Tenure, 2021/22 to 2024/25
Over the past four years, the distribution of households across tenure types has remained broadly stable, with only minor fluctuations observed within each category.
Households who own their homes outright continue to represent the largest proportion of households at 41%, marginally below the peak of 43% recorded in 2021/22. By contrast, the proportion of households purchasing with a mortgage is 29% in 2024/25, remaining relatively stable across the time series.
Throughout the period, the private rental sector has consistently accounted for a higher proportion of households who rent their homes than the social rental sector by approximately 5 percentage points (17% vs 12% in 2024/25).
See Table 3.5 for full data.
There were regional variations in the cost of rents/mortgages across the UK.
Figure 7: Median Household Weekly Rent/Mortgage by UK Region, 2024/25
The legend follows the order of the bars within the chart.
The chart (above) shows that the reported median weekly household rent was higher for private renters than for social renters. Social sector rent levels and increases are controlled through government-set formulae set out in the Housing Regulator’s rent standard and Government guidance. Differences may also, in part, reflect the difference in the type of properties in the sectors, with the private rental sector having a much wider and more varied range of stock.
Private rent was 1.3 times higher on average than social rent in Northern Ireland. The highest ratio was observed in London (2.3 times higher) with North East having the lowest ratio (1.2 times higher) amongst the UK regions. This compares to the overall United Kingdom ratio of 1.7 times higher.
There was variation across the UK regions as to whether private rent or mortgage instalments (repayment mortgages only) were the most expensive, with Northern Ireland being one of the least expensive regions in the UK for both.
See Table 3.2 for full data.
Disability
One fifth of the Northern Ireland population had a disability.
Figure 8: Disability Prevalence by Age Group, 2021/22 to 2024/25
The chart above shows that in Northern Ireland, the proportion of disabled people differed by age group: in 2024/25, 21% of working age adults were disabled compared to 46% of adults over State Pension age. The estimated percentage of all individuals who had a disability in 2024/25 was 22%.
The term “disability” follows the core definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010, which states that a person is considered to have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment that has ‘substantial’ and ‘long term’ negative effects on their ability to do normal daily activities.
From 6 April 2010, the State Pension age for women has been gradually increasing and since December 2018 has been increasing for both men and women. FRS data contained in this report was collected throughout the financial year 2024/25, during which the State Pension age for both men and women was 66 years.
See Table 5.9 for full data.
In 2024/25, almost half of all disabled individuals reported a mobility impairment.
Figure 9: Impairment Types Reported by Disabled People, 2024/25
The chart above provides detailed information about the types of impairment that disabled people reported.
Please note that respondents can be affected by (and can report) more than one type of impairment.
In 2024/25, the percentages of those with a disability affected by different impairment types ranged from 47% of disabled individuals reporting a mobility impairment to 8% reporting a visual impairment.
See Table 5.12 for full data.
The disability prevalence ranged from 16% to 34% between Local Government Districts (LGDs).
Figure 10: Disability Prevalence by Local Government District (LGD), 2022/23 - 2024/25 (Combined)
The chart above shows that disability prevalence varied notably by LGD. The percentage of individuals recorded as having a disability was lowest within Mid Ulster at 16%. The disability prevalence was at its highest within the Derry City and Strabane LGD at 34%. The average for 2022/23 - 2024/25 for Northern Ireland disability prevalence was 24%.
The FRS does not record information on individuals in nursing or retirement homes. This means that figures relating to older people may not be fully representative of the Northern Ireland population, as many older people may have moved into homes where they can receive more support. Therefore, it is likely that disability prevalence is higher than estimated from the FRS.
See Table 5.10 for full data.
Figure 11: Proportion of Disabled People by Gender, 2021/22 to 2024/25
The legend follows the order of the bars within the chart.
- The chart above shows that in 2024/25, approximately 24% females and 21% males in Northern Ireland reported having a disability.
See Table 5.11 for full data.
Carers
Approximately 9% of the population were informal carers.
Figure 12: Percentage of People Providing Informal Care by Age Group, 2021/22 to 2024/25
Figure 13: Hours of Care Provided by Adult Informal Carers per Week, 2024/25
Many people provide informal care to others. In 2024/25, 9% of the population (including children) were informal carers. This included 11% of working age adults and 9% of State Pension age adults. Figure 12 above shows the percentage of carers increased slightly over the last four years from 8% in 2021/22 to 9% in 2024/25.
The bar chart (Figure 13) shows that in 2024/25, 15% of adult carers provided care for 50 or more hours per week.
See Table 5.1 and Table 5.7 for full data.
Over one third of adult informal carers were working full-time and 19% were retired.
Figure 14: Adult Informal Carers by Employment Status, 2024/25
The legend follows the order of the bars within the chart.
- Figure 14 above shows that many carers balanced their caring responsibilities with paid work. However, it also shows that carers were more likely to be economically inactive due to sickness/disability or other reasons than the adult population overall.
- Of all adult carers, full-time employee/self-employed was the largest group (38% in 2024/25).
- The next largest groups were those who were retired (19%) and those who were Part-time Employee/Self-Employed (17%).
- All analysis in this section is based on informal carers only i.e. carers who do not provide help as part of a formal job. The terms ‘informal carer’ and ‘carer’ are used interchangeably.
- The sample size for unemployment was too small to include in the graph.
See Table 5.3 for full data.
Pensions, Savings and Investments
The proportion of benefit units with no savings has decreased over the last four years, from 20% to 16%.
Figure 15: Percentage of Benefit Units by Amount of Savings and Investments, 2021/22 to 2024/25
The legend follows the order of the bars within the chart.
The chart above presents the percentages of benefit units by amount of savings and investments for the most recent four years.
This shows that the proportion of benefit units with some, but less than £3,000 of savings increased slightly from 41% in 2021/22 to 42% in 2024/25, and there has been an decrease in those benefit units with no savings (20% to 16%).
The proportion of benefit units who reported savings of £20,000 and over increased from 13% to 15% between 2021/22 and 2024/25.
Please note that caution should be used when looking at the value of savings and investments as they are likely to be under-estimates, since respondents often inaccurately report their account details.
See Table 4.5 for full data.
Employees were more than twice as likely to be participating in a pension scheme than the self-employed.
Figure 16: Pension Participation by Economic Status, 2024/25
The legend follows the order of the bars within the chart.
The chart (above) shows that 45% of all adults were actively participating in a pension scheme during 2024/25.
Approximately three quarters (77%) of all employees were participating in a pension scheme in comparison to just over a third (34%) of those who were self-employed.
The sample sizes for both Self employed who were actively participating in any employer sponsored scheme and employees actively participating in a personal pension was too small to show.
Note, all adults includes those who are economically inactive.
See Table 4.6 and 4.7 for full data.
Household Food Security
The FRS asks questions on household food security. Households with high or marginal food security are “food secure”. Food secure households are considered to have sufficient, varied food to facilitate an active and healthy lifestyle. Households with low or very low food security are “food insecure”. Food insecure households have a risk of, or lack of access to, sufficient, varied food.
Food security was lowest within the social rental sector.
Figure 17: Percentage of Food Secure Households by Country, 2024/25
Figure 18: Percentage of Food Secure Households by Household Disability Status, 2024/25
Figure 19: Percentage of Food Secure Households by Tenure, 2024/25
In 2024/25, 94% of households in Northern Ireland were food secure, compared to 91% in the United Kingdom as a whole.
In 2024/25, 97% of households with no disabled adults were food secure, compared to 89% of households with a disabled adult, and 84% of households with a disabled adult under pension age.
In 2024/25, 97% of all owner occupied households were food secure, compared to 77% of households in the social rental sector and 89% of households in the private rental sector.
Households in receipt of income related benefits also experienced low levels of food security, with an estimate of 82% in 2024/25.
See Tables 6.1– 6.5 for full data.
About these Statistics
Official Statistics in Development
Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing a development; they may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The code has a strong emphasis on innovation and improvement in ensuring the enduring public value of official statistics. The data that underpin this output are derived from the UK wide Family Resources Survey (FRS). The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) process the Northern Ireland (NI) data on behalf of Department for Communities NI (DfC), as part of the UK-wide dataset. Over recent years, DWP has been undertaking a major FRS transformation programme to improve the quality, coherence and completeness of income statistics, with a central focus on integrating administrative data with survey responses. Three substantial transformation components are being implemented:
Benefit linkage - replacing survey reported benefit receipt with administrative records to reduce historical underreporting.
Earnings linkage - replacing survey reported earnings with administrative earnings data to address underreporting.
A new grossing regime - updating the way the statistics are scaled to population totals (known as grossing). This will incorporate population data from the 2021 Census and new control totals for the main benefits to ensure the statistics better account for benefit receipt across the population.
Benefit linkage has been incorporated into this output replacing survey data, with earnings linkage and the updated grossing regime planned to follow in later years.
While these developments represent essential modernisation, the scale and ongoing nature of the changes introduce uncertainty, and this transition will last for a number of years. In light of this we have chosen to temporarily suspend the accredited official statistics designation of this output. Instead, we have released this publication as Official Statistics in Development. This is a transparent signal to our users that while these figures remain valuable, the ongoing updates to data linkage and grossing mean they should be interpreted with extra care, particularly for long term comparisons.
This temporary de-designation will allow us to further investigate the NI specific impacts and aim to produce a revised, consistent back series once all transformation components are implemented.
Using the FRS for Analysis
Coverage
The FRS is designed to be representative of all private households in
the United Kingdom. Therefore certain individuals are not included – for
example, students in halls of residence and individuals in nursing or
retirement homes.
Sample design
The FRS uses a systematic stratified sample designed to produce robust
regional estimates. DfC have had to combine several years of data to
produce LGD analysis.
Sample size
Although the FRS NI sample of approximately 2,000 households is
relatively large for a household survey, small sample sizes for
particular subgroups may require several years of data to be combined.
Note, the 2024/25 estimates are based on responses from 1,700 Northern
Ireland households provided during face to face and telephone
interviews.
Data Collection
Data Collection in 2021/22 was
impacted by COVID-19 restrictions resulting in a move to telephone
interviewing and a reduced sample size. This led to additional
uncertainty around the estimates, particularly for smaller groups. From
2022/23 on, a mix of face to face and telephone interviews were
employed. Changes in estimates over recent years should be interpreted
being mindful of the differences in data collection approaches across
the period and the effect this had on sample composition, with longer
term trends often giving a clearer picture.
Sampling Error
Results from surveys are estimates and not precise figures – in general
terms the smaller the sample size, the greater the uncertainty.
Results in this report are subject to a margin of error which can affect how changes should be interpreted, especially in the short term. Latest estimates should be considered alongside medium and long-term patterns.
Non-Sampling Error
Survey data represent the information as provided by the respondents to
the survey. If people give inaccurate responses or certain groups of
people are less likely to respond this can introduce biases and errors.
Non-sampling error is minimised in the FRS through effective and
accurate sample and questionnaire design, active fieldwork management,
the use of skilled and experienced interviewers and extensive quality
assurance of the data. However, it is not possible to eliminate
non-sampling error completely, nor can it be easily quantified.