Summary information

Study title

Family Resources Survey, 2005/06-2022/23: Secure Access

Creator

Office for National Statistics, Social and Vital Statistics Division
NatCen Social Research
Department for Work and Pensions

Study number / PID

9256 (UKDA)

10.5255/UKDA-SN-9256-1 (DOI)

Data access

Restricted

Series

Not available

Abstract

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Family Resources Survey (FRS) has been running continuously since 1992 to meet the information needs of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It is almost wholly funded by DWP. The FRS collects information from a large, and representative sample of private households in the United Kingdom (prior to 2002, it covered Great Britain only). The interview year runs from April to March.The focus of the survey is on income, and how much comes from the many possible sources (such as employee earnings, self-employed earnings or profits from businesses, and dividends; individual pensions; state benefits, including Universal Credit and the State Pension; and other sources such as savings and investments). Specific items of expenditure, such as rent or mortgage, Council Tax and water bills, are also covered.Many other topics are covered and the dataset has a very wide range of personal characteristics, at the adult or child, family and then household levels. These include education, caring, childcare and disability. The dataset also captures material deprivation, household food security and (new for 2021/22) household food bank usage.The FRS is a national statistic whose results are published on the gov.uk website. It is also possible to create your own tables from FRS data, using DWP’s Stat Xplore tool. Further information can be found on the gov.uk Family Resources Survey webpage.Secure Access FRS dataThe Secure Access version of the FRS contains unrounded data and additional variables, and is available from 2005/06 onwards. Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the FRS must fulfil additional requirements beyond those associated with the EUL datasets. FRS, HBAI and PIThe FRS underpins the related Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset, which focuses on poverty in the UK, and the related Pensioners' Incomes (PI)...
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Methodology

Data collection period

Not available

Country

United Kingdom

Time dimension

Repeated cross-sectional study

Analysis unit

Individuals
Families/households
National

Universe

FRS: Private households in the United Kingdom. In a normal year this is over 33,000 adults (over 19,000 households). HBAI and PI: Respondents of the FRS

Sampling procedure

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Kind of data

Not available

Data collection mode

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)
Compilation/Synthesis

Access

Publisher

UK Data Service

Publication year

2024

Terms of data access

The Data Collection is available to UK Data Service registered users subject to the End User Licence Agreement.

Commercial use is not permitted.

Use of the data requires approval from the data owner or their nominee. Users must apply for access via a Secure Access application.

Registered users must complete the Safe Researcher Training course and gain DEA Accredited Researcher Status.

Additional condition of use: Baseline Personnel Security Standard Check.

Accessing data from the Department for Work and Pensions through the UK Data Archive’s SecureLab requires a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check. 

For further guidance on BPSS please visit the Government baseline personnel security standard guidelines. Although this guidance is primarily for the Civil Service, Armed Forces and Government contractors, it applies equally to researchers accessing data via the UK Data Archive, UK Data Service.

A suitable officer at your institution must confirm that the following four elements have been verified:

  • Identity
  • Employment History (for a minimum of the past 3 years)
  • Nationality and Immigration Status
  • Criminal Record (unspent convictions only).

Confirmation of the BPSS check must be received in writing. The UK Data Archive has prepared a template letter that can be used by an officer at your institution to confirm the required BPSS information.

We are unable to process applications that are not accompanied by this confirmation. 

Additional condition of use: Suppression Threshold

No cell in any published table should contain or be based on frequencies of less than 30 in line with the suppression threshold applied by the Chief Statistician as reported in the Family Resources Survey: background information and methodology document.

Related publications

Not available