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. Safe Room Access FRS data In addition to the standard End User Licence (EUL) version, Safe Room access datasets, containing unrounded data and additional variables, are also available for FRS from 2005/06 onwards - see SN 7196, where the extra contents are listed. The Safe Room version also includes secure access versions of the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) and Pensioners' Incomes (PI) datasets. The Safe Room access data are currently only available to UK HE/FE applicants and for access at the UK Data Archive's Safe Room at the University of Essex, Colchester. Prospective users of the Safe Room access version of the FRS/HBAI/PI will need to fulfil additional requirements beyond those associated with the EUL datasets. Full details of the application requirements are available from Guidance on applying for the Family Resources Survey: Secure Access.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) dataset. The EUL versions of HBAI and PI are held under SNs 5828 and 8503 respectively. The secure access versions are held within the Safe Room FRS study under SN 7196 (see above).
The purpose of this survey is to provide the Department of Social Security with up-to-date detailed data for policy monitoring and evaluation, benefit expenditure forecasting, and other analyses such as <i>Households Below Average Income</i>.
Main Topics:
Household characteristics (including size, type tenure, etc.); household income (including benefit receipt, unearned income, etc.); housing costs (rent, mortgages, etc.); individuals' characteristics (ethnic origin, employment status, etc.); information on carers and disability; assets and savings; pensions; consumer durables.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Face-to-face interview
