The data includes estimates at lower super output area (LSOA) of housholds subject to high energy costs and low income (since 2011) and of households spending 10% or more of their income on fuel, for 2008 to 2012. All the data comes from DECC.

This shows fuel poor households as a proportion of all households in the geographical area (modelled) using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) measure. Since 2021 (2019 data) the LILEE indicator considers a household to be fuel poor if: it is living in a property with an energy efficiency rating of band D, E, F or G as determined by the most up-to-date Fuel Poverty Energy Efficiency Rating (FPEER) methodologyits disposable income (income after housing costs (AHC) and energy needs) would be below the poverty line. The Government is interested in the amount of energy people need to consume to have a warm, well-lit home, with hot water for everyday use, and the running of appliances. Therefore, fuel poverty is measured based on required energy bills rather than actual spending. This ensures that those households who have low energy bills simply because they actively limit their use of energy at home, Fuel poverty statistics are based on data from the English Housing Survey (EHS). Estimates of fuel poverty at the regional level are taken from the main fuel poverty statistics. Estimates at the sub-regional level should only be used to look at general trends and identify areas of particularly high or low fuel poverty. They should not be used to identify trends over time.Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

Context

A household is said to be in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost, given their income. The term is mainly used in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, although discussions on fuel poverty are increasing across Europe, and the concept also applies everywhere in the world where poverty may be present. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_poverty The data includes estimates at lower super output area (LSOA) of households subject to high energy costs and low income (since 2011) and of households spending 10% or more of their income on fuel, for 2008 to 2012. All the data comes from DECC. Cambridgeshire Research Group research.group@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Content

Data on the extent of fuel poverty in England. The Fuel Poverty Indicator (FPI) is a statistical model of fuel poverty based on the 2003 English House Condition Survey (EHCS) and 2001 Census. Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) Geographic coverage: England Time coverage: 2008-2014 Type of data: Modelled data.

Published by: Cambridgeshire Insight

Acknowledgements

FOI@cambridgeshire.gov.uk http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/info/20044/data_protection_and_foi/148/information_and_data_sharing

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

Inspiration

People that can't afford to heat their home. Nine percent of the EU population could not afford to heat their home sufficiently with Bulgaria scoring the highest of 39.2%.

This shows fuel poor households as a proportion of all households in the geographical area (modelled) using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) measure. Since 2021 (2019 data) the LILEE indicator considers a household to be fuel poor if: it is living in a property with an energy efficiency rating of band D, E, F or G as determined by the most up-to-date Fuel Poverty Energy Efficiency Rating (FPEER) methodologyits disposable income (income after housing costs (AHC) and energy needs) would be below the poverty line. The Government is interested in the amount of energy people need to consume to have a warm, well-lit home, with hot water for everyday use, and the running of appliances. Therefore, fuel poverty is measured based on required energy bills rather than actual spending. This ensures that those households who have low energy bills simply because they actively limit their use of energy at home, Fuel poverty statistics are based on data from the English Housing Survey (EHS). Estimates of fuel poverty at the regional level are taken from the main fuel poverty statistics. Estimates at the sub-regional level should only be used to look at general trends and identify areas of particularly high or low fuel poverty. They should not be used to identify trends over time.Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

Effective emissions reduction policies are required to avoid dangerous climate change. The redistributive impacts resulting from those policies will be relevant for their public acceptability. This project first examines the distribution of CO2 emissions across UK households. Second, it will explore the potential distribution of financial burdens across UK households resulting from a range of climate change mitigation policies. Households that will be most vulnerable to CO2 reduction policies will be identified. The project will develop a household emissions dataset by combining data from the Living Cost and Food Survey with energy prices and emission factors for specific expenditure items. This database will then be used to estimate the distribution of CO2 emissions across UK households, comparing different categories of emissions (home energy, transport, indirect and total household emissions). The project will also analyse the impact of different socio-demographic factors on household CO2 emissions. In particular, we will compare the importance of different factors for low and high income households, enabling us to identify potentially vulnerable households in low income groups.

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 data
In addition to the standard End User Licence (EUL) version, Secure Access datasets, containing unrounded data and additional variables, are also available for FRS from 2005/06 onwards - see SN 9256. Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the FRS will need to fulfil additional requirements beyond those associated with the EUL datasets. Full details of the application requirements are available from http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/media/178323/secure_frs_application_guidance.pdf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Guidance on applying for the Family Resources Survey: Secure Access.

FRS, HBAI and PI
The 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 under SN 7196 and 9257 (see above).

FRS 2022-23

The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the FRS 2022-23 survey was much reduced when compared with the two previous survey years. Throughout the year, there was a gradual return to pre-pandemic fieldwork practices, with the majority of interviews being conducted in face-to-face mode. The achieved sample was just over 25,000 households. Users are advised to consult the FRS 2022-23 Background Information and Methodology document for detailed information on changes, developments and issues related to the 2022-23 FRS data set and publication. Alongside the usual topics covered, the 2022-2023 FRS also includes variables for Cost of Living support, including those on certain state benefits; energy bill support; and Council Tax support. See documentation for further details.

FRS 2021-22 and 2020-21 and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the FRS 2021-22 and 2020-21 data collection in the following ways:

• In 2020-21, fieldwork operations for the FRS were rapidly changed in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the introduction of national lockdown restrictions. The established face-to-face interviewing approach employed on the FRS was suspended and replaced with telephone interviewing for the whole of the 2020-21 survey year.

• This change impacted both the size and composition of the achieved sample. This shift in mode of interview has been accompanied by a substantial reduction in the number of interviews achieved: just over 10,000 interviews were achieved this year, compared with 19,000 to 20,000 in a typical FRS year. While we made every effort to address additional biases identified (e.g. by altering our weighting regime), some residual bias remains. Please see the FRS 2020-21 Background Information and Methodology document for more information.
• The FRS team have published a technical report for the 2020-21 survey, which provides a full assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the statistics. In line with the Statistics Code of Practice, this is designed to assist users with interpreting the data and to aid transparency over decisions and data quality issues.

• In 2021-22, the interview mode was largely telephone, with partial return to face-to-face interviews towards end of survey year. The achieved sample was over 16,000 households. This is a return towards the number expected in a normal survey year (around 20,000 households).
• In both survey years, there remain areas where users are advised to exercise caution when making comparisons to other survey years. More details on how the results for the 2020 to 2021 and 2021-22 survey years were affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can be found in the FRS 2020 to 2021 Background Information and Methodology and FRS 2021 to 2022 Background Information and Methodology.

The FRS team are seeking users' feedback on the 2020-21 and 2021-22 FRS. Given the breadth of groups covered by the FRS data, it has not been possible for DWP statisticians to assess or validate every breakdown which is of interest to external researchers and users. Therefore, the FRS team are inviting users to let them know of any insights you may have relating to data quality or trends when analysing these data for your area of interest. Please send any feedback directly to the FRS Team Inbox: team.frs@dwp.gov.uk

Latest edition information

For the second edition (May 2025), the data were redeposited. The following changes have been made:

• An ONS-delivered fix to the highest level of qualification (EDUCQUAL) which for several adults had been erroneously recorded.
• For ESA (benefit 16 on the BENEFITS table) the associated VAR3 has now been populated using ESA admin data, to show whether cases are Support Group etc.
• For Pension Credit recipients (benefit 4 on the BENEFITS table) adding the low-income benefits and tax credits Cost of Living Payment as benefit 124; with its flag CLPAYIRB set on the ADULT table.