Number of people of State Pension age and working age, and old age dependency ratios for regions, counties and local authorities in England.

Pensioners' Incomes (PI) contains estimates of the levels, sources and distribution of pensioners' incomes. It also examines the position of single pensioners and pensioner couples, including any dependent children, within the income distribution of the population as a whole. This differs from Households Below Average Income (HBAI) (see SNs 5828 and 7196), where analysis is on a household basis, and includes the income of adults not in the pensioner unit but living in the same household. The PI undertakes a few extra steps beyond the FRS and HBAI data to derive pension income variables.

The PI series is a key source of information used to inform Government thinking on relevant policies and related programmes and projects. Researchers and analysts outside the government use statistics and data to examine topics such as ageing, the distributional impacts of fiscal policies, and pensioner groups' income profiles. The PI estimates are usually based on a sample of around 7,000 adults over State Pension age, who reside in private households in the United Kingdom, taken from the Family Resources Survey (FRS).

The gov.uk Pensioners' Incomes Statistics webpage contains annual reports, accompanying tables, research, and technical papers.

PI data are also available from 1994/95 onwards via the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Stat-Xplore online tool.

Secure Access PI data

The Secure Access version of the PI series (SN 9257) is available from 2007/08 onwards, whereas the standard End User Licence (EUL) data (SN 8503) are available from 2008/09. Unlike the EUL versions, the ages of the head of household and spouse have not been top-coded at 80 years in the Secure Access version. Prospective users of the Secure Access version must fulfil additional requirements beyond those associated with the EUL datasets. The Secure Access version of FRS is held under SN 9256, and the Secure Access version of HBAI is available under SN 7196.

Latest edition information

For the 7th edition (April 2025), data and documentation for 2023/24 were added to the study.

The State Pension is a 'contribution-based' benefit, and depends on an individual's National Insurance (NI) contribution history. For someone with the 30 qualifying years (years in which NI contributions were paid) it is payable at a flat rate of PS113.10 per week (2014-15). The current state pension age is 65 for men and is gradually being increased from 60 to 65 for women. A number of changes to the State Pension Age are underway. The basic State Pension increases every year by either: earnings (the average percentage growth in wages in Great Britain); prices (the percentage growth in prices in the UK as measured by the Consumer Prices Index CPI) or by 2.5%, whichever is the highest. More information regarding the State Pension Datasets shown here are extracts of UK datasets relating to State Pension claims based on the 694 geographic datazones in the Glasgow conurbation and covers the years 2002 - 2013. Full UK datasets are available from the Department of Work and Pensions. All counts have been adjusted using a variant of controlled rounding to avoid the disclosure of any personal information. All cells have been rounded to base 5 and the total equals the sum of the disaggregation shown. Please note that any counts that are shown as zero may not be a 'real' zero. . Although all small area totals are within 5 of the true value, aggregating them to form Local Authority totals is not recommended due to the fact that it is the sum of rounded figures. Local Authority totals should therefore be obtained from the DWP Tabulation Tool. More information about the DWP and their tabulation tool and collections can be located here Further qualifications or limitations to the data can be examined here. Licence: None

Pensioners' Incomes (PI) contains estimates of the levels, sources and distribution of pensioners' incomes. It also examines the position of single pensioners and pensioner couples, including any dependent children, within the income distribution of the population as a whole. This differs from Households Below Average Income (HBAI) (see SNs 5828 and 7196), where analysis is on a household basis, and includes the income of adults not in the pensioner unit but living in the same household. The PI undertakes a few extra steps beyond the FRS and HBAI data to derive pension income variables.

The PI series is a key source of information used to inform Government thinking on relevant policies and related programmes and projects. Researchers and analysts outside the government use statistics and data to examine topics such as ageing, the distributional impacts of fiscal policies, and pensioner groups' income profiles. The PI estimates are usually based on a sample of around 7,000 adults over State Pension age, who reside in private households in the United Kingdom, taken from the Family Resources Survey (FRS).

The gov.uk Pensioners' Incomes Statistics webpage contains annual reports, accompanying tables, research, and technical papers.

PI data are also available from 1994/95 onwards via the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Stat-Xplore online tool.

Secure Access PI data

The Secure Access version of the PI series (SN 9257) is available from 2007/08 onwards, whereas the standard End User Licence (EUL) data (SN 8503) are available from 2008/09. Unlike the EUL versions, the ages of the head of household and spouse have not been top-coded at 80 years in the Secure Access version. Prospective users of the Secure Access version must fulfil additional requirements beyond those associated with the EUL datasets. The Secure Access version of FRS is held under SN 9256, and the Secure Access version of HBAI is available under SN 7196.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (April 2025), data and documentation for 2023/24 were added to the study.

Households Below Average Income anonymised UK Data Archive End User Licence. The data is used to produce the latest annual estimates of the percentage of children, working-age adults and pensioners living in relative and absolute low income, together with statistics on children living in combined low income and material deprivation, and pensioners living in material deprivation, in 2011/12. Historic data are available. For general information : https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/series/households-below-average-income-hbai--2

United Kingdom % of Household: by Type: 1 Person: Over State Pension Age data was reported at 13.433 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 13.378 % for 2015. United Kingdom % of Household: by Type: 1 Person: Over State Pension Age data is updated yearly, averaging 13.248 % from Dec 1996 (Median) to 2016, with 21 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.656 % in 2013 and a record low of 12.893 % in 2011. United Kingdom % of Household: by Type: 1 Person: Over State Pension Age data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office for National Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.H027: Number of Households, Household Size and Type.

Pensioners Incomes Anonymised UK Data Archive End User Licence. The Pensioners Incomes series contains estimates of the levels, sources and distribution of pensioners’ incomes and also examines the position of pensioners within the income distribution of the population as a whole. The series includes information for gross and net income, both Before Housing Costs and After Housing Costs. After Housing Costs estimates better reflect the income pensioners actually have to spend. Both a end user license and non end user license available.

Legacy unique identifier: P00029

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.

This dataset is about books. It has 1 row and is filtered where the book is From me to you? : How the UK state pension system redistributes. It features 7 columns including author, publication date, language, and book publisher.

Average annual incomes, taxes and benefits, and household characteristics of retired and non-retired households in the UK. Data for financial years, by quintile and decile groups, country and region and tenure type.

Main tables from the Effects of taxes and benefits on household income publication from 1977, including average incomes, taxes and benefits and household characteristics of all, retired and non-retired households in the UK by quintile and decile groups.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) study is a longitudinal survey of ageing and quality of life among older people that explores the dynamic relationships between health and functioning, social networks and participation, and economic position as people plan for, move into and progress beyond retirement. The main objectives of ELSA are to:

• construct waves of accessible and well-documented panel data;
• provide these data in a convenient and timely fashion to the scientific and policy research community;
• describe health trajectories, disability and healthy life expectancy in a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and over;
• examine the relationship between economic position and health;
• investigate the determinants of economic position in older age;
• describe the timing of retirement and post-retirement labour market activity; and
• understand the relationships between social support, household structure and the transfer of assets.

Further information may be found on the the ELSA project website or the Natcen Social Research: ELSA web pages.

Health conditions research with ELSA - June 2021

The ELSA Data team have found some issues with historical data measuring health conditions. If you are intending to do any analysis looking at the following health conditions, then please contact elsadata@natcen.ac.uk for advice on how you should approach your analysis. The affected conditions are: eye conditions (glaucoma; diabetic eye disease; macular degeneration; cataract), CVD conditions (high blood pressure; angina; heart attack; Congestive Heart Failure; heart murmur; abnormal heart rhythm; diabetes; stroke; high cholesterol; other heart trouble) and chronic health conditions (chronic lung disease; asthma; arthritis; osteoporosis; cancer; Parkinson's Disease; emotional, nervous or psychiatric problems; Alzheimer's Disease; dementia; malignant blood disorder; multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease).

Secure Access Data:Secure Access versions of ELSA have more restrictive access conditions than versions available under the standard End User Licence or Special Licence (see 'Access' section below).
Secure Access versions of ELSA include:

• Primary Data from Wave 8 onwards (SN 8444) includes all the variables in the SL primary dataset (SN 8346) as well as day of birth, combined SIC 2003 code (5 digit), combined SOC 2000 code (4 digit), NS-SEC long version including and excluding unclassifiable and non-workers.
• Pension Age Data from Wave 8 onwards (SN 8445) includes all the variables in the SL pension age data (SN 8375) as well as year reached pension age variable.
• Detailed geographical identifier files for each wave, grouped by identifier held under SN 8423 (Index of Multiple Deprivation Score), SN 8424 (Local Authority District Pre-2009 Boundaries), SN 8438 (Local Authority District Post-2009 Boundaries), SN 8425 (Census 2001 Lower Layer Super Output Areas), SN 8434 (Census 2011 Lower Layer Super Output Areas), SN 8426(Census 2001 Middle Layer Super Output Areas), SN 8435 (Census 2011 Middle Layer Super Output Areas), SN 8427 (Population Density for Postcode Sectors), SN 8428 (Census 2001 Rural-Urban Indicators), SN 8436 (Census 2011 Rural-Urban Indicators).

Where boundary changes have occurred, the geographic identifier has been split into two separate studies to reduce the risk of disclosure. Users are also only allowed one version of each identifier:

• either SN 8424 (Local Authority District Pre-2009 Boundaries) or SN 8438 (Local Authority District Post-2009 Boundaries)
• either SN 8425 (Census 2001 Lower Layer Super Output Areas) or SN 8434 (Census 2011 Lower Layer Super Output Areas)
• either SN 8426 (Census 2001 Middle Layer Super Output Areas) or SN 8435 (Census 2011 Middle Layer Super Output Areas)
• either SN 8428 (Census 2001 Rural-Urban Indicators) or SN 8436 (Census 2011 Rural-Urban Indicators)

English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: Wave 8-10, 2016-2023, State Pension Age Data: Secure Access
These datasets include the two SL-level State Pension Age (SPA) related variables (SN 8375), as well as four additional variables specifying the SPA to the level of month year and day. These data have more restrictive access conditions than those available under the standard End User Licence or Special Licence (see 'Access' section).

Latest edition information

For the second edition (September 2024), state pension age data for Waves 9 and 10 were added to the study, along with accompanying documentation.

Main Topics:

ELSA User Guide in SN 5050 includes detailed information about all the ELSA datasets available under different licences. The data...

The value of any pension pots already accrued that are not state basic retirement or state earning related. This includes occupational pensions, personal pensions, retained rights in previous pensions and pensions in payment.

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 data
The 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 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 Secure Access versions are held under SNs 7196 and 9257. The EUL versions of HBAI and PI are held under SNs 5828 and 8503.

Secure Access FRS contents
The Secure Access version of the FRS contains unrounded data and a small number of extra variables that are not available on the standard EUL versions. A full listing of additional variables for the current year is available in the document '9256_frs_variable_listing_saf.xlsx', and in the UKDA Data Dictionaries in the Documentation section. Users should note that the variables listed may not be included for all FRS years. The file '9252_changes_.xlsx' lists a summary of variable changes since the previous year.

Documentation
The Documentation section includes files for the latest year of the FRS only, due to available space. Documentation for previous years is provided alongside the data for access and is also available upon request.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (April 2025), data and documentation for 2023/24 were added to the study. LSOA variables for 2013/14 to 2019/20 have also been added to the household ('househol') files for those years.

For the third edition (May 2025), the 2022/23 data files were replaced, and the Excel metadata documentation updated accordingly. 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.

Further information can be found on the Family Resources Survey - GOV.UK webpage.
Main Topics:

Household characteristics (age, family composition, tenure); some spending, with housing (rent or details of mortgage); household bills including Council Tax, buildings and contents insurance, water and sewerage rates.

Receipt of state support from all state benefits, including Universal Credit and Tax Credits; educational level and grants and loans; children in education; care, both those receiving care and those caring for others; childcare; occupation, employment, self-employment and earnings/wage details, including director dividend if received; income tax payments and refunds; National Insurance contributions; pension contributions; earnings from odd jobs. Doctors and dentists are separately identified from 2021-22.

Health and disability, restrictions on work, children's health; income from personal or...

This report compares the employment rates of those aged 16-64, and those aged 65 and above, and their different characteristics.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Older Workers in the Labour Market