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 2023-24

Alongside the usual topics covered, the 2023-2024 FRS includes new variables on veterans (ex-armed forces, former regulars and reserves); care leavers (where young adults were previously living in care, during their teenage years); and, for the self-employed, length of time in that occupation. For doctors, we add clarifying variables for NHS vs private earnings streams. There are new variables on food support from friends/relatives, which complement the existing food bank and household food security set. 2023-2024 also includes Cost of Living Payment variables, including those on certain state benefits and the Warm Homes Discount scheme.

The achieved sample was over 16,500 households (28,500+ adults). A large majority of interviews were face-to-face with a minority being by telephone.

The BENUNIT table contains a raft of variables on the new material deprivation question set; see GOV.UK for background.

This version of the dataset (End User Licence) adds the DEBT table for the first time this year. The table contains responses on credit card debt, loan debt, hire purchase debt and store card debt.

Please send any feedback directly to the FRS Team Inbox: team.frs@dwp.gov.uk

Documentation

Many variables in the data files are fully labelled, but additional details can be found in the frs2324_variable_listing_eul.xlsx document.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) is a continuous survey based on a sample of the general population in private residences in Scotland. It is financed by the Scottish Government (previously the Scottish Executive). The survey started in 1999 and up to 2011 followed a fairly consistent survey design. From 2012 onwards, the survey was substantially redesigned to include elements of the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) (also available from the UK Data Service), including the physical survey. The SHS is run through a consortium led by Ipsos MORI. The survey is designed to provide reliable and up-to-date information on the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of private households and individuals, both nationally and at a sub-national level and to examine the physical condition of Scotland's homes. It covers a wide range of topics to allow links to be made between different policy areas.

Further information about the survey series, and links to publications, can be found on the Scottish Government's Scottish Household Survey webpages.

COVID-19 restrictions

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the SHS was conducted by telephone or via MS Teams in 2020 and 2021 (SNs 9186 and 9187). Face-to-face interviewing resumed for SHS 2022 (SN 9294) when restrictions had been lifted.

Scottish Household Survey Lite
The SHS Lite dataset is a simplified version of the full Scottish Household Survey. To stimulate the use of SHS data, particularly amongst local authorities, voluntary organisations and academia, the Scottish Executive decided to commission a simplified data file, which would allow users to undertake most forms of analysis using a substantially smaller data file. The resulting dataset has had 1,700 variables removed. The full SHS dataset is both larger and more complex, containing around 30,000 cases for each two-year sweep of the survey and approximately 2,000 variables. The full 2003-2004 dataset is held at the UK Data Archive (UKDA) under SN 5020.

The differences between the full SHS and the Lite dataset are that the number of variables has been reduced from 2,556 to 798, complex data loops have been removed and the original variables have been summarised in new variables. The variables have been organised into ‘sets’ of related variables. These sets can be used to further simplify accessing variables through SPSS dialog boxes.

Some aspects of the data have not changed. For example, the number of cases remains over 30,000. With fewer variables however, running analysis will be faster on most computers. The structure of the data continues to include questions that relate to both sections (household and random adult) of the questionnaire. The data still need to be weighted before the results can be considered representative of the household or adult populations. The variable names are still linked to the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) script used to collect the data. The questionnaire will remain an important reference source for identifying and understanding the variables in the data.

The documentation for the SHS Lite dataset includes a Microsoft Access variable database, and an index of variable names. As it includes search functionality, this is available for download with the SHS Lite dataset, rather than via the 'Online Documentation' table below.
Main Topics:

Main survey:
The main survey questionnaire is in two parts. Householders or their spouses/partners complete Part 1 of the interview. Once the composition of the household has been established, one of the adults in the household is randomly selected to complete Part 2. In all households with a single adult the same person completes both parts, but as the number of adults in the household increases, the probability of the random adult being the same as the household respondent declines. The household section of the interview deals with topics such as household composition, housing and tenure, health, the vehicles available to the household, the occupation and industry of the highest income householder, household income and housing costs. The 'random adult' section deals with individuals' housing change, tenure change, neighbourhood problems, transport and use of public transport, public services, income and employment.

Travel diary:
In addition to the main questionnaire, the travel diary collects information about personal travel on the day prior to the interview. One randomly chosen adult per household in the sample is selected to complete the travel diary. The 'journey' and 'stage' files compiled from the travel diary provide information on the means of transport used, purposes for which people travel, distances that they cover, start and end times of...

Abstract

In 2001, the World Bank in co-operation with the Republika Srpska Institute of Statistics (RSIS), the Federal Institute of Statistics (FOS) and the Agency for Statistics of BiH (BHAS), carried out a Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS). The Living Standard Measurement Survey LSMS, in addition to collecting the information necessary to obtain a comprehensive as possible measure of the basic dimensions of household living standards, has three basic objectives, as follows:

1. To provide the public sector, government, the business community, scientific institutions, international donor organizations and social organizations with information on different indicators of the population's living conditions, as well as on available resources for satisfying basic needs.

2. To provide information for the evaluation of the results of different forms of government policy and programs developed with the aim to improve the population's living standard. The survey will enable the analysis of the relations between and among different aspects of living standards (housing, consumption, education, health, labor) at a given time, as well as within a household.

3. To provide key contributions for development of government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, based on analyzed data.

The Department for International Development, UK (DFID) contributed funding to the LSMS and provided funding for a further two years of data collection for a panel survey, known as the Household Survey Panel Series (HSPS). Birks Sinclair & Associates Ltd. were responsible for the management of the HSPS with technical advice and support provided by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex, UK. The panel survey provides longitudinal data through re-interviewing approximately half the LSMS respondents for two years following the LSMS, in the autumn of 2002 and 2003. The LSMS constitutes Wave 1 of the panel survey so there are three years of panel data available for analysis. For the purposes of this documentation we are using the following convention to describe the different rounds of the panel survey: - Wave 1 LSMS conducted in 2001 forms the baseline survey for the panel
- Wave 2 Second interview of 50% of LSMS respondents in Autumn/ Winter 2002 - Wave 3 Third interview with sub-sample respondents in Autumn/ Winter 2003

The panel data allows the analysis of key transitions and events over this period such as labour market or geographical mobility and observe the consequent outcomes for the well-being of individuals and households in the survey. The panel data provides information on income and labour market dynamics within FBiH and RS. A key policy area is developing strategies for the reduction of poverty within FBiH and RS. The panel will provide information on the extent to which continuous poverty is experienced by different types of households and individuals over the three year period. And most importantly, the co-variates associated with moves into and out of poverty and the relative risks of poverty for different people can be assessed. As such, the panel aims to provide data, which will inform the policy debates within FBiH and RS at a time of social reform and rapid change.

Geographic coverage

National coverage. Domains: Urban/rural/mixed; Federation; Republic

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Wave 3 sample consisted of 2878 households who had been interviewed at Wave 2 and a further 73 households who were interviewed at Wave 1 but were non-contact at Wave 2 were issued. A total of 2951 households (1301 in the RS and 1650 in FBiH) were issued for Wave 3. As at Wave 2, the sample could not be replaced with any other households.

Panel design

Eligibility for inclusion

The household and household membership definitions are the same standard definitions as a Wave 2. While the sample membership status and eligibility for interview are as follows: i) All members of households interviewed at Wave 2 have been designated as original sample members (OSMs). OSMs include children within households even if they are too young for interview. ii) Any new members joining a household containing at least one OSM, are eligible for inclusion and are designated as new sample members (NSMs). iii) At each wave, all OSMs and NSMs are eligible for inclusion, apart from those who move outof-scope (see discussion below). iv) All household members aged 15 or over are eligible for interview, including OSMs and NSMs.

Following rules

The panel design means that sample members who move from their previous wave address must be traced and followed to their new address for interview. In some cases the whole household will move together but in others an individual member may move away from their previous wave household and form a new split-off household of their own. All sample members, OSMs and NSMs, are followed at each wave and an interview attempted. This method has the benefit of maintaining the maximum number of respondents within the panel and being relatively straightforward to implement in the field.

Definition of 'out-of-scope'

It is important to maintain movers within the sample to maintain sample sizes and reduce attrition and also for substantive research on patterns of geographical mobility and migration. The rules for determining when a respondent is 'out-of-scope' are as follows:

i. Movers out of the country altogether i.e. outside FBiH and RS. This category of mover is clear. Sample members moving to another country outside FBiH and RS will be out-of-scope for that year of the survey and not eligible for interview.

ii. Movers between entities Respondents moving between entities are followed for interview. The personal details of the respondent are passed between the statistical institutes and a new interviewer assigned in that entity.

iii. Movers into institutions Although institutional addresses were not included in the original LSMS sample, Wave 3 individuals who have subsequently moved into some institutions are followed. The definitions for which institutions are included are found in the Supervisor Instructions.

iv. Movers into the district of Brcko are followed for interview. When coding entity Brcko is treated as the entity from which the household who moved into Brcko originated.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Questionnaire design

Approximately 90% of the questionnaire (Annex B) is based on the Wave 2 questionnaire, carrying forward core measures that are needed to measure change over time. The questionnaire was widely circulated and changes were made as a result of comments received.

Pretesting

In order to undertake a longitudinal test the Wave 2 pretest sample was used. The Control Forms and Advance letters were generated from an Access database containing details of ten households in Sarajevo and fourteen in Banja Luka. The pretest was undertaken from March 24-April 4 and resulted in 24 households (51 individuals) successfully interviewed. One mover household was successfully traced and interviewed.
In order to test the questionnaire under the hardest circumstances a briefing was not held. A list of the main questionnaire changes was given to experienced interviewers.

Issues arising from the pretest

Interviewers were asked to complete a Debriefing and Rating form. The debriefing form captured opinions on the following three issues:

1. General reaction to being re-interviewed. In some cases there was a wariness of being asked to participate again, some individuals asking “Why Me?” Interviewers did a good job of persuading people to take part, only one household refused and another asked to be removed from the sample next year. Having the same interviewer return to the same households was considered an advantage. Most respondents asked what was the benefit to them of taking part in the survey. This aspect was reemphasised in the Advance Letter, Respondent Report and training of the Wave 3 interviewers.

2. Length of the questionnaire. The average time of interview was 30 minutes. No problems were mentioned in relation to the timing, though interviewers noted that some respondents, particularly the elderly, tended to wonder off the point and that control was needed to bring them back to the questions in the questionnaire. One interviewer noted that the economic situation of many respondents seems to have got worse from the previous year and it was necessary to listen to respondents “stories” during the interview.

3. Confidentiality. No problems were mentioned in relation to confidentiality. Though interviewers mentioned it might be worth mentioning the new Statistics Law in the Advance letter. The Rating Form asked for details of specific questions that were unclear. These are described below with a description of the changes made.

• Module 3. Q29-31 have been added to capture funds received for education, scholarships etc.

• Module 4. Pretest respondents complained that the 6 questions on "Has your health limited you..." and the 16 on "in the last 7 days have you felt depressed” etc were too many. These were reduced by half (Q38-Q48). The LSMS data was examined and those questions where variability between the answers was widest were chosen.

• Module 5. The new employment questions (Q42-Q44) worked well and have been kept in the main questionnaire.

• Module 7. There were no problems reported with adding the credit questions (Q28-Q36)

• Module 9. SIG recommended that some of Questions 1-12 were relevant only to those aged over 18 so additional skips have been added. Some respondents complained the questionnaire was boring. To try and overcome

The General Household Survey (GHS) was a continuous national survey of people living in private households conducted on an annual basis, by the Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The main aim of the survey was to collect data on a range of core topics, covering household, family and individual information. This information was used by government departments and other organisations for planning, policy and monitoring purposes, and to present a picture of households, family and people in Great Britain. From 2008, the General Household Survey became a module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). In recognition, the survey was renamed the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF). The GLF closed in 2011.

Secure Access GLF
The Secure Access version includes additional, detailed variables not included in either the standard 'End User Licence' (EUL) version (see under GN 33090). Not all variables are available for all years, but extra variables that can typically be found in the Secure Access version but not in the EUL version relate to:

• geography: postcodes (anonymised prior to 2009)
• employment details, including economic status, self-employment, number of employees
• employment and training schemes
• reason for reduction in income
• looking for work
• benefits
• borrowing money and bill arrears
• nationality
• migration, including when arrived in UK and previous country of residence
• ethnicity
• religious identity

Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the GLF will need to fulfil additional requirements, commencing with the completion of an extra application form to demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the extra, more detailed variables, in order to obtain permission to use that version. Secure Access users must also complete face-to-face training and agree to Secure Access' User Agreement and Breaches Penalties Policy (see 'Access' section below). Therefore, users are encouraged to download and inspect the EUL version of the data prior to ordering the Secure Access version. Further details and links for all GLF studies available from the UK Data Archive can be found via the General Lifestyle Survey series web page.

Geographical references: postcodes
The postcodes available in the Secure Access version of the data prior to 2009 are pseudo-anonymised postcodes. The real postcodes were not available due to the potential risk of identification of the observations. However, these replacement postcodes retain the inherent nested characteristics of real postcodes, and will allow researchers to aggregate observations to other geographic units, e.g. wards, super output areas, etc. In the dataset, the variable of the replacement postcode is 'new_PC'.

History
The GHS started in 1971 and has been carried out continuously since then, except for breaks in 1997-1998 when the survey was reviewed, and in 1999-2000 when the survey was redeveloped. Following the 1997 review, the survey was relaunched from April 2000 with a different design. The relevant development work and the changes made are fully described in the Living in Britain report for the 2000-2001 survey. Following its review, the GHS was changed to comprise two elements: the continuous survey and extra modules, or 'trailers'. The continuous survey remained unchanged from 2000 to 2004, apart from essential adjustments to take account of, for example, changes in benefits and pensions. The GHS retained its modular structure and this allowed a number of different trailers to be included for each of those years, to a plan agreed by sponsoring government departments.

Further changes to the GHS methodology from 2005
From April 1994 to 2005, the GHS was conducted on a financial year basis, with fieldwork spread evenly from April of one year to March the following year. However, in 2005 the survey period reverted to a calendar year and the whole of the annual sample was surveyed in the nine months from April to December 2005. Future surveys will run from January to December each year, hence the title date change to single year from 2005 onwards. Since the 2005 GHS (EUL version held under SN 5640) does not cover the January-March quarter, this affects annual estimates for topics which are subject to seasonal variation. To rectify this, where the questions were the same in 2005 as in 2004-2005, the final quarter of the latter survey was added (weighted in the correct proportion) to the nine months of the 2005 survey. Furthermore, in 2005, the European Union (EU) made a legal obligation (EU-SILC) for member states to collect additional statistics on income and living conditions. In addition to this the EU-SILC data cover poverty and social exclusion. These statistics are used to help plan and monitor European social policy by comparing poverty indicators and changes over time across the EU. The EU-SILC requirement has been integrated into the GHS, leading to large-scale changes in the 2005 survey questionnaire. The trailers on 'Views of your Local Area' and 'Dental Health' were removed. Other changes were made to many of the standard questionnaire sections, details of which may be found in the GHS 2005 documentation.

Further changes to the GLF methodology from 2008
As noted above, the General Household Survey (GHS) was renamed the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) in 2008. The sample design is the same as the GHS before, and the questionnaire remains largely the same. The main change is that the GLF then included the IHS core questions, which are common to all of the separate modules that together comprise the IHS. Some of these core questions are simply questions that were previously asked in the same or a similar format on all of the IHS component surveys (including the GLF). The core questions cover employment, smoking prevalence, general health, ethnicity, citizenship and national identity. These questions are asked by proxy if an interview is not possible with the selected respondent (that is a member of the household can answer on behalf of other respondents in the household). This is a departure from the GHS which did not ask smoking prevalence and general health questions by proxy, whereas the GLF does from 2008. For details on other changes to the GLF questionnaire, please see the GLF 2008 documentation.

Changes to the drinking section
There have been a number of revisions to the methodology that is used to produce the alcohol consumption estimates. In 2006, the average number of units assigned to the different drink types and the assumption around the average size of a wine glass was updated, resulting in significantly increased consumption estimates. In addition to the revised method, a new question about wine glass size was included in the survey in 2008. Respondents were asked whether they have consumed small (125 ml), standard (175 ml) or large (250 ml) glasses of wine. The data from this question are used when calculating the number of units of alcohol consumed by the respondent. It is assumed that a small glass contains 1.5 units, a standard glass contains 2 units and a large glass contains 3 units. (In 2006 and 2007 it was assumed that all respondents drank from a standard 175 ml glass containing 2 units.) The datasets contain the original set of variables based on the original methodology, as well as those based on the revised and (for 2008 onwards) updated methodologies. Further details on these changes are provided in the GHS 2006 and GLF/GLS 2008 documentation.

Further information may be found on the ONS GLF webpages.

Correction of erroneous variables in individual 2008 data file
The 'source of income' variables (SrcInc01-14 and SrcIncT1-T5) in the individual file for 2008 have been revised in October 2011 to correct erroneous values in the previous version.

Change in household serial number variable
The household serial number variable 'Hserial' has been replaced by the variable 'HholdId' in the 2008 individual and household files.

The second edition (September 2013) includes data for 2009-2010. Data for 2011 were added in 2017, after the ONS withdrawal of the Special Licence version.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Family Expenditure Survey (FES), which closed in 2001, was a continuous survey with an annual sample of around 10,000 households. They provided information on household and personal incomes, certain payments that recurred regularly (e.g. rent, gas and electricity bills, telephone accounts, insurances, season tickets and hire purchase payments), and maintained a detailed expenditure record for 14 consecutive days.

The original purpose of the FES was to provide information on spending patterns for the United Kingdom Retail Price Index (RPI). The survey was a cost-efficient way of collecting a variety of related data that the government departments required to correlate with income and expenditure at the household, tax unit and person levels. The annual FES began in 1957 (with an earlier large scale survey conducted in 1953/54) and was one of the first Department of Employment (DE) systems to be computerised in the early 1960s. The UKDA holds FES data from 1961-2001. The Northern Ireland Family Expenditure Survey (NIFES), which ran from 1967-1998, was identical to the UK FES and therefore used the same questionnaires and documentation. However, starting in 1988, a voluntary question on religious denomination was asked of those aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland. The UKDA holds NIFES data from 1968-1998, under GN 33240.

Significant FES developments over time include:

• 1968: the survey was extended to include a sample drawn from the Northern Ireland FES and a new computer system was introduced which was used until 1985
• 1986: DE and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) converted the FES into a new database system using the SIR package
• 1989: the Central Statistical Office (CSO) took over responsibility for the survey
• 1994: in April, computerised personal interviewing was introduced using lap-top computers, the database system changed to INGRES and the survey changed from a calendar year to financial year basis
• 1996: in April, OPCS and CSO were amalgamated into the Office for National Statistics (ONS), who assumed responsibility for the FES
• 1998: from April onwards information from expenditure diaries kept by children aged 7 to 15 was included in data, and grossing factors were made available on the database

From 2001, the both the FES and the National Food Survey (NFS) (held at the UKDA under GN 33071) were completely replaced by a new survey, the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS). Prior to the advent of the EFS, there had previously been considerable overlap between the FES and NFS, with both surveys asking respondents to keep a diary of expenditure. Thus, the 2000-2001 FES was the final one in the series. The design of the new EFS was based on the previous FES; further background to its development may be found in the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 Family Spending reports. From 2008, the EFS became the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) (see under GN 33334).


Main Topics:
Household Schedule:
This schedule was taken at the main interview. Information for most of the questions was obtained from the head of household or housewife, but certain questions of a more individual character were put to every spender aged 15 or over (or 16 or over from 1973 onwards). Until the introduction of the community charge, information on rateable value and rate poundage was obtained from the appropriate local authority, as was information on whether the address was within a smokeless zone. Information was collected about the household, the sex and age of each member, and also details about the type and size of the household accommodation. The main part of the questionnaire related to expenditure both of a household and individual nature, but the questions were mainly confined to expenses of a recurring nature, e.g.:

• Household: housing costs, payment to Gas and Electricity Boards or companies, telephone charges, licences and television rental
• Individual: motor vehicles, season tickets for transport, life and accident insurances, payments through a bank, instalments, refund of expenses by employer, expenditure claimed by self-employed persons as business expenses for tax purposes, welfare foods, education grants and fees

Income Schedule:
Data were collected for each household spender. The schedule was concerned with income, national insurance contributions and income tax. Income of a child not classed as a spender was obtained from one or other of his parents and entered on the parent's questionnaire. Information collected included: employment status and recent absences from work, earnings of an employee, self-employed earnings, National Insurance contributions, pensions and other regular allowances, occasional benefits - social security benefits and other...

Understanding Society, (UK Household Longitudinal Study), which began in 2009, is conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex and the survey research organisations Verian Group (formerly Kantar Public) and NatCen. It builds on and incorporates, the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which began in 1991.

This release combines fourteen waves of Understanding Society data with harmonised data from all eighteen waves of the BHPS. As multi-topic studies, the purpose of Understanding Society and BHPS is to understand short- and long-term effects of social and economic change in the UK at the household and individual levels. The study has a strong emphasis on domains of family and social ties, employment, education, financial resources, and health. Understanding Society is an annual survey of each adult member of a nationally representative sample. The same individuals are re-interviewed in each wave approximately 12 months apart. When individuals move they are followed within the UK and anyone joining their households are also interviewed as long as they are living with them. The study has five sample components: the general population sample; a boost sample of ethnic minority group members; an immigrant and ethnic minority boost sample (from wave 6); participants from the BHPS; and a second general population boost sample added at this wave. In addition, there is the Understanding Society Innovation Panel (which is a separate standalone survey (see SN 6849)). The fieldwork period is for 24 months. Data collection uses computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and web interviews (from wave 7), and includes a telephone mop-up. From March 2020 (the end of wave 10 and the 2nd year of wave 11), due to the coronavirus pandemic, face-to-face interviews were suspended, and the survey was conducted by web and telephone only, but otherwise has continued as before. Face-to-face interviewing was resumed from April 2022. One person completes the household questionnaire. Each person aged 16 is invited to complete the individual adult interview and self-completed questionnaire. Parents are asked questions about their children under 10 years old. Youths aged 10 to 15 are asked to respond to a self-completion questionnaire. For the general and BHPS samples biomarker, genetic and epigenetic data are also available. The biomarker data, and summary genetics and epigenetic scores, are available via UKDS (see SN 7251); detailed genetics and epigenetics data are available by application (see below). In 2020-21 an additional frequent web survey was separately issued to sample members to capture data on the rapid changes in people’s lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see SN 8644). Participants are asked consent to link their data to wide-ranging administrative data sets (see below).

Further information may be found on the Understanding Society Main stage webpage and links to publications based on the study can be found on the Understanding Society Latest Research webpage.

Co-funders

In addition to the Economic and Social Research Council, co-funders for the study included the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department for Education, the Department for Transport, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Community and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.

End User Licence, Special Licence and Secure Access versions:

There are three versions of the main Understanding Society data with different access conditions. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (this study), one is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 6931) and the third is a Secure Access version (SN 6676). The SL version contains month as well as year of birth variables, more detailed country and occupation coding for a number of variables, various income variables that have not been top-coded, and other potentially sensitive variables (see 6931_eul_vs_sl_variable_differences document available with the SL version for full details of the differences). The Secure Access version, in addition to containing all the variables in the SL version, also contains day of birth as well as Grid Reference geographical variables. Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements. The SL and Secure Access versions of the data have more restrictive access conditions and prospective users of those versions should visit the catalogue entries for SN 6931 and SN 6676 respectively for further information.

Low- and Medium-level geographical identifiers are also available subject to SL access conditions; see SNs 6666, 6668-6675, 7453-4, 7629-30, 7245, 7248-9 and 9169-9170. Schools data are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 7182. Higher Education establishments for Wave 5 are available subject to SL access conditions in SN 8578. Interviewer Characteristics data, also subject to SL access conditions is available in SN 8579. In addition, a fine detail geographic dataset (SN 6676) is available under more restrictive Secure Access conditions that contains National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for the unit postcode of each household surveyed, derived from ONS Postcode Directories (ONSPD). For details on how to make an application for Secure Access dataset, please see the SN 6676 catalogue record.

How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from Understanding Society:

Information on how to access genetics and epigenetics data directly from the study team is available on the Understanding Society Accessing data webpage.

Linked administrative data

Linked Understanding Society / administrative data are available on a number of different platforms. See the Understanding Society Data linkage webpage for details of those currently available and how they can be accessed.

Latest edition information

For the 19th edition (November 2024) Wave 14 data has been added. Other minor changes and corrections have also been made to Waves 1-13. Please refer to the revisions document for full details.

m_hhresp and n_hhresp files updated, December 2024

In the previous release (19th edition, November 2024), there was an issue with household income estimates in m_hhresp and n_hhresp where a household resides in a new local authority (approx. 300 households in wave 14). The issue has been corrected and imputation models re-estimated and imputed values updated for the full sample. Imputed values will therefore change compared to the versions in the original release. The variable affected is n_ctband_dv.

Suitable data analysis software

These data are provided by the depositor in Stata format. Users are strongly advised to analyse them in Stata. Transfer to other formats may result in unforeseen issues. Stata SE or MP software is needed to analyse the larger files, which contain over 2,047 variables.

The HEartS Survey 2019 is a cross-sectional nonprobability-based survey of 5,338 adults in the United Kingdom in 2019. It contains data on demographic and socioeconomic information (age, gender, ethnicity, geographic region, educational qualifications, living situation, household income), trends in participatory and receptive engagement with literary, visual, performing, crafts and decorative arts, spending on arts and cultural activities, as well as health and social data such as questions about self-rated health, physical activity, depressive symptoms, wellbeing, loneliness, and social connectedness., The sample was recruited through an online data collection platform, Qualtrics, between March and August 2019. Data collection quotas were set for gender, age, geographical region, ethnicity, and education to match the UK 2011 Census population profile. A total of 11,861 respondents started the survey. Of these, 1,623 did not consent to participate in the survey and stopped at the consenting process. A further 3,219 respondents were automatically excluded after answering initial sociodemographic questions as the quotas for their characteristics were already reached. A further 969 were excluded due to completing the survey in under four minutes, i.e. speeding through the survey (n = 97) or providing nonsense or abusive responses to open questions (n = 872). Following a complete case analysis and excluding “prefer not to say†responses to gender, education, living status, household income, health conditions, and self-reported health, n=5,338 formed the final study sample. List of measure..., In line with Dryad's human subjects data protection rules, some personal data have been removed from this file. Variables for which data have been omitted are marked with an asterisk in ‘HEartS Survey 2019 Variables’. The sample contains very low levels of non-engagement with the arts (2.57%) and high proportions of people reporting depression (57.04% scored ≥ 3 on CES-D scale) and loneliness (22.91% reporting feeling loneliness “often†or “always†), compared with UK population-levels. Correspondence: Aaron Williamon, aaron.williamon@rcm.ac.uk,

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is an omnibus survey that collects data on a range of subjects commissioned by both the ONS internally and external clients (limited to other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).

Data are collected from one individual aged 16 or over, selected from each sampled private household. Personal data include data on the individual, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules.

The questionnaire collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living, on individuals and households in Great Britain.

From April 2018 to November 2019, the design of the OPN changed from face-to-face to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for customers.

In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held in the Secure Access study, SN 8635, ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2023: Secure Access. Other Secure Access OPN data cover modules run at various points from 1997-2019, on Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093).

From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifting across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remains sustainable.

The OPN has since expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living. For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/methodologies/opinionsandlifestylesurveyqmi">OPN Quality and Methodology Information webpage.

ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2023: Secure Access

The aim of the COVID-19 Module within this study was to help understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people, households and communities in Great Britain. It was a weekly survey initiated in March 2020, and since August 2021, as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the survey has moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave. The study allows the breakdown of impacts by at-risk age, gender and underlying health condition. The samples are randomly selected from those that had previously completed other ONS surveys (e.g., Labour Market Survey, Annual Population Survey). From each household, one adult is randomly selected but with unequal probability: younger people are given a higher selection probability than older people because of under-estimation in the samples available for the survey.

The study also includes data for the Internet Access Module from 2019 onwards. Data from this module for previous years are available as End User Licence studies within GN 33441. Also included are data from the Winter Lifestyle Survey for January and February 2023.

Latest edition information

For the eleventh edition (March 2024), data and documentation for the main OPN survey for waves DN (June 2023) to EB (December 2023) have been added. Data and documentation for the Winter Lifestyle Survey for January-February 2023 have also been added.

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is an omnibus survey that collects data from respondents in Great Britain. Information is gathered on a range of subjects, commissioned both internally by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and by external clients (other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).

One individual respondent, aged 16 or over, is selected from each sampled private household to answer questions. Data are gathered on the respondent, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules. Each regular OPN survey consists of two elements. Core questions, covering demographic information, are asked together with non-core questions that vary depending on the module(s) fielded.

The OPN collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living. The OPN has expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living.

For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the gov.uk OPN Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) webpage.

Changes over time

Up to March 2018, the OPN was conducted as a face-to-face survey. From April 2018 to November 2019, the OPN changed to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for module customers.

In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held under Secure Access conditions in SN 8635, ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2023: Secure Access. (See below for information on other Secure Access OPN modules.)

From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifted across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remained sustainable.

Secure Access OPN modules

Besides SN 8635 (which includes the COVID-19 Module), other Secure Access OPN data includes sensitive modules run at various points from 1997-2019, including Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093). See the individual studies for further details and information on how to apply to use them.

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is an omnibus survey that collects data from respondents in Great Britain. Information is gathered on a range of subjects, commissioned both internally by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and by external clients (other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).

One individual respondent, aged 16 or over, is selected from each sampled private household to answer questions. Data are gathered on the respondent, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules. Each regular OPN survey consists of two elements. Core questions, covering demographic information, are asked together with non-core questions that vary depending on the module(s) fielded.

The OPN collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living. The OPN has expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living.

For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the gov.uk OPN Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) webpage.

Changes over time

Up to March 2018, the OPN was conducted as a face-to-face survey. From April 2018 to November 2019, the OPN changed to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for module customers.

In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held under Secure Access conditions in SN 8635, ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2023: Secure Access. (See below for information on other Secure Access OPN modules.)

From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifted across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remained sustainable.

Secure Access OPN modules

Besides SN 8635 (which includes the COVID-19 Module), other Secure Access OPN data includes sensitive modules run at various points from 1997-2019, including Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093). See the individual studies for further details and information on how to apply to use them.

Latest edition information

For the third edition (February 2023), data for the electric vehicles module fielded in February 2016 were added to the study and the documentation was updated accordingly.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Northern Ireland Family Expenditure Survey (NIFES) was conducted in Northern Ireland from 1967-1998, and was the counterpart to the Family Expenditure Survey (FES), which was conducted annually in Great Britain from 1957-2001 (see under GN 33057). The FES/NIFES provided reliable data on expenditure and income in relation to household characteristics. The results of the survey show how expenditure patterns of different kinds of households vary, and the extent to which individual members of a household contribute to the household income. Although originally commissioned to provide expenditure details for the calculation of weights for the Retail Price Index, the FES/NIFES collected much additional information was also collected on the characteristics of co-operating households and the incomes of their members. It thus became a multi-purpose survey, and provided a unique fund of important economic and social data.

From 1968 the Great Britain FES incorporated a sample drawn from the NIFES to become the UK FES. The FES was replaced in 2001 by a new survey series, the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) (see under GN 33334), covering the whole of the UK. The EFS is an amalgamation of the previous National Food Survey (NFS) (see under GN 33071) and UK FES.


Main Topics:
Household Schedule:
This schedule was taken at the main interview. Information for most of the questions was obtained from the head of household or housewife, but certain questions of a more individual character were put to every spender aged 15 or over (or 16 or over from 1973 onwards). Until the introduction of the community charge, information on rateable value and rate poundage was obtained from the appropriate local authority, as was information on whether the address was within a smokeless zone. Information was collected about the household, the sex and age of each member, and also details about the type and size of the household accommodation. The main part of the questionnaire related to expenditure both of a household and individual nature, but the questions were mainly confined to expenses of a recurring nature, e.g.:

• Household: housing costs, payment to Gas and Electricity Boards and companies, telephone charges, licences and television rental
• Individual: motor vehicles, season tickets for transport, life and accident insurances, payments through a bank, instalments, refund of expenses by employer, expenditure claimed by self-employed persons as business expenses for tax purposes, welfare foods, education grants and fees

Income Schedule:
Data were collected for each household spender. Apart from page 1, the schedule was concerned with income, National Insurance contributions and income tax. Income of a child not classed as a spender was obtained from one or other of his parents and entered on the parent's questionnaire. Information collected included: employment status and recent absences from work, earnings of an employee, self-employed earnings, National Insurance contributions, pensions and other regular allowances, occasional benefits - social security benefits and other types, investment income, miscellaneous earnings of a 'once-only' character, tax paid directly to Inland Revenue or refunded, income of a child.

Diary Records
Each diary covered fourteen days. Each household member aged 15 or over (or 16 or over from 1973 onwards) was asked to record all expenditure made during the 14 days.

The NIFES was identical to the UK FES and therefore used the same questionnaires and documentation. However, starting in 1988, a voluntary question on religious denomination was asked of those aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is an omnibus survey that collects data from respondents in Great Britain. Information is gathered on a range of subjects, commissioned both internally by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and by external clients (other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).

One individual respondent, aged 16 or over, is selected from each sampled private household to answer questions. Data are gathered on the respondent, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules. Each regular OPN survey consists of two elements. Core questions, covering demographic information, are asked together with non-core questions that vary depending on the module(s) fielded.

The OPN collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living. The OPN has expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living.

For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the gov.uk OPN Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) webpage.

Changes over time

Up to March 2018, the OPN was conducted as a face-to-face survey. From April 2018 to November 2019, the OPN changed to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for module customers.

In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held under Secure Access conditions in SN 8635, ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2023: Secure Access. (See below for information on other Secure Access OPN modules.)

From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifted across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remained sustainable.

Secure Access OPN modules

Besides SN 8635 (which includes the COVID-19 Module), other Secure Access OPN data includes sensitive modules run at various points from 1997-2019, including Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093). See the individual studies for further details and information on how to apply to use them.

These data were originally embargoed until 2016 but in May 2013, at the request of the Depositor, the embargo was lifted.

Main Topics:

The non-core questions for these two months were:

Quality of life (Module MBM): this module was asked on behalf of University College London. There is great interest among policy makers in how to improve the quality of people's lives and in promoting an active older age. The questions aim to gather information regarding quality of life and active ageing.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) is a continuous survey based on a sample of the general population in private residences in Scotland. It is financed by the Scottish Government (previously the Scottish Executive). The survey started in 1999 and up to 2011 followed a fairly consistent survey design. From 2012 onwards, the survey was substantially redesigned to include elements of the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) (also available from the UK Data Service), including the physical survey. The SHS is run through a consortium led by Ipsos MORI. The survey is designed to provide reliable and up-to-date information on the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of private households and individuals, both nationally and at a sub-national level and to examine the physical condition of Scotland's homes. It covers a wide range of topics to allow links to be made between different policy areas.

Further information about the survey series, and links to publications, can be found on the Scottish Government's Scottish Household Survey webpages.

COVID-19 restrictions

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the SHS was conducted by telephone or via MS Teams in 2020 and 2021 (SNs 9186 and 9187). Face-to-face interviewing resumed for SHS 2022 (SN 9294) when restrictions had been lifted.

For the fifth edition, the depositor supplied five Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) and urban-rural classification variables, which have been added to the main data file.
Main Topics:

Main survey:
The main survey questionnaire is in two parts. Householders or their spouses/partners complete Part 1 of the interview. Once the composition of the household has been established, one of the adults in the household is randomly selected to complete Part 2. In all households with a single adult the same person completes both parts, but as the number of adults in the household increases, the probability of the random adult being the same as the household respondent declines. The household section of the interview deals with topics such as household composition, housing and tenure, health, the vehicles available to the household, the occupation and industry of the highest income householder, household income and housing costs. The 'random adult' section deals with individuals' housing change, tenure change, neighbourhood problems, transport and use of public transport, public services, income and employment.

Travel diary:
In addition to the main questionnaire, the travel diary collects information about personal travel on the day prior to the interview. One randomly chosen adult per household in the sample is selected to complete the travel diary. The 'journey' and 'stage' files compiled from the travel diary provide information on the means of transport used, purposes for which people travel, distances that they cover, start and end times of trips, duration of journeys, car occupancy, council area of the journey start and destination locations, and days of the week that adults travel. The 'home to work' and 'home to school' files provide information on the estimated straight line distance ('as the crow flies') in kilometres from home to work or home to school. For further information, see documentation.

Standard measures:
The survey uses many of the harmonised questions for government social surveys.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Integrated Household Survey (IHS), which ran from 2009-2014, was a composite survey combining questions asked on a number of social surveys conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to produce a dataset of 'core' variables. The ONS stopped producing IHS datasets from 2015 onwards; variables covering health, smoking prevalence, forces veterans, sexual identity and well-being will be incorporated into the Annual Population Survey - see the Which surveys (or modules) are included in the IHS? and What is the IHS? FAQ pages for further details.

Background and history of the IHS
The aim of the IHS was to produce high-level estimates for particular themes to a higher precision and lower geographic level than current ONS social surveys. The 'core' set contained around 100 questions, but a respondent was only asked a proportion of those depending on routing from answers to questions. The core questions were asked, where possible, at the beginning of the component surveys.
In January 2008, a set of core questions was introduced within three ONS surveys in the General Lifestyle Survey, Living Costs and Food Survey, and the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey. In April 2008 the IHS core questions were also introduced on the English Housing Survey, bringing the family of modules on the IHS up to four. The IHS dataset for 2008-2009 was used as a pilot for the concept, developing the systems and designing the weighting methodology. The IHS data for that period have not been published as they do not provide better quality information than that within existing surveys. Hence, the earliest IHS data currently available cover 2009-2010. In April 2009 the IHS core questions were introduced on the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS) questionnaires and from June 2009 the Life Opportunities Survey (LOS, which also ran from 2009-2014) was included in the IHS family of modules. With the inclusion of these new surveys the IHS became complete, with an achieved annual sample size of approximately 450,000 individuals from interviews undertaken in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Therefore, the first IHS dataset released covers the period April 2009-March 2010, starting the IHS data series from the point that all surveys were included. The large sample size and UK-wide coverage meant that various geographical breakdowns were possible in the IHS, and it is possible to use a geographical hierarchy to drill down to lower level detail within an area. The IHS also contained data collected from the following surveys: General Lifestyle Survey; Living Costs and Food Survey; Opinions and Lifestyle Survey; English Housing Survey; Labour Force Survey; Annual Population Survey; and Life Opportunities Survey. All questions had been removed from the component surveys by 2014 and the IHS closed that year. Further information is available from the ONS Integrated Household Survey (Experimental statistics): January to December 2014 webpage.

Available IHS data: End User Licence and Secure Access
Users should note that there are two versions of the IHS. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement, and the other is a Secure Access version (SN 8075). The Secure Access version contains more detailed variables relating to age, age of youngest dependent child, country of birth, family unit type, household and household reference person, industry class, sub-class and division, month left last job, cohabitation, country of residence history, multiple households at address, nationality, New Deal training types, National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) long version, qualifications, household relationships, minor Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) groups, sexual identity, training and working age. The more detailed geographic variables present include county, unitary/local authority, Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS2) and NUTS3 regions and Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). Users should note that the user guide also mentions variables that are not included in either the EUL or Secure Access datasets held at the Archive.

The EUL version contains less detailed variables. For example, the lowest geography available is Government Office Region, only major (3-digit) SOC groups are included for main, second and last job, and only industry sector for main, second and last job. Users are advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data before making an application for the Secure Access version to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements.


The SL version of the IHS October 2010 - September 2011 is available under SN 7002.


Main Topics:
The IHS core questions cover several themes. These include:

• economic activity
• education
• health and...

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is an omnibus survey that collects data from respondents in Great Britain. Information is gathered on a range of subjects, commissioned both internally by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and by external clients (other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).

One individual respondent, aged 16 or over, is selected from each sampled private household to answer questions. Data are gathered on the respondent, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules. Each regular OPN survey consists of two elements. Core questions, covering demographic information, are asked together with non-core questions that vary depending on the module(s) fielded.

The OPN collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living. The OPN has expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living.

For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the gov.uk OPN Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) webpage.

Changes over time

Up to March 2018, the OPN was conducted as a face-to-face survey. From April 2018 to November 2019, the OPN changed to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for module customers.

In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held under Secure Access conditions in SN 8635, ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2023: Secure Access. (See below for information on other Secure Access OPN modules.)

From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifted across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remained sustainable.

Secure Access OPN modules

Besides SN 8635 (which includes the COVID-19 Module), other Secure Access OPN data includes sensitive modules run at various points from 1997-2019, including Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093). See the individual studies for further details and information on how to apply to use them.

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is an omnibus survey that collects data from respondents in Great Britain. Information is gathered on a range of subjects, commissioned both internally by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and by external clients (other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).

One individual respondent, aged 16 or over, is selected from each sampled private household to answer questions. Data are gathered on the respondent, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules. Each regular OPN survey consists of two elements. Core questions, covering demographic information, are asked together with non-core questions that vary depending on the module(s) fielded.

The OPN collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living. The OPN has expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living.

For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the gov.uk OPN Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) webpage.

Changes over time

Up to March 2018, the OPN was conducted as a face-to-face survey. From April 2018 to November 2019, the OPN changed to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for module customers.

In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held under Secure Access conditions in SN 8635, ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2019-2023: Secure Access. (See below for information on other Secure Access OPN modules.)

From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifted across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remained sustainable.

Secure Access OPN modules

Besides SN 8635 (which includes the COVID-19 Module), other Secure Access OPN data includes sensitive modules run at various points from 1997-2019, including Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093). See the individual studies for further details and information on how to apply to use them.

For the second edition (December 2017) a revised, anonymised data file was deposited and the documentation updated accordingly, following minor labelling and coding amendments and the removal of variable M210_1.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The General Household Survey (GHS), ran from 1971-2011 (the UKDS holds data from 1972-2011). It was a continuous annual national survey of people living in private households, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The main aim of the survey was to collect data on a range of core topics, covering household, family and individual information. This information was used by government departments and other organisations for planning, policy and monitoring purposes, and to present a picture of households, families and people in Great Britain. In 2008, the GHS became a module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). In recognition, the survey was renamed the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF). The GLF closed in January 2012. The 2011 GLF is therefore the last in the series. A limited number of questions previously run on the GLF were subsequently included in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

Secure Access GHS/GLF
The UKDS holds standard access End User Licence (EUL) data for 1972-2006. A Secure Access version is available, covering the years 2000-2011 - see SN 6716 General Lifestyle Survey, 2000-2011: Secure Access.

History
The GHS was conducted annually until 2011, except for breaks in 1997-1998 when the survey was reviewed, and 1999-2000 when the survey was redeveloped. Further information may be found in the ONS document An overview of 40 years of data (General Lifestyle Survey Overview - a report on the 2011 General Lifestyle Survey) (PDF). Details of changes each year may be found in the individual study documentation.

EU-SILC
In 2005, the European Union (EU) made a legal obligation (EU-SILC) for member states to collect additional statistics on income and living conditions. In addition, the EU-SILC data cover poverty and social exclusion. These statistics are used to help plan and monitor European social policy by comparing poverty indicators and changes over time across the EU. The EU-SILC requirement was integrated into the GHS/GLF in 2005. After the closure of the GLF, EU-SILC was collected via the Family Resources Survey (FRS) until the UK left the EU in 2020.

Reformatted GHS data 1973-1982 - Surrey SPSS Files
SPSS files were created by the University of Surrey for all GHS years from 1973 to 1982 inclusive. The early files were restructured and the case changed from the household to the individual with all of the household information duplicated for each individual. The Surrey SPSS files contain all the original variables as well as some extra derived variables (a few variables were omitted from the data files for 1973-76). In 1973 only, the section on leisure was not included in the Surrey SPSS files. This has subsequently been made available, however, and is now held in a separate study, General Household Survey, 1973: Leisure Questions (SN 3982). Records for the original GHS 1973-1982 ASCII files have been removed from the UK Data Archive catalogue, but the data are still preserved and available upon request.

Main Topics:

The main GHS consisted of a household questionnaire, completed by the Household Reference Person (HRP), and an individual questionnaire, completed by all adults aged 16 and over resident in the household. A number of different trailers each year covering extra topics were included in later (post-review) surveys in the series from 2000.

• The household questionnaire covered the following topics: household information, accommodation type, housing tenure/costs, and consumer durables including vehicle ownership.
• The individual questionnaire included data from the household dataset, and additional sections on migration/citizenship/national identity/ethnicity, employment, pensions, education, health, child care, smoking, drinking, family information, financial situation, and income.
  

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (formerly known as the ONS Opinions Survey or Omnibus) is an omnibus survey that began in 1990, collecting data on a range of subjects commissioned by both the ONS internally and external clients (limited to other government departments, charities, non-profit organisations and academia).

Data are collected from one individual aged 16 or over, selected from each sampled private household. Personal data include data on the individual, their family, address, household, income and education, plus responses and opinions on a variety of subjects within commissioned modules.

The questionnaire collects timely data for research and policy analysis evaluation on the social impacts of recent topics of national importance, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the cost of living, on individuals and households in Great Britain.

From April 2018 to November 2019, the design of the OPN changed from face-to-face to a mixed-mode design (online first with telephone interviewing where necessary). Mixed-mode collection allows respondents to complete the survey more flexibly and provides a more cost-effective service for customers.

In March 2020, the OPN was adapted to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lives of people of Great Britain. These data are held in the Secure Access study, SN 8635, ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, Covid-19 Module, 2020-2022: Secure Access.

From August 2021, as coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were lifting across Great Britain, the OPN moved to fortnightly data collection, sampling around 5,000 households in each survey wave to ensure the survey remains sustainable.

The OPN has since expanded to include questions on other topics of national importance, such as health and the cost of living. For more information about the survey and its methodology, see the ONS OPN Quality and Methodology Information webpage.

Secure Access Opinions and Lifestyle Survey data

Other Secure Access OPN data cover modules run at various points from 1997-2019, on Census religion (SN 8078), cervical cancer screening (SN 8080), contact after separation (SN 8089), contraception (SN 8095), disability (SNs 8680 and 8096), general lifestyle (SN 8092), illness and activity (SN 8094), and non-resident parental contact (SN 8093). See Opinions and Lifestyle Survey: Secure Access for details.

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Each month's questionnaire consists of two elements: core questions, covering demographic information, are asked each month together with non-core questions that vary from month to month.
The non-core questions for this month were:
Company Cars (Module 1a): questions about the number of company cars in the household; engine size and value of car when new.
Mortgage Arrears (Module 2): source of mortgage, if any, and whether behind in payments, and if so reasons for falling behind. Also question on whether bought from a Right to Buy scheme.
Investment Income (Module 7a): ownership of shares and income from shares, bank accounts and building society accounts.
Leasehold Accommodation (Module 63): home owners of leasehold property asked how long did lease have to run when property was bought; how long lease has to run now; who freehold is owned by.
Back Pain (Module 66): whether had any back pain in last year; when and for how long; whether visited any medical practitioner; whether activities restricted or taken time off work during past 4 weeks due to back pain; cause of back pain.
Highest Income Earner/Head of Household Information (Module 70): occupation and supervisory status of head of household/highest income earner.
Holidays Taken (Module 71): holidays taken in past year; duration of holiday; whether holiday spent abroad; whether outside Europe.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) ran for 18 waves, from 1991-2009, and was conducted by the ESRC UK Longitudinal Studies Centre (ULSC), together with the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex. The ULSC, established in 1999, was a continuation of the research resource component of the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MISOC), established in 1989. In addition to running panel studies, ISER undertakes a programme of research based on panel data, using Understanding Society, the BHPS and other national panels to monitor and measure social change.

The main objective of the BHPS was to further understanding of social and economic change at the individual and household level in Britain, and to identify, model and forecast such changes and their causes and consequences in relation to a range of socio-economic variables. It was designed as an annual survey of each adult member (aged 16 years and over) of a nationally representative sample of more than 5,000 households, making a total of approximately 10,000 individual interviews. The same individuals were re-interviewed in successive waves and, if they left their original households, all adult members of their new households were also interviewed. Children were interviewed once they reach the age of 16; there was also a special survey of household members aged 11-15 included in the BHPS from Wave 4 onwards (the British Youth Panel, or BYP). From Wave 9, two additional samples were added to the BHPS in Scotland and Wales, and at Wave 11 an additional sample from Northern Ireland (which formed the Northern Ireland Household Panel Study or NIHPS), was added to increase the sample to cover the whole of the United Kingdom. For Waves 7-11, the BHPS also provided data for the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). For details of sampling, methodology and changes to the survey over time, see Volume A of the documentation (Introduction, Technical Report and Appendices).

Further information may be found on the ISER BHPS webpages.

For the eighth edition (October 2018) all data files were replaced with new versions. The main changes are: a) the addition to the main dataset of net income variables, previously released separately; b) the addition of variables to assist linkage to the Understanding Society dataset (SN 6614) which includes BHPS sample members; c) some enhancements to data included in the XWAVEDAT file, and d) a range of data corrections mainly from user comments: these include limited corrections to income data, fixing issues with employment history and occupation data at wave 18 and some issues with weights. Volume A of the documentation has been updated to provide further details on the changes. This edition also splits the previous SN 5151 into an End User Licence (EUL) / Special Licence split to reflect Understanding Society. The variables excluded from the EUL version relate to month of birth (day of birth is not included in either version), full occupation codes, rare country of birth / nationality occurrences, and the full urban-rural classification. Data users should also note that the income variables have been top-coded for the EUL release.

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The questionnaire package consists of the following elements:

• a household coversheet
• a household composition form comprising a complete listing of all household members, together with some brief summary data of their gender, date of birth, marital and employment status and their relationship to the household reference person
• a short household questionnaire containing questions about the accommodation and tenure and some household-level measures of consumption
• an individual schedule asked of every adult member of the household (aged 16 or over), covering: neighbourhood; individual demographics; residential mobility; health and caring; current employment and earnings; employment changes over the past year; lifetime childbirth, marital and relationship history (Wave 2 for the main sample, supplemented for new entrants from Wave 8 onwards); employment status history (Wave 2 only); values and opinions; household finances and organisation
• a self-completion questionnaire including subjective or attitudinal questions particularly vulnerable to the influence of other people's presence during completion, or potentially sensitive questions requiring additional privacy. It also contains attitudinal items and questions on social support
• a proxy schedule: the questionnaire is a much shortened version of the individual questionnaire, collecting some demographic, health, and employment details, as well as a summary income measure
• a telephone...

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The English Housing Survey (EHS) is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government (MHCLG) that collects information about people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. The EHS brings together two previous survey series into a single fieldwork operation: the English House Condition Survey (EHCS) (available from the UK Data Archive under GN 33158) and the Survey of English Housing (SEH) (available under GN 33277). The EHS covers all housing tenures. The information obtained through the survey provides an accurate picture of people living in the dwelling, and their views on housing and their neighbourhoods. The survey is also used to inform the development and monitoring of the Ministry's housing policies. Results from the survey are also used by a wide range of other users including other government departments, local authorities, housing associations, landlords, academics, construction industry professionals, consultants, and the general public.

The EHS has a complex multi-stage methodology consisting of two main elements; an initial interview survey of around 12,000 households and a follow-up physical inspection. Some further elements are also periodically included in or derived from the EHS: for 2008 and 2009, a desk-based market valuation was conducted of a sub-sample of 8,000 dwellings (including vacant ones), but this was not carried out from 2010 onwards. A periodic follow-up survey of private landlords and agents (the Private Landlords Survey (PLS)) is conducted using information from the EHS interview survey. Fuel Poverty datasets are also available from 2003, created by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The EHS interview survey sample formed part of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS) (available from the Archive under GN 33420) from April 2008 to April 2011. During this period the core questions from the IHS formed part of the EHS questionnaire.

End User Licence and Special Licence Versions:
From 2014 data onwards, the End User Licence (EUL) versions of the EHS will only include derived variables. In addition the number of variables on the new EUL datasets has been reduced and disclosure control increased on certain remaining variables. New Special Licence versions of the EHS will be deposited later in the year, which will be of a similar nature to previous EHS EUL datasets and will include derived and raw datasets.

Further information about the EHS and the latest news, reports and tables can be found on the GOV.UK English Housing Survey web pages.

The English Housing Survey, 2017-2018: Household Data comprises the derived interview data for all cases where an interview has been completed. Datasets are provided for single financial years together with annual weights. The survey consists of a detailed interview using a CAPI based program. An interview is first conducted with the householder. General topics and concepts covered include household characteristics, satisfaction with the home and the area, disability and adaptations to the home, ownership and rental details and income details.

The household data should be used for any analysis where only information from the household interview is required. Users who also require data from the physical survey should use the English Housing Survey, 2017: Housing Stock Data (SN 8494).

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The main topics covered include: general tenure and demographics; household income and housing costs; housing needs; housing aspirations and satisfaction; housing moves; and vulnerable and disadvantaged households.