In 2024/25 the UK government is expected to spend approximately ******billion British pounds on benefits, compared with the previous year when benefit expenditure was ******billion pounds.

In 2024/25 the United Kingdom spent an estimated 313 billion British pounds on welfare, compared with 297 billion pounds in the previous year.

In 2024/25 the government of the United Kingdom is expected to spend approximately *****billion British pounds on housing benefits, compared with *****billion in the previous year.

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.

Social protection spending on unemployment in the United Kingdom was 1.3 billion pounds in 2024/25, compared with 1.21 billion in the previous financial year.

Average UK household incomes taxes and benefits by household type, tenure status, household characteristics and long-term trends in income inequality.

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.

In 2024/25 the government of the United Kingdom is expected to have spent approximately 311 million British pounds on the winter fuel payment, a state benefit intended to help people over a certain age pay their winter energy bills. This benefit, although previously available to all pensioners in the UK, was changed in 2024 so that only pensioners on the lowest incomes have access to it. This policy has proven very unpopular, however, with some voters citing it as the main reason they feel let down with the current government,

In response to the cost of living crisis, the government of the United Kingdom announced a series of measures to help households in the country. The most widespread of these packages was a 400 British pound energy bill grant announced in 2022, which was allocated to all households in the country. The measure with the highest overall value was the cost of living payment, which will saw approximately eight million UK households on low income receive 650 pounds in two separate payments in 2022, and a further 900 pounds paid in three installments throughout the 2023/24 financial year.

In 2024/25, the UK government spent approximately 13.3 percent of GDP on social protection, compared with 8.4 percent for health, and 4.1 percent for education. These three spending areas have accounted for the highest share of government spending since the late 1980s. Defence spending as a share of GDP has, by contrast, fallen throughout this period, from a high of 4.6 percent in 1984/85, to just 1.8 percent in the mid-2010s. Main sources of revenue During this same time period, income tax has been the most important source of revenue for the government, accounting for almost ten percent of GDP in the 2022/23 financial year. The UK's main tax levied on sales, Value Added Tax (VAT), was equivalent to 7.4 percent of GDP that year, with National Insurance Contributions at around seven percent of GDP. Taxes raised from businesses via Corporation Tax were the fourth-major source of tax revenue that year, at approximately 3.1 percent of GDP. Debt and borrowing Due to several years of the government spending more than it earns, the government has had to borrow large amounts to finance its commitments. This was especially the case at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when, due to depressed revenues and increased expenditure, the government borrowed more than 314 billion pounds. This increased the national debt from 1.8 trillion pounds, to around 2.15 trillion pounds, or almost 97 percent of GDP.

Approximately 14.1 percent of people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed in the United Kingdom in the second quarter of 2025, the highest of any age group in that month. During this time period, older age groups have had much lower unemployment rates than younger ones, who have consistently had the highest unemployment rate. For almost all the age groups, the peak in the unemployment rate was recorded in 2011 when almost a quarter of young working age people were unemployed. Young adults in the labor market In the provided time period, youth unemployment was at its lowest rate in the third quarter of 2022, when it was 10.3 percent. Since then, there has been a noticeable uptick in youth unemployment, which was 14.8 percent towards the end of 2024. A more long-term trend among this age group is the increase in economic inactivity, with 40.8 percent of 16 to 24-year-old's not in work or actively looking for work in 2024. Although students or people in training account for a high share of this economic inactivity, there has also been a rise in the proportion of young adults who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), which reached a ten-year-high of 13.2 percent in late 2024. Unemployment up from low baseline in late 2024 In 2022, the UK labor market, had very low levels of unemployment along with a record number of job vacancies. Throughout 2023 and 2024, this very tight labor market began to loosen, although is still quite low by historic standards. One indicator that has stood out since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, has been the number of people economically inactive due to being on long-term sick leave, which reached 2.82 million in the first quarter of 2024, and has been the main reason for economic inactivity in the UK since late 2021.