Families and children in the UK by family type including married couples, cohabiting couples and lone parents. Also shows household size and people living alone.

There are estimated to be around 12.7 million married couple families in the United Kingdom as of 2023, with a further 3.3 million opposite-sex cohabiting couple family families, and 3.2 million lone parent families.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates including measures of uncertainty of the number of people in families by specific family types and presence of children, for England, Wales and Scotland, as well as the regions of England.

In 2023, there were approximately 7.96 million households in the United Kingdom composed of a couple with no children, which was the most common type of household arrangement in this year. The second-most common type of household were couples living with one or two dependent children, at around 5.21 million.

The Families and Children Study (FACS), formerly known as the Survey of Low Income Families (SOLIF), originally provided a new baseline survey of Britain's lone-parent families and low-income couples with dependent children. The survey was named SOLIF for Waves 1 and 2, and FACS from Wave 3 onwards.

The FACS study has become a 'true panel', whereby 1999 respondents have been re-interviewed in subsequent annual waves in from 2000 to 2004, and new families added in each of these years, to allow representative cross-section as well as longitudinal comparisons. Starting with Wave 3 (2001) the survey was extended to include higher-income families, thereby yielding a complete sample of all British families (and the subsequent name change). From Wave 4 (2002) onwards, longitudinal comparisons can now be made.

The main objectives of the survey are to:

• evaluate the effectiveness of the Government's work incentive measures in terms of helping people into work, improving living standards and improving child outcomes
• compare the living standards and outcomes for children and for families across the income distribution
• compare changes in the above across the waves since 1999

FACS also aims to provide commentary on longer-term objectives such as the Government's Public Service Agreement to eradicate child poverty within a generation.

Further information, including links to reports and other publications, may be found on the DWP FACS web pages.

Users should note that, in addition to the survey name change noted above, some of the documentation for the early waves refers to the survey as the Study of Families with Children.

The original deposit of FACS, released in December 2001, contained data and documentation from the first wave. Further waves have been added at subsequent editions in 2003, 2004 (twice), 2005, 2006 and 2007.

For the eighth edition (October 2010), three major changes were made to the study: data and documentation for Waves 8-10 were deposited for the first time; updated and improved data and documentation for Waves 3-7 were deposited to replace previous materials; and updated documentation covering all waves was deposited. Details of improvements to the redeposited Wave 3-7 data are included in the all waves user guide. For the ninth edition (January 2011), the Wave 10 technical report was added to the study.

In 2023 there were estimated to be approximately 2.75 million families living in South East England, the most of any region of the United Kingdom. The region with the second-highest number of families was London, which had 2.46 million families there.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates including measures of uncertainty of the number of households by household size, for England, Scotland and Wales, as well as the regions of England.

There were estimated to be over **** million families in the United Kingdom as of 2023, compared with ** million in 2010, and **** million in 2000.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify families in England and Wales by family type, by dependent children and by age of the Family Reference Person. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021. A concealed family is one that does not include the Household Reference Person.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. Data are also available in these geographic types:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Concealed family type

This categorises the type of concealed family, whether it is a lone parent or couple family, with or without dependent or non-dependent children.

A concealed family does not include the Household Reference Person (HRP).

Example

George and Amy live at the same address as their daughter Emily and her husband and daughter.

Because Emily is not a dependent child and has her own family, there are two families in this household.

Family one are George and wife Amy. George is the Family Reference Person (FRP).

Family two is daughter Emily, husband Simon and their daughter Eve. Emily is the FRP.

As there is more than one family in the household, The FRPs are prioritised to decide who is the HRP.

In this household, George is the HRP.

This means that Emily's family is a "concealed family". Their HRP is George. They will be included as part of his household in relevant outputs.

Age of the family reference person

Age of the Family Reference Person

There are estimated to be around 3.7 million one-child families in the United Kingdom as of 2023, with a further 3.38 million two-child families, and 1.18 million families that have three or more children.

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).

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 16 years and over in families with dependent children in England and Wales by family status, by number of parents working, and by economic activity status. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

As Census 2021 was during a unique period of rapid change, take care when using this data for planning purposes. Read more about this quality notice.

As Census 2021 was during a unique period of rapid change, take care when using this data for planning purposes. Read more about this quality notice.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. Data are also available in these geographic types:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Family status by workers in generation 1

Classifies parents aged 16 years and over with dependent children in the family, by family status, the number of parents working, and economic activity.

Economic activity status

People aged 16 years and over are economically active if, between 15 March and 21 March 2021, they were:

• in employment (an employee or self-employed)
• unemployed, but looking for work and could start within two weeks
• unemployed, but waiting to start a job that had been offered and accepted

It is a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market during this period. Economically inactive are those aged 16 years and over who did not have a job between 15 March to 21 March 2021 and had not looked for work between 22 February to 21 March 2021 or could not start work within two weeks.

The census definition differs from International Labour Organization definition used on the Labour Force Survey, so estimates are not directly comparable.

This classification splits out full-time students from those who are not full-time students when they are employed or unemployed. It is recommended to sum these together to look at all of those in employment or unemployed, or to use the four category labour market classification, if you want to look at all those with a particular labour market status.

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.

For the third edition, a revised version of the education variable EdLev00 was added to the dataset.

The Families and Children Study is a longitudinal study collecting information about families with dependent children in Great Britain. The data includes respondent and children files, for each year.