People in Great Britain's experiences of and actions following increases in their costs of living, and how these differed by a range of personal characteristics.

Characteristics of sampled households in the Living Costs and Food Survey.

Background:
A household food consumption and expenditure survey has been conducted each year in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) since 1940. At that time the National Food Survey (NFS) covered a sample drawn solely from urban working-class households, but this was extended to a fully demographically representative sample in 1950. From 1957 onwards the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) provided information on all household expenditure patterns including food expenditure, with the NFS providing more detailed information on food consumption and expenditure. The NFS was extended to cover Northern Ireland from 1996 onwards. In April 2001 these surveys were combined to form the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), which completely replaced both series. From January 2008, the EFS became known as the Living Costs and Food (LCF) module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). As a consequence of this change, the questionnaire was altered to accommodate the insertion of a core set of questions, common to all of the separate modules which together comprised the IHS. Some of these core questions are simply questions which were previously asked in the same or a similar format on all of the IHS component surveys. For further information on the LCF questionnaire, see Volume A of the LCF 2008 User Guide, held with SN 6385. Further information about the LCF, including links to published reports based on the survey, may be found by searching for 'Living Costs and Food Survey' on the ONS website. Further information on the NFS and Living Costs and Food Module of the IHS can be found by searching for 'Family Food' on the GOV.UK website.

History:
The LCF (then EFS) was the result of more than two years' development work to bring together the FES and NFS; both survey series were well-established and important sources of information for government and the wider community, and had charted changes and patterns in spending and food consumption since the 1950s. Whilst the NFS and FES series are now finished, users should note that previous data from both series are still available from the UK Data Archive, under GNs 33071 (NFS) and 33057 (FES).

Purpose of the LCF
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has overall project management and financial responsibility for the LCF, while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) sponsors the food data element. As with the FES and NFS, the LCF continues to be primarily used to provide information for the Retail Prices Index, National Accounts estimates of household expenditure, analysis of the effect of taxes and benefits, and trends in nutrition. The results are multi-purpose, however, providing an invaluable supply of economic and social data. The merger of the two surveys also brings benefits for users, as a single survey on food expenditure removes the difficulties of reconciling data from two sources. Design and methodology The design of the LCF is based on the old FES, although the use of new processing software by the data creators has resulted in a dataset which differs from the previous structure. The most significant change in terms of reporting expenditure, however, is the introduction of the European Standard Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP), in place of the codes previously used. An additional level of hierarchy has been developed to improve the mapping to the previous codes. The LCF was conducted on a financial year basis from 2001, then moved to a calendar year basis from January 2006 (to complement the IHS) until 2015-16, when the financial year survey was reinstated at the request of users. Therefore, whilst SN 5688 covers April 2005 - March 2006, SN 5986 covers January-December 2006. Subsequent years cover January-December until 2014. SN 8210 returns to the financial year survey and currently covers April 2015 - March 2016.

Northern Ireland sample
Users should note that, due to funding constraints, from January 2010 the Northern Ireland (NI) sample used for the LCF was reduced to a sample proportionate to the NI population relative to the UK.

Family Food database:
'Family Food' is an annual publication which provides detailed statistical information on purchased quantities, expenditure and nutrient intakes derived from both household and eating out food and drink. Data is collected for a sample of households in the United Kingdom using self-reported diaries of all purchases, including food eaten out, over a two week period. Where possible quantities are recorded in the diaries but otherwise estimated. Energy and nutrient intakes are calculated using standard nutrient composition data for each of some 500 types of food. Current estimates are based on data collected in the Family Food Module of the LCFS. Further information about the LCF food databases can be found on the GOV.UK Family Food Statistics web pages.

Secure Access version
A Secure Access version of the LCF from 2006 onwards is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 7047, subject to stringent access conditions. The Secure Access version includes variables that are not included in the standard End User Licence (EUL) version, including geographical variables with detail below Government Office Region, to postcode level; urban/rural area indicators; other sensitive variables; raw diary information files (derived variables are available in the EUL) and the family expenditure codes files. Users are strongly advised to check whether the EUL version is sufficient for their needs before considering an application for the Secure Access version.

Occupation data for 2021 and 2022 data files
The ONS have identified an issue with the collection of some occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of ONS' headline statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, are affected and you can continue to rely on their accuracy. For further information on this issue, please see: https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/occupationaldatainonssurveys.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (March 2025) the DEFRA Family Food database was added to the study. This is available as a separate Access download zip file for those users who require it.

For the third edition (April 2025), the following previously unpopulated variables in the dvhh files were replaced with new versions: a111p (Rooms used solely by household - anonymised), a112 (Rooms shared by household), a114p (Rooms in accomodation - anonymised), p200p (Number of rooms occupied (DE basis) anonymised) and oecd (OECD Scale factor).

Update 29-04-2020: The data is now split into two files based on the variable collection frequency (monthly and yearly). Additional variables added: area size in hectares, number of jobs in the area, number of people living in the area.

Context

I have been inspired by Xavier and his work on Barcelona to explore the city of London! 🇬🇧 💂

Content

The datasets is primarily centered around the housing market of London. However, it contains a lot of additional relevant data: - Monthly average house prices - Yearly number of houses - Yearly number of houses sold - Yearly percentage of households that recycle - Yearly life satisfaction - Yearly median salary of the residents of the area - Yearly mean salary of the residents of the area - Monthly number of crimes committed - Yearly number of jobs - Yearly number of people living in the area - Area size in hectares

The data is split by areas of London called boroughs (a flag exists to identify these), but some of the variables have other geographical UK regions for reference (like England, North East, etc.). There have been no changes made to the data except for melting it into a long format from the original tables.

Acknowledgements

The data has been extracted from London Datastore. It is released under UK Open Government License v2 and v3. The underlining datasets can be found here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/uk-house-price-index https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/number-and-density-of-dwellings-by-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/subjective-personal-well-being-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/household-waste-recycling-rates-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/earnings-place-residence-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/recorded_crime_summary https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/jobs-and-job-density-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/ons-mid-year-population-estimates-custom-age-tables

Cover photo by Frans Ruiter from Unsplash

Inspiration

The dataset lends itself for extensive exploratory data analysis. It could also be a great supervised learning regression problem to predict house price changes of different boroughs over time.

A dataset comparing monthly living costs across major cities in China, including rent, food, transport, and more for ESL teachers.

Analysis of the proportion of the British adult population experiencing some form of depression in autumn 2022, including experiences of changes in cost of living and household finances. Analysis based on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.

Experimental statistics from the Student Cost of Living Insights Study (SCoLIS) in England. Includes information on the behaviours, plans, opinions and well-being of higher education students in the context of the increases in cost of living.

This dataset contains the ratio of lower quartile/median house price to lower quartile/median earnings in England

This dataset uses the median/lower quartile house price data sourced from ONS House Price Statistics for Small Areas (HPSSA) statistical release for years 2013-2015 and house price data sourced directly from Land Registry prior to 2013. This leads to slight differences in the distribution of affordability ratios before and after 2013 which should be noted if the dataset is used as a time series. It is planned to update the ratios with the HPSSA dataset for all years in the future.

The house price data is then compared to the median/lower quartile income data of full time workers from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) produced by the ONS.

This data was derived from Table 576 and 577, available for download as an Excel spreadsheet from the Live tables page (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-housing-market-and-house-prices). More details about the data sources are also available in the link provided.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Living Costs and Food Survey, 2010: Unrestricted Access Teaching Dataset is based on the Living Costs and Food Survey, 2010 (LCF) (available from the UK Data Archive under SN 6945) and constitutes real data which are used by government, business and other organisations. The teaching dataset is a subset which has been subjected to certain simplifications and additions for the purpose of learning and teaching.

The main differences are:

• the number of variables has been reduced
• a reduced User Guide with codebook is provided
• some variables have been recoded to reduce the level of detail

Further information is available in the study documentation (see below) which includes a User Guide.

Main Topics:

Topics covered include: total expenditure; household income; socio-economic status; and household characteristics.

Indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) related to cost of living by disability impairment type.

Background:
A household food consumption and expenditure survey has been conducted each year in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) since 1940. At that time the National Food Survey (NFS) covered a sample drawn solely from urban working-class households, but this was extended to a fully demographically representative sample in 1950. From 1957 onwards the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) provided information on all household expenditure patterns including food expenditure, with the NFS providing more detailed information on food consumption and expenditure. The NFS was extended to cover Northern Ireland from 1996 onwards. In April 2001 these surveys were combined to form the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), which completely replaced both series. From January 2008, the EFS became known as the Living Costs and Food (LCF) module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). As a consequence of this change, the questionnaire was altered to accommodate the insertion of a core set of questions, common to all of the separate modules which together comprised the IHS. Some of these core questions are simply questions which were previously asked in the same or a similar format on all of the IHS component surveys. For further information on the LCF questionnaire, see Volume A of the LCF 2008 User Guide, held with SN 6385. Further information about the LCF, including links to published reports based on the survey, may be found by searching for 'Living Costs and Food Survey' on the ONS website. Further information on the NFS and Living Costs and Food Module of the IHS can be found by searching for 'Family Food' on the GOV.UK website.

History:
The LCF (then EFS) was the result of more than two years' development work to bring together the FES and NFS; both survey series were well-established and important sources of information for government and the wider community, and had charted changes and patterns in spending and food consumption since the 1950s. Whilst the NFS and FES series are now finished, users should note that previous data from both series are still available from the UK Data Archive, under GNs 33071 (NFS) and 33057 (FES).

Purpose of the LCF
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has overall project management and financial responsibility for the LCF, while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) sponsors the food data element. As with the FES and NFS, the LCF continues to be primarily used to provide information for the Retail Prices Index, National Accounts estimates of household expenditure, analysis of the effect of taxes and benefits, and trends in nutrition. The results are multi-purpose, however, providing an invaluable supply of economic and social data. The merger of the two surveys also brings benefits for users, as a single survey on food expenditure removes the difficulties of reconciling data from two sources. Design and methodology The design of the LCF is based on the old FES, although the use of new processing software by the data creators has resulted in a dataset which differs from the previous structure. The most significant change in terms of reporting expenditure, however, is the introduction of the European Standard Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP), in place of the codes previously used. An additional level of hierarchy has been developed to improve the mapping to the previous codes. The LCF was conducted on a financial year basis from 2001, then moved to a calendar year basis from January 2006 (to complement the IHS) until 2015-16, when the financial year survey was reinstated at the request of users. Therefore, whilst SN 5688 covers April 2005 - March 2006, SN 5986 covers January-December 2006. Subsequent years cover January-December until 2014. SN 8210 returns to the financial year survey and currently covers April 2015 - March 2016.

Northern Ireland sample
Users should note that, due to funding constraints, from January 2010 the Northern Ireland (NI) sample used for the LCF was reduced to a sample proportionate to the NI population relative to the UK.

Family Food database:
'Family Food' is an annual publication which provides detailed statistical information on purchased quantities, expenditure and nutrient intakes derived from both household and eating out food and drink. Data is collected for a sample of households in the United Kingdom using self-reported diaries of all purchases, including food eaten out, over a two week period. Where possible quantities are recorded in the diaries but otherwise estimated. Energy and nutrient intakes are calculated using standard nutrient composition data for each of some 500 types of food. Current estimates are based on data collected in the Family Food Module of the LCFS. Further information about the LCF food databases can be found on the GOV.UK Family Food Statistics web pages.

Secure Access version
A Secure Access version of the LCF from 2006 onwards is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 7047, subject to stringent access conditions. The Secure Access version includes variables that are not included in the standard End User Licence (EUL) version, including geographical variables with detail below Government Office Region, to postcode level; urban/rural area indicators; other sensitive variables; raw diary information files (derived variables are available in the EUL) and the family expenditure codes files. Users are strongly advised to check whether the EUL version is sufficient for their needs before considering an application for the Secure Access version.

Occupation data for 2021 and 2022 data files
The ONS have identified an issue with the collection of some occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of ONS' headline statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, are affected and you can continue to rely on their accuracy. For further information on this issue, please see: https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/occupationaldatainonssurveys.

For the second edition (May 2011), the variables A012p and A013p in file dvper were replaced with new versions to correct data errors. For the third edition (June 2011), a new version of the DV Set89 data file was deposited. The variable COI_PLUS (Coicop-plus expenditure code) has been updated to correct truncated codes that were present in the previous version. For the fourth edition (July 2011), the Specs2009 document was replaced with an updated version. The previous version contained some notes that were no longer needed.

DEFRA Family Food database:
This is available as a separate Access download zip file for those users who require it.

UK Gas fell to 84.57 GBp/thm on July 14, 2025, down 0.83% from the previous day. Over the past month, UK Gas's price has fallen 4.85%, but it is still 15.90% higher than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. UK Natural Gas - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on July of 2025.

Indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) related to the impact of cost of living on behaviours and health, with breakdowns by different population groups.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The UKFood dataset provides a statistical match of the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) and the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), combining food purchases and expenditure at the household level with nutrient intake at the individual level. It was produced as part of the Imperial College Business School Fiscal INCentives for Health improvement: repurposing consumption taxes on food (FINCH) project (funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)).

The LCFS is a nationally representative survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), designed to collect information on household spending patterns across the entirety of the UK. It is widely used to produce official UK family spending and food consumption statistics. In particular, the Food Family module (conducted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) records participants' food and drink purchases in a two-week diary, documenting quantities, expenditures, and nutrients for over 500 types of food. The NDNS, funded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and conducted by NatCen and the University of Cambridge MRC Epidemiology Unit), gathers detailed information on food and nutrient intake from a representative sample of the UK population. This project employed statistical matching techniques to merge individuals from LCFS and NDNS, utilising a set of common variables in both datasets to create a new dataset containing household food expenditure and individual nutrient intake data. A predictive mean matching imputation technique facilitates the fusion of the two datasets that include samples from the same representative population and share a suitable subset of common variables for the 2018/19 fiscal year. The UKFood dataset encompasses a rich array of sociodemographic characteristics, including household size, ethnicity, tenure, marital status, sex, age, socioeconomic classification (SEC), UK regions, and the number of children in the household. Importantly, it also includes a range of nutrients at both individual and household levels (such as energy (kcal), protein, fat, carbohydrate, and sugar), enabling comparisons of nutrient purchases and intakes for a representative sample of the UK. This new dataset supports analyses of the impacts of fiscal policies, which necessitates an assessment of both household expenditure and finances, as well as individual nutrient intakes.

Documentation

The UKFood User Guide, Raw Variables Guide and ReadMe file are available via the Documentation tab. The Stata do-file information and codebook file are available for download alongside the data files, by registered UKDS users.

Inflation Rate in the United Kingdom decreased to 3.40 percent in May from 3.50 percent in April of 2025. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Inflation Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.