Consultation on future developments to Income Dynamics statistics
Published 22 March 2018
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Summary
This consultation runs from 22 March 2018 to 29 June 2018.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published the second annual experimental statistics on Income Dynamics.
We’ve identified and implemented a number of developments based on feedback that we’ve previously received and welcome comments on these changes.
We plan to continue developing our Income Dynamics publication so we are asking users which potential developments they would find most useful, so that work on these can be prioritised.
In addition we will also be reviewing the methodology used and whether improvements made by the University of Essex mean we can use, for example, imputed housing cost information to improve our after housing costs results.
The questionnaire lists some areas for future development in relation to the Income Dynamics publication. Some developments may be more easily achieved than others, and some may be affected by the current availability of data or its quality.
If you think there are gaps in our Income Dynamics publication, we would also be interested to receive new proposals for consideration.
How to reply
Please provide comments on these proposals by 29 June 2018.
Return your completed questionnaire to teamincome.dynamics@dwp.gsi.gov.uk or:
Income Dynamics
DWP Surveys Branch
2nd Floor, Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
What happens next?
Once we have read your responses we’ll decide what to prioritise for the next publication and, depending on the scope of these, will publish a statistical notice to inform users of the intended changes.
Some proposals may be affected by the availability and completeness of the necessary data. We will also need to make sure the data passes quality assurance checks before releasing any figures based on it.
Confidentiality and Data Protection
Information provided in response to this questionnaire, including personal information, may be subject to publication or release to other parties or to disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes. These are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).
If you want information, including personal data that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence.
It would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances.
Background
Income Dynamics provides estimates of the likelihood of the same people being persistently in low income in at least 3 out of 4 years and of mobility across the income distribution.
DWP previously published low-income dynamics statistics based on the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS).
The final release was published on 23 September 2010. The BHPS has now been subsumed into the Understanding Society survey, a longitudinal study about life in the UK and how it’s changing. This survey now forms the basis for Income Dynamics.
Understanding Society follows respondents over time, unlike the survey underlying the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series, which looks at the distribution of incomes with different samples each year.
HBAI remains the best source of cross-sectional low-income statistics. Income Dynamics will supplement it to give a longitudinal perspective on low-income statistics. We hope it will become a key source for statistics about income movements and the persistence of low income, filling a key gap that emerges if low-income statistics are only considered cross-sectionally.
By looking longitudinally at low incomes, we can look at durations of low incomes for different groups and what characteristics generate longer spells of low income.