National statistics

Low-income dynamics

A statistical analysis of the movements around income distribution and the likelihood of transition into or out of low income.

From:
Department for Work and Pensions
Published
22 May 2013
Last updated
29 April 2014 — See all updates

Documents

Statistical first release

PDF, 48.4 KB, 2 pages

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Statistical publication

Ref: ISBN 9781849474146

PDF, 421 KB, 82 pages

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Details

On 16 March 2017, a new Income Dynamics (experimental) report was published based on Understanding Society data. This supersedes the publication on this page.

The last Low Income Dynamics National Statistics produced by the Department for Work and Pensions were released on 23 September 2010 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. The last release updates the statistics previously released on 24 September 2009.

This publication is based on results from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) for the period 1991 to 2008. It analyses the movements around the income distribution by individuals between 1991 and 2008 and examines the extent to which individuals persistently experience low income, on both before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC) bases. The report also contains tables showing the likelihood for individuals, of making a transition either into or out of low income, and identifies events and characteristics which are associated with the transitions.

Main points from the latest release

Tables on persistent low income (defined as 3 or 4 years out of any 4-year period in a household with below 60% of median income) show that:

  • there have been reductions in the level of persistent low income for all groups since 1991-1994
  • on a BHC basis, there were reductions in persistent low income for all groups over the period 1991-2008, with the largest reductions for children
  • on an AHC basis, there were reductions in persistent low income estimates for all groups over the period 1991-2008, with the largest reductions for children and pensioners

Future publications

The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) was subsumed into the larger Understanding Society survey from the start of 2009. This means that this edition of low income dynamics will be the final one in the current form.

The following technical note outlined the future publications planning and details of the data source change, it also sought to capture user’s views on the content of future reports: Low-income dynamics – moving to using the Understanding Society survey

Previous publications

Historical series

Coverage: Great Britain

Geographic breakdown: Great Britain

Published 22 May 2013
Last updated 29 April 2014 + show all updates

  1. Updated information on next release date.

  2. First published.

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