Guidance

Children in low income families: local area statistics: background information and methodology

Official statistics on the number of children living in low income families.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 26 March 2020
• Last updated: 26 March 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 26 March 2026

     The background information and methodology note now includes new sections explaining how After Housing Costs statistics have been derived and revisions to the Before Housing Costs series as a result of changes to Households Below Average Income statistics.

  2. 27 March 2025

     Added a new note accompanying March 2025 statistics with additional sections on methodological improvements to the statistics, and new guidance for users on interpretation of the statistics.

  3. 21 March 2024

     Revised background information and methodology document. The latest release of Children in low income families: local area statistics has been published today, 21 March 2024.

  4. 23 February 2023

     Revised background information and methodology document - the next release of 'Children in low income families: local area' statistics will be published on 23 March 2023.

  5. 31 March 2022

     Revised background information and methodology document. Added new information on the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and updated the information in section 7 (revisions), section 8 (interpretation of the statistics) and section 9 (uses of the data). The latest release of Children in low income families: local area statistics has been published today, 31 March 2021.

  6. 25 March 2021

     Revised background information and methodology — updated to show that the statistics now cover the United Kingdom, they are no longer badged as Experimental and are now a DWP release (no longer a joint release with HMRC). Some methodological changes have also been explained. The latest release of Children in low income families: local area statistics has been published today, 25 March 2020.

  7. 26 March 2020

     First published.

Documents

Background information and methodology: Children in low income families: local area statistics

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Information about the Children in low income families: local area statistics methodology, including the context, purpose and source data of the statistics covered.