Guidance

Family Resources Survey Stat-Xplore database guide

Published 17 January 2023

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) Stat-Xplore database provides information on individual and household incomes as well as characteristics and circumstances for a financial year.

Information is available for the United Kingdom from the financial year 2002 to 2003 up to and including 2020 to 2021 at:

• a child level

• an adult level

• an individual level

• a family level (benefit unit level)

• a household level

Data is taken directly from the FRS, which is a continuous household survey which collects information on a representative sample of private households in the United Kingdom.

Read information on the FRS methodology in the background information and methodology.

Information is available at a regional, country and UK level and also by ethnicity. While Stat-Xplore displays results for single years, please ensure that FRS estimates for ethnicity estimates are calculated using three-year averages – see section ‘8. Known Issues’ for guidance on how to correctly calculate estimates.

Please note that particular care is needed in calculating three-year averages for percentages.

Please email team.frs@dwp.gov.uk with comments and suggestions.

Please add “Source: FRS Stat-Xplore” to any analysis shared or published.

1. What is Stat-Xplore?

Stat-Xplore is a free tabulation tool. Users can access Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data via databases to create their own analysis.

FRS estimates and underlying data is also available via:

• the FRS homepage – a main report, along with an extensive suite of tables of FRS estimates and the FRS background information and methodology detailing information related to the quality of FRS statistics
• the UK Data Service – end user licence access to the FRS datasets and extensive user documentation (note that income variables are rounded to nearest whole £1 and very large households and some variables are removed unless using safe room access)

2. Benefits of Using the FRS Stat-Xplore database

Some benefits of Stat-Xplore are:

• free and accessible to all with user guidance and virtual tour

• new user-defined analysis of FRS data with a user-friendly Application Programming Interface (API) and quick export of tables/graphs to Excel/PDF

• data is unrounded so users can produce more accurate analysis (final estimates must be rounded as described below)

3. Constraints of using the FRS Stat-Xplore database

Some constraints of using Stat-Xplore are:

• confidence intervals around estimates and design factors cannot be produced in Stat-Xplore

• analysis based on three-year averages is not currently possible so FRS estimates based on ethnicity variables must be calculated manually by the user. See section ’8. Known Issues’ for details

• careful selection of row and column categories are necessary to ensure correct estimates are produced - please see ‘12. User-defined Analysis’ and ‘13. Further Top Tips’

4. FRS Definitions

FRS defines some groups and characteristics in a specific way, which may differ from definitions used in other sources.

The following table provides specific definitions relevant to the FRS.

Table 4: FRS Definitions

Definition	Explanation
Adult	All individuals who are aged 16 and over are classified as an adult, unless the individual is defined as a dependent child. All adults in the household are interviewed as part of the FRS.
Child	A dependent child is defined as an individual aged under 16. A person will also be defined as a child if they are 16 to 19 years old and they are: * not married nor in a civil partnership nor living with a partner; and * living with parents (or a responsible adult); and * in full-time non-advanced education or in unwaged government training
Disability	The definition of disability used in the FRS is consistent with the core definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010. A person is considered to have a disability if they have a long-standing illness, disability or impairment which causes substantial difficulty with day-to-day activities. Some people classified as disabled and having rights under the Equality Act 2010 are not captured by this definition, such as people with a long-standing illness or disability which is not currently affecting their day-to-day activities.
Family (Benefit Unit)	Benefit unit is the family grouping used for assessing benefit entitlement. It is defined as ‘a single adult or couple living as married or cohabiting and any dependent children’. A dependent child is aged 16 or under, or is 16 to 19 years old, unmarried and in full-time non-advanced education. So, for example, a couple living with their young children and an elderly parent would be one household but two benefit units. The couple and children would constitute one benefit unit and the elderly parent would constitute another. It should be noted that ‘benefit unit’ is used throughout the report as a description of groups of individuals regardless of whether they are in receipt of any state support.
Household	The definition of a household used in the FRS is ‘one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room, sitting room, or dining area’. So, for example, a group of students with a shared living room would be counted as a single household even if they did not eat together, but a group of bed-sits at the same address would not be counted as a single household. A household may consist of one or more benefit units, which in turn will consist of one or more people (adults and children).
Individual	An adult or child. Where ‘people’ or ‘individuals’ are presented, this is all adults and children.
Informal Carers	The FRS defines all those giving help on an informal basis (that is, not as part of a paid job) as informal carers. Professional carers can also be informal carers if giving help outside of work. What should be counted as care is not prescriptively defined but includes activities such as going shopping for someone and helping with paperwork. Those in receipt of care may be receiving either formal or informal care or a mixture of both.
In latest prices	Indicates variants of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) are used to adjust income for inflation to the ‘latest’ publication year prices to be able to compare how incomes are changing over time in real terms.
In year prices	Income has not been adjusted for inflation so are in ‘nominal’ terms.
Net	After deductions have been removed for: income tax payments and National Insurance contributions; domestic rates/council tax; contributions to occupational pension schemes; all maintenance payments; student loan repayments; parental contributions to students living away from home.

Further information can be found in the FRS Background Information and Methodology, available from the main FRS publication page or by clicking on the “i” icon for a variable in the FRS Stat-Xplore database.

5. FRS Estimates Rounding Rules and Disclosure

Please note that estimates derived in this database are unrounded and based on survey data.

Once the user has produced FRS estimates using unrounded outputs:

• percentages must be rounded to the nearest whole per cent

• numbers must be rounded to the nearest 0.1 million (or 100,000 individuals)

• amounts must be rounded to the nearest £1 (weekly) and £100 (annual)

These rounding conventions have been set to reflect that FRS estimates are based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and not actual records of individuals in the UK.

Where tabulations result in a number of rows or columns with zero numbers or percentages when rounded, we recommend combining groups.

When comparing year-on-year changes, users are advised to refer to the suite of tables providing confidence intervals around the key FRS estimates (Methodology and standard error data tables) on the FRS homepage. There is some uncertainty around estimates derived from the FRS because:

• not every household in the country is interviewed as part of the survey
• there is a possibility that households that are interviewed contain a greater fraction of households below the poverty line than the general population

For further information, including a number of methods which can be applied to estimate uncertainty within the FRS estimates, please refer to this FRS Uncertainty guidance.

6. Breakdowns Available

FRS Stat-Xplore allows users to create their own analysis of these breakdowns.

1. Weighted Sum of Child/Adult/Individual/Family (Benefit Unit)/Household Dataset (default measure) (Sum)

2. Adult Income from All Sources

• Adult total, net Income received from all sources in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Adult total, net Income received from all sources in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Adult total, annual, net Income received from all sources in latest prices (CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Adult total, annual, net Income received from all sources in year prices (in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

3. Adult Income from Employment and Self-employment

• Adult total, annual, net Income received from Employment in latest prices (CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Adult total, annual, net Income received from Employment in year prices (in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Adult total, annual, net Income received from Self Employment in latest prices (CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Adult total, annual, net Income received from Self Employment in year prices (in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

4. Household Income from All Sources

• Household total, gross Income from all sources in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from all sources in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

5. Household Income from Employment and Self-employment

• Household total, gross Income from Employment and Self Employment in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Employment and Self Employment in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Employment in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Employment in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Self-Employment in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Self-Employment in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

6. Household Income from Other Sources

• Household Income from State Support in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from State Support in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Investments and other sources in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Investments and other sources in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Investments in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from Investments in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from non-state pensions in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from non-state pensions in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from other sources in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household total, gross Income from other sources in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

7. Household Income from State Support

• Household Income from Disability Benefits in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from Disability Benefits in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from other benefits in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from other benefits in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from State Pension, Income Support and Pension Credit in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from State Pension, Income Support and Pension Credit in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from Tax Credits in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household Income from Tax Credits in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

8. Family (Benefit Unit) Income received from State Support

• Family, total, annual amount of Income received from State Support in latest prices (CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Family, total, annual amount of Income received from State Support in year prices (in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

9. Household/Family (Benefit Unit) amount of savings and investments

• Household/Family, total amount of savings and investments in latest prices (CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household/Family, total amount of savings and investments in year prices (in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

10. Household rent, repayment mortgage payment

• Household rent, repayment mortgage payment in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms) (Median and Mean)
• Household rent, repayment mortgage payment in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms) (Median and Mean)

11. Reporting Period

• Financial Year

12. Geography

• Country of the Household in the United Kingdom
• Great Britain location of the Household
• Government office region of the Household in the United Kingdom
• London location of the Household

13. Child/Adult/Individual/Family (Benefit Unit)/Household Characteristics

• Age band of the Child/Adult/Individual/Head of the Family (Benefit Unit)/Head of the Household
• Age band of the Youngest Child in the Family (Benefit Unit)
• Gender of the Child/Adult/Individual
• Economic status of the Family (Benefit Unit)
• Length of residency in property of the Head of the Household
• Tenure type of the Household

14. Type of Adult and Individual

• Type of Individual
• Type of Adult/Type of Adult of the Head of the Household

15. Care

• Whether the Adult/Individual is an Informal Carer
• Whether the Adult/Individual receives care
• Person cared for within the Household
• Person cared for outside the Household
• Person cared for by the Informal Carer
• Caring for more than one person
• Person or people cared for inside or, and outside of the Household
• Frequency of care received by the Adult/Individual
• Number of hours spent providing care per week

16. Disability status and Impairment type

• Disability Status of the Adult/Individual/Family (Benefit Unit)
• Difficulty with dexterity
• Difficulty with hearing
• Difficulty with learning
• Difficulty with memory
• Difficulty with mental health
• Difficulty with mobility
• Social or behavioural difficulty
• Difficulty with stamina or breathing or fatigue
• Difficulty with vision
• Difficulty in other area of life

17. Employment status

• Employment Status of the Adult (detailed breakdowns)
• Employment Status of the Adult (high level breakdowns)
• Self-Employment Status of the Adult

18. Ethnicity

• Asian Ethnicity Group of the Adult/Head of the Family (Benefit Unit)/Head of the Household (please calculate three year averages click on i for the correct method)
• Harmonised Ethnic Group of the Adult/Head of the Family (Benefit Unit)/Head of the Household (please calculate three year averages click on i for the correct method)
• Harmonised Ethnic Group of the Adult/Head of the Family (Benefit Unit)/Head of the Household high level (please calculate three year averages click on i for the correct method)

19. Income

• Main source of Household’s total, gross Income
• Adult total, net Income received from all sources, in bands, in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms)
• Adult total, net Income received from all sources, in bands, in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms)
• Household total, gross Income from all sources (in bands with 100 widths) in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms)
• Household total, gross Income from all sources (in bands with 100 widths) in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms)
• Household total, gross Income from all sources (in bands with 200 widths) in latest prices (weekly, CPI adjusted real terms)
• Household total, gross Income from all sources (in bands with 200 widths) in year prices (weekly, in nominal terms)

20. Pension scheme participation

• Employment Status of the Adult (for pension type)
• Pension scheme participation of the Adult
• Pension type of the Adult
• Employer sponsored pension type of the Adult
• Individual pension type of the Adult
• Pension type of the employed Adult
• Employer sponsored pension type of the employed Adult
• Pension type of the self-employed Adult
• Pension type of the economically inactive Adult

21. Savings and investments

• Household/Family, total amount of savings and investments, in bands, in latest prices (CPI adjusted real terms)/Individuals in the Household
• Household/Family, total amount of savings and investments, in bands, in year prices (in nominal terms)/Individuals in the Household
• Any accounts, excluding Post Office card accounts (POCAs) belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Any accounts, including Post Office card accounts (POCAs) belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Any direct payment accounts, excluding Post Office card accounts (POCAs) belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Any direct payment accounts, including Post Office card accounts (POCAs) belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Any other bank or building society accounts belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Any other type of asset belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Basic bank accounts belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Company share schemes (profit sharing) belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Credit union memberships of the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Current accounts belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Individual Saving Accounts (ISAs) belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• National savings bonds belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• National Savings & Investments (NS&I) saving accounts belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Post Office Card Accounts (POCAs) belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Premium bonds belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Stocks and shares or share club memberships held by the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Unit trusts belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household
• Unlinked endowment policies belonging to the Adult/Individuals in the Family (Benefit Unit)/Individuals in the Household

22. Family (Benefit Unit) Type

• Family Type (high level breakdowns)
• Family Type (detailed breakdowns)
• Marital Status of Adults in the Family (Benefit Unit)
• Type of Couple in the Family (Benefit Unit)

23. Benefit receipt

• Attendance Allowance (AA) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Carer’s Allowance (CA) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Child Benefit (CHB) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Child Tax Credits (CTC) including lump sums received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA) Self Care received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA) Mobility received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Income Related or Contributory or both received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Housing Benefit (HB) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Incapacity Benefit (IB) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Income Support (IS) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) Income based or Contributory or both received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Pension Credit (PC) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Daily Living received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mobility received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Retirement Pension (RP) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Universal Credit (UC) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Widow’s Benefit (WB) received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household
• Working Tax Credits (WTC) including lump sums received by the Family (Benefit Unit)/Household

24. Receipt of/amount of income from State Support

• State Support received by the Family (Benefit Unit)
• Family, total, annual amount of Income received from State Support, in bands, in latest prices (CPI adjusted real terms)
• Family, total, annual amount of Income received from State Support, in bands, in year prices (in nominal terms)

25. Household composition

• Household composition by children
• Household composition by children, gender and number of adults
• Household composition by number of adults over State Pension Age
• Household composition by number of disabled adults under State Pension Age
• Household composition by number of unemployed adults under State Pension Age

26. Income from Employment and Self-employment

• Earnings from Employment and Self Employment received by the Household
• Earnings from Employment received by the Household
• Earnings from Self Employment received by the Household

27. Income from Other Sources

• Earnings from Investments and other sources received by the Household
• Earnings from Investments received by the Household
• Earnings from non state pensions received by the Household
• Earnings from other sources received by the Household

28. Income from State Support

• Earnings from Disability Benefits received by the Household
• Earnings from other benefits received by the Household
• Earnings from State Pension, Income Support and Pension Credit received by the Household
• Earnings from State Support received by the Household
• Earnings from Tax Credits received by the Household

Click on the ‘i’ icon for descriptions and any data issues for a breakdown.

7. Current Database Exclusions (available in published tables)

The following breakdowns have not been included in this version:

• Household Food Security

8. Known Issues

The following known issues exist for FRS Stat-Xplore.

Three-Year Average Estimates for Ethnicity

Please note that Stat-Xplore cannot calculate three-year average estimates. However final FRS estimates for ethnicity must be presented as three-year averages. To calculate a three-year average, output estimates for at least three consecutive financial years:

• for numbers - these can be outputted for all years in one table
• for percentages - please output one year at a time in a table (as outputting several years may result in incorrect percentage groupings)

Click on ‘Financial Year’, tick the required year and add to column. To remove the latest financial year, go to ‘Financial Year’, tick on the latest year and then select ‘Remove’ at the top. This should leave just the required financial year.

Alternatively, output several years as numbers in a table and manually calculate the percentages for each year separately in Excel. From this, three year averages can be calculated as below.

An example calculation is:

Year 1 estimate = 120,000

Year 2 estimate = 145,000

Year 3 estimate = 110,000

Three-year average estimate (Year 1 to Year 3) = (Year 1 estimate + Year 2 estimate + Year 3 estimate)/3 = (120,000 + 145,000 + 110,000)/3 = 125,000

FRS Data Changes

• the level of savings and investments, for both families (benefit units) and households, is estimated using a slightly different methodology in Financial Year Ending (FYE 2020), than in previous years. This change has caused a large shift in the division of families (benefit units) and households between the two categories of (i) those with no savings at all to (ii) those with less than £1500 in savings. The new method more accurately estimates savings in current accounts and basic bank accounts resulting in estimates which are closer to those of other major surveys. Further information can be found in the FRS Background and Methodology Note on the FRS homepage
• as advised in a Statistical Notice published in May 2016, FRS has made a methodological change to use variants of CPI when adjusting for inflation from the FYE 2015 publication onwards. Prior to the FYE 2015 FRS publication, variants of RPI were used to adjust for inflation. Therefore, all tables created here will use CPI-adjusted inflation and so will not be consistent with published tables prior to FYE 2015
• the tables use grossing factors based on 2011 Census data, so caution should be exercised when making comparisons with published reports and tables prior to FYE 2013

9. Important Footnotes

A series of footnotes are provided to guide the user when producing estimates.

Table 9: Important Footnotes for FRS Stat-Xplore

Symbol	Description
I	Figures are for the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2003. The reference period is single financial years.
II	Figures derived are unrounded. Before use of these figures, users must use the following rounding conventions: a) Percentages must be rounded to the nearest whole per cent b) Numbers must be rounded to the nearest 0.1 million (or 100,000 individuals) c) Amounts must be rounded to the nearest £1 (weekly) and nearest £100 (annual) These rounding conventions have been set to reflect that FRS estimates are based on survey data and not actual records of individuals in the UK.
III	Small changes in estimates from year to year may not be significant in view of data uncertainties. Please refer to the Important User Guidance on the Home page of the FRS database.
IV	The tables use grossing factors based on 2011 Census data, so caution should be exercised when making comparisons with published reports and tables prior to 2012 to 2013.
V	”..” indicates data not being available in that year.
VI	It is recommended that any group with sample size fewer than 50,000 is not used as it is too small for robust analysis.
cpi	CPI Consumer Price Index. CPI has been used to adjust for inflation and calculate monetary values in real terms. All tables created here apply CPI-adjusted inflation and so will not be consistent with published reports and tables prior to 2014 to 2015.
real	Real terms monetary values have been adjusted for the effects of inflation.
nom	Nominal terms refer to unadjusted monetary values. Values as recorded during the survey year, without taking inflation or other factors into account.
i	Click to view information about the category and any data issues.
nsp	All non-state pensions; this includes both workplace and personal pensions. People can have several different non-state pensions at once.
sc	Self employed incomes do not include any reported grant amounts received as part of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). Wages are treated as income from employment rather than state support, irrespective of any support payments from Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) that the respondent’s employer was receiving in respect of their employment.
spa	From 6 April 2010, the State Pension age has been increasing gradually for women, and since December 2018 has been increasing for both men and women. During the financial year 2020 to 2021, the State Pension age for both men and women had increased to 66 years by the end of the survey year.
sp	State Pension and any Income Support or Pension Credit paid with it.
disben	Disability benefits includes Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments, Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, Attendance Allowance, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and any remaining Severe Disablement Allowance cases.
tentyp	This is the basis on which the head of household is resident in their dwelling. Definition of each type of Tenure can be found in the Background Information and Methodology.
pr	All cases where the property is rented from a private landlord, including those on a rent-free basis and those who part-own, part-rent.
dis	Figures from 2013 onwards are based on a different definition of disability to previous years.
hear	Data for the ‘Hearing’ category is to be treated with caution due to the possible sampling limitations of interviewing by telephone in the 2020 to 2021 survey year.
care	Those in receipt of care may be receiving either formal or informal care or a mixture of both.
freq	Those who receive care less than once a week are not included within this table.
ur	Relative to administrative records, the FRS is known to under-report State Support and benefit receipt. Please refer to the M6A and M6B tables in the FRS Methodology and Standard Error data tables.
child	A dependent child is defined as an individual aged under 16. A person will also be defined as a child if they are 16 to 19 years old and they are: Not married nor in a civil partnership nor living with a partner; and Living with parents (or a responsible adult); and In full-time non-advanced education or in unwaged government training.
3ya	Estimates based on ethnicity must be calculated as three year averages as there are small sample sizes for some ethnic groups. Output at least three consecutive financial years: for numbers - these can be outputted for all years in one table, for percentages - please output one year at a time in a table (as outputting several years may result in incorrect percentage groupings). Please see the information page or calculate a three-year average as follows: (yr1 estimate + yr2 estimate + yr3 estimate)/3.
gyp	Sample sizes for ‘Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Traveller’ are small, so for Northern Ireland, ‘Irish Traveller’ is included in ‘Other ethnic group’. For England, Wales and Scotland, ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ is included in ‘White’.
d	It is not possible to disaggregate these categories due to differences in data collection of the country-specific questions.
arab	‘Arab’ has been included in ‘Other ethnic group’ due to small sample sizes.
sd	Ethnic background is self-declared; representation rates are calculated from known declarations and exclude ‘not declared’ before 2020 to 2021.
nd	From survey year 2020 to 2021 ‘not declared’ has been added as a separate category.
inact	Inactive includes the International Labour Organisation (ILO) defined groups ‘Unemployed’, ‘Retired’, ‘Student’, ‘Looking after home/family’, ‘Permanently sick/disabled’, ‘Temporary sick/injured’ and ‘Other’.
emp	Employment breakdowns cover all adult ages, not just working-age adults.
pentyp	Includes pensions where type of pension is unknown.
sepen	Includes doctors and dentists in private practice who are members of an occupational scheme. Also includes self-employed people; either those who remained in their employer-sponsored scheme when they ceased being an employee or those who are part-time employees, part self-employed.
setyp	Only includes people that have stated self-employment as their main job.
earn	Reported earnings from employment/self-employment, of those who are employed/self-employed in their main job.
ftpt	Full-time or part-time is reported as a description of a person’s main job. Therefore where someone has more than one job the total hours worked across multiple jobs or types of employment is not reflected here.
netearn	Earnings are net of tax payments, National Insurance contributions, contributions to occupational pension schemes, all maintenance and child support payments, and student loan payments; additionally, net earnings exclude any tax credit, Universal Credit or other state benefit which the individual receives (or their share of what the household receives).
netinc	Incomes are net of tax payments, National Insurance contributions, contributions to occupational pension schemes, all maintenance and child support payments, and student loan payments; however, net incomes include any tax credit, Universal Credit, or other state benefit which the individual receives (or their share of what the household receives).
inc	Income includes reported earnings from employment/self employment, of those who are employed/self-employed in their main job.
age	Due to changes to the state-pension age, the age bracket ‘65 to 74’ covers both some working-age adults and some State Pension-age adults from survey year 2018 to 2019 onwards.
oei	‘Other economically inactive’ includes the International Labour Organisation (ILO) defined groups ‘Student’, ‘Looking after home/family’, ‘Permanently sick/disabled’, ‘Temporary sick/injured’ and ‘Other’.
adult	All individuals who are aged 16 and over are classified as an adult, unless the individual is defined as a dependent child. All adults in the household are interviewed as part of the FRS.
adch	Carers may be either adult or children.
sssda	From 2016 to 2017, sample sizes are too small to be presented for Severe Disablement Allowance so this should only be included in combined benefits categories.
uc	Since April 2013, Universal Credit has been replacing income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Housing Benefit. UC is being rolled out over a number of years: as a result, the composition of the UC caseload at the current time will not necessarily be the same as when UC is fully rolled-out, and the information in these tables should be seen in this context.
pc	The qualifying age for Pension Credit has increased in line with the increases in State Pension age.
pcbu	Any benefit unit headed by a couple where the head is over State Pension age. Note this differs from the definition used in the Households Below Average Income report, which defines a benefit unit as a pensioner couple if either adult is over State Pension age.
hdbu	Household Reference Person (HRP), which is the person with the highest income. If the HRP does not belong to the benefit unit, then the head of benefit unit is simply the first person from that benefit unit, in the order they were named in the interview. If the HRP does belong to the benefit unit, they are also the head of that benefit unit.
ss (Family (Benefit Unit) Dataset)	State support comprises tax credits and all benefits, including State Pension.
ss (Household Dataset)	Tax Credits, State Pension plus any IS/PC, Disability benefits and other benefits.
sswb	From 2018 to 2019, sample sizes are too small to be presented for Widow’s Benefit so this should only be included in combined benefits categories.
ssiidb	From 2018 to 2019, sample sizes are too small to be presented for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit so this should only be included in combined benefits categories.
ssafcs	From 2018 to 2019, sample sizes are too small to be presented for Armed Forces Compensation Scheme so this should only be included in combined benefits categories.
ssuc	Prior to 2017 to 2018, sample sizes are too small to be presented for Universal Credit so this should only be included in combined benefits categories.
ssib	From 2016 to 2017, sample sizes are too small to be presented for Incapacity Benefit so this should only be included in combined benefit categories.
empse	Wages, salaries and self-employed income.
rinc	Investments and Other Sources.
hdhh	‘Head’ in tables relating to households is the Household Reference Person, which is the person with the highest income.
prexc	Where the property is rented from a private landlord, but excluding those who part-own, part-rent (for tables of tenure type of the household by household rent, repayment mortgage payment).
rmort	Mortgages include repayment mortgages only i.e. mortgages where both a capital payment and an interest payment are made each month. For example interest-only mortgages are excluded.

Note that footnotes are not displayed on percentages tables in FRS Stat-Xplore.

10. How the Database Works

Log in to the Stat-Xplore database.

Please take the tour to learn about how to use a Stat-Xplore database.

Click on the three dots on the top right-hand corner of the page (see blue arrow in the image below) and select to find the ‘Tour’ again if you have visited the website before.

Further really useful guidance can be found by selecting the ‘?’ icon (see green arrow in the image below).

Figure 1: Stat-Xplore Database

On the main Stat Xplore website, scroll down to the Family Resources Survey Database and select it.

Figure 2a and 2b: FRS Stat-Xplore Database – Family Resources Survey

Once Family Resources Survey database is selected, available datasets will be shown (figure 2a) and main information page will be displayed on screen (figure 2b). Please take time to read the front, information page for important information on rounding final figures and known issues.

Figure 2a

Figure 2b

Family Resources Survey data on Stat Xplore is available on the following levels:

• Adult
• Child
• Individual
• Family (Benefit Unit)
• Household

Each level forms its own dataset. Information about each, individual dataset can be accessed by clicking on it. Users are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the information about the dataset prior to accessing the data. Dataset metadata information and ready-made tables can also be accessed from this screen, as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3

To access data, users can follow a link from the dataset information page or double-click the dataset itself.

11. Ready-Made Tables

A selection of ready-made tables is available for each dataset, to allow users to quickly output main headline FRS estimates or use as a starting point for further analysis. These can be modified, with additional categories added.

Here is the Ready-Made Table 6 from Individual dataset: ‘Main source of Household’s total, gross Income by Financial Year and Type of Individual’.

Figure 4: Ready-Made Table 6 from Individual dataset: ‘Main source of Household’s total, gross Income by Financial Year and Type of Individual’

12. User-Defined Analysis

To create user-defined tabulations, double-click on the dataset icon, or click ‘Go to dataset’ link on dataset information page.

Figure 5: FRS Stat-Xplore Data Screen – Adult Dataset Example

a. Removing Financial Year total

As with other breakdowns, ‘Financial Year’ has a total column or row by default.

However, please remove the total before outputting tables by clicking on the three dots next to the ‘Financial Year’ label in the table (see the blue arrow in the image below) and unticking the ‘Total’ (see the green arrow in the image below).

Figure 6: Removing Financial Year Total

b. Financial Year as a Row

‘Financial Year’ is a mandatory field and the most recent year of published data will always be displayed as a column by default.

To have ‘Financial Year’ as a row:

• drag ‘Financial Year’ over the ‘third square down’ (see blue arrow in image below)

Figure 7: Financial Year as a Row

c. Selecting Specific Financial Years

To select specific financial years:

• double click on the ‘Financial Year’ breakdown on the left hand-side
• tick the required years
• select ‘Column’ or ‘Row’ at the top (depending on whether the ‘Financial Year’ is a row or column)

d. Removing the Latest Financial Year

To remove the latest year, click on the year and select ‘remove’ at the top.

e. Creating, Editing and Exporting a Numbers Table

Once the ‘Financial Year(s)’ row or column selection is complete, the user can select breakdowns as columns or rows and click on ‘Retrieve Data’ to get the outputs (see the blue arrow in the image below).

Numbers are presented by default in the FRS Stat-Xplore Database.

Note that:

• any relevant footnotes to the breakdowns selected will also be displayed
• to remove a breakdown, drag it to the ‘Remove Item’ icon above the table
• to clear the table, click on the ‘Clear Table’ icon above the table
• to output to Excel, click on the ‘Go’ icon at the very top right corner of the screen

Figure 8: Creating, Editing and Exporting a Numbers Table

Please add Source: FRS Stat-Xplore to any analysis shared or published.

f. Converting a Numbers Table to Percentages Table

To convert a numbers table to a percentages table:

• select the ‘Table Options’ icon above the table
• select the ‘Percentages’ option
• select the appropriate ‘Column’ or ‘Row’ to convert to percentages

Figure 9: Converting a Numbers Table to Percentages Table

Note that:

• Footnotes are not displayed for percentages tables
• To convert back to numbers, repeat the instructions above and select ‘None’

Please add Source: FRS Stat-Xplore to any analysis shared or published.

13. Further Top Tips

A series of further top tips when using Stat-Xplore.

Stat-Xplore versus Published Tables

• check whether the breakdown you require is currently available in the Published Tables already
• take care when trying to replicate published tables and use them to quality assure the Stat-Xplore outputs before creating further analysis
• majority of the FRS published tables present data in percentages, to replicate these, change Stat Xplore data table displays via ‘Table Options’ function
• not all published table breakdowns are available in Stat-Xplore – see ‘7. Current Exclusions (available in published tables)’

Building a Table

The Ready-Made Tables allow instant export and analysis for a selection of breakdowns in each FRS dataset. These can provide a good foundation for further analysis of headline FRS estimates.

When producing new tables:

• it is generally recommended to have ‘Financial Year’ as a column so that time-series outputs go across the table

Build a table in the following order:

1. Filter

2. Wafer

3. Column

4. Row

Stat Xplore Default Options

• there are a number of default functions on Stat Xplore platform. Not all are relevant to FRS database
• RSE function. RSE stands for Relative Standard Error. The FRS database is weighted to provide population estimates. The weighted plugin also adds RSE figures. This has been set to zero so users can ignore
• range function for Measures. This is available to allow users to create their own ranges. Users are advised to use appropriate ranges for weekly and annual measures

Please add Source: FRS Stat-Xplore to any analysis shared or published.

Please email team.frs@dwp.gov.uk with comments and suggestions.