Guidance

Family Resources Survey: release strategy

Updated 26 March 2026

1. Introduction

This release strategy acts as the formal notice of proposed changes to future releases of the Family Resources Survey (FRS) publication.

The strategy highlights the confirmed changes to the FRS questionnaire and dataset, describes the potential release of new statistics within the publication and announces any other developments.

The FRS Release Strategy is not a static document; it will be updated as plans develop, to provide users with details of latest developments.

The development of these statistics follows the Department for Work and Pension’s statistical work programme.

2. Publications based on the FRS

The FRS is the basis for several statistical publications and the changes outlined here will be reflected as necessary in these publications in the future.

Households Below Average Income (HBAI)

This HBAI publication uses household disposable incomes, adjusted for household size and composition, as a proxy for material living standards or, more precisely, for the level of consumption of goods and services that people could attain given the disposable income of the household in which they live.

Pensioners’ Incomes Statistics

The FRS and HBAI datasets are used in the Pensioners’ Incomes Statistics, the Department’s analysis of trends in components and levels of pensioners’ incomes.

Income-Related Benefits: Estimates of Take-Up

The FRS provides information about people’s circumstances, which is used to estimate numbers of people who are not claiming benefits to which they may be entitled. The statistics are based on a combination of administrative and survey data.

Children in Low Income Families (CiLIF)

Children in Low Income Families (CiLIF) statistics report the number and proportion of children in low‑income families by local area across the UK. CiLIF is calibrated to UK Households Below Average Income (HBAI) estimates, which are derived from the FRS.

Separated Families statistics

Official statistics relating to separated families and their child maintenance arrangements.

Below Average Resources (BAR)

DWP are developing a new additional poverty measure named ‘Below Average Resources’ (BAR) based on the approach proposed by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) and using FRS data.

DWP sought user feedback on developing the new measure through an analytical consultation running from 18 January to 11 April 2024. The consultation response was published in January 2025, alongside the latest Official Statistics in Development publication in the BAR series. The publication included data for the financial year ending 2023 but did not include any substantial changes to the methodology for the measure compared to the initial publication.

We will review the impact of the changes to the Family Resources Survey and Households Below Average Income statistics introduced in March 2026 before producing further updates to the Below Average Resources Official Statistics in Development. We will first wait to review the impact of the full revised HBAI back series after the Summer 2026 update.

Other government departments

The Department for Communities Northern Ireland uses the FRS to produce similar reports to those from DWP, which are focused on Northern Ireland.

In-depth analysis of FRS-based HBAI data for Scotland can be found in the Scottish Government report on Poverty and income inequality statistics in Scotland.

In-depth analysis of relative income poverty in Wales, based on HBAI data, can be found on the Relative income poverty page of the Welsh Government website, which also has links to material deprivation analysis.

3. User engagement

The FRS team within DWP engages with users in the following ways:

• Questionnaire Consultation

• Data and Publication Quality Assurance Groups

• Expert Advisory Group consultations

• Senior Stakeholder Group engagement

• The annual Family Finance Survey Users conference, run in association with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and UK Data Service (UKDS)

• StatsUserNetwork – the online discussion forum run by the Office of National Statistics for users and producers of Official Statistics

• A training module, Getting started with the Family Resources Survey (FRS), is available via the UKDS

• Responses to Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information requests

• Team email – team.frs@dwp.gov.uk for general enquiries

User consultation

Analysts, both within DWP and other government departments such as His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) and His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC); and the devolved governments are part of our quality assurance group. These expert users have been consulted on changes to the FRS questionnaire, via a well-established Questionnaire Consultation procedure. An assessment of the quality of data that is derived from the survey responses is then conducted with this quality assurance group of subject matter experts.

DWP has established an Expert Advisory Group on Survey-based Income Statistics to support its development work. The purpose of the Group is to provide advice to DWP’s Chief Statistician on:

• future plans to implement the integration of administrative data into the FRS and related outputs

• other technical issues as they arise

• discovery work on methodology changes to existing statistics

Members of the Group include frequent users of the FRS and related outputs, including: academic experts, users from third-sector organisations and those providing methodology input from the Office for National Statistics.

4. Changes coming to FRS statistics

Developments in survey year 2025 to 2026

Developments to data collected in survey year 2025 to 2026 are expected to be published in March 2027.

Family Resources Survey (FRS) sample size

We proceeded from April 2025, with a fieldwork target of achieving 20,000 household interviews. However, fieldwork has continued to present challenges. A key issue has been the recruitment and retention of interviewers, alongside increasing rates of respondent refusal and non-contact. As a result, we expect the final achieved sample for 2025 to 2026 to be around 16,000 households interviewed.

Population back-series

We will bring FRS grossing into alignment with Census 2021 population figures (2022 for Scotland). To support this, we will produce a single revised back series of estimates using Census based population data for all years back to 2012 to 2013 survey year. These changes will affect all FRS based statistics. The revised back series estimates will be released in March 2027.

Council Tax Band

In a further development to the removal of the need to ask Council Tax band in the interview, an automated read-in of the band, from VOA datasets for England and Wales will now be the business-as-usual approach for 2025 to 2026.

Questionnaire changes approved in questionnaire consultation

Changes on specific topics were approved and implemented for the FRS 2025 to 2026 questionnaire following the annual questionnaire consultation exercise. These focus on specific topics to improve the understanding of respondents’ circumstances, improve data quality through better informed data processing decisions, and to collect information to support future policy analysis.

These questions are expected to produce useful data that can be delivered to users through additional variables on the FRS 2025 to 2026 dataset immediately after publication in March 2027. New variables are subject to rigorous quality assurance processes before being released.

A brief description of the new questions and approach are given below:

• Revision to ‘number of food parcels from food banks’ question

We removed the questions asking for ‘number of food parcels received’ in the last 30 days and 12 months, as this was poorly answered. These have been replaced by a simpler, banded-frequency question for ‘how often parcels received from a food bank’ in the last 12 months, with options such as ‘two or three times in the last year’. This aims to improve our understanding of frequent food bank use (for the purpose of obtaining emergency food) and to help us evaluate changes to food parcel dependence.

• Additional questions on whether a child maintenance arrangement is working

Previously all resident parents were asked how well their child maintenance arrangement is working for them. This question is now also asked to non-resident parents. Additionally, if either the resident parent or the non-resident parent indicates their arrangement is not working, then a follow-up question will ask why not. These changes will allow the Child Maintenance Service to develop a better understanding of the child maintenance landscape in separated families.

Developments in survey year 2026 to 2027

Developments to data collected in survey year 2026 to 2027 are expected to be published in March 2028.

Family Resources Survey (FRS) sample size

We are proceeding from April 2026, with a fieldwork target of achieving 20,000 household interviews.

Questionnaire changes approved in questionnaire consultation

Changes on specific topics were approved and are being implemented for the FRS 2026 to 2027 questionnaire following the annual questionnaire consultation exercise. These focus on specific topics to improve the understanding of respondents’ circumstances, improve data quality through better informed data processing decisions, and to collect information to support future policy analysis.

These questions are expected to produce useful data that can be delivered to users through additional variables on the FRS 2026 to 2027 dataset immediately after publication in March 2028. New variables are subject to rigorous quality assurance processes before being released.

A brief description of the new questions and approach are given below:

• Addition of questions to identify individuals with ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’

This is a standalone addition asking non-UK nationals: 1) whether they are eligible for welfare benefits and housing assistance, and 2) if they have a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition (NRPF). These changes aim to assist the government and wider society in continuing to develop insight regarding people with NRPF and its impacts. They will provide greater insight into how families with NRPF conditions are living in the UK and will help to inform future policy-making.

• Additional question on ‘Social Supermarkets’

In 2019 to 2020 survey year, the FRS introduced questions on ‘Food Security’. In 2021 to 2022, the topic was expanded to include questions on food bank use, and then food support from relatives and friends in 2023 to 2024. This change goes further, asking about use of a social supermarket in the last 30 days. ‘Social Supermarkets’ is an umbrella term used here to describe establishments where food is purchased at lower prices than traditional retailers. This question aims to understand part of the manifesto commitment to ending mass dependence on food banks and emergency food parcels, by exploring the use of alternative sources of food aid.

• Addition of questions on redundancy pay breakdowns

At present, all participants are asked whether they have ‘received any redundancy payments in the last 12 months’. Firstly, this addition asks whether they have a payslip to consult, and then how much of the payment was 1) ‘Statutory’ pay and /or 2) ‘Ill-health or injury’ pay. Currently, there is not an estimate for these redundancy payment breakdowns, despite their differing tax treatments. This will allow HMRC to distinguish between different types of payments within that total, and improve published estimates of termination payments relief.

5. Other Developments    

Continued integration of administrative data into the FRS and related outputs 

As outlined in the DWP Statistical Work Programme (section 2.4). The department is committed to transforming its surveys through the integration of administrative data.

Benefits administrative data was integrated into the FRS to replace survey responses for the major DWP and HMRC benefits for the first time in March 2026. A technical report was published alongside the FRS publication. In summer 2026 we will release updated datasets and estimates for 2018 to 2019 to 2020 to 2021 inclusive.

We continue to research the integration of HMRC PAYE and Self-Assessment data, and other administrative sources, and developments to the FRS grossing regime. Future updates will be published in this document.

6. Feedback

We welcome feedback.

Lead Statistician: M A Vaughan

Email: team.frs@dwp.gov.uk