Official Statistics

Development of a new measure of poverty: statistical notice

Statistical notice about the development of new experimental statistics on poverty in the UK in addition to current Households Below Average Income National Statistics.

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Update 6 March 2024

The Department for Work and Pensions is now developing the ‘Below Average Resources’ statistics as ‘Official Statistics in Development’ to provide a new additional measure of poverty based on the approach proposed by the Social Metrics Commission.

The first release of Below Average Resources: developing a new poverty measure statistics was published on 18 January 2024.

The statistics will be developed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with input from a wide range of users, including other government departments and external stakeholders, and the Social Metrics Commission.

The department is keen to receive feedback from users on what they would like to see included in the new report and what their priorities would be. This feedback can be considered as we develop the new publication. Email your feedback to: team.povertystats@dwp.gov.uk.

Published 17 May 2019
Last updated 6 March 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added update that DWP is now developing the ‘Below Average Resources’ statistics as 'Official Statistics in Development' to provide a new additional measure of poverty and link to first release.

  2. Added information about plans to resume work developing an experimental measure of poverty.

  3. Added a note that work on the development of these new experimental statistics has been cancelled.

  4. Added a note that work on the development of these new experimental statistics has been paused. This is due to the re-prioritisation of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) workloads during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

  5. First published.