family resources survey data linking jo cockerham
TRANSCRIPT
Family Resources Survey
Data Linking
Jo Cockerham
Overview
Background
Uses of linked data
Development of consent question
Methodology Match rates
Results from linked 2006/07 data
Future projects
Questions?
The Family Resources Survey
Launched in 1992 by DWP
26,000 private households in UK (about 24,000 in GB)
Detailed information on incomes and benefit receipt, tenure and housing costs, savings
Fieldwork carried out by ONS and NatCen
Background to data linking work
2004 Strategic Review of FRS
Problems with take-up statistics
Improvements to administrative data
New FRS contract from April 2006
Intended uses of linked data
Statistical and research purposes only
Improve the quality of FRS data
Longitudinal analyses – tracking how different groups move in and out of work and how their situation changes over time
Initially to only be made available internally at DWP and to selected HMRC analysts
Will not be used for operational purposes, such as fraud detection
Informed consent
Requires informed consent of respondent (Data Protection Act 1998)
Personal details need to be passed to DWP for linking (name, address, sex, date of birth – and NINO pre 2008)
Pilot study took place in 2006
Developed consent question which was introduced in November 2006
Features of 2006 consent question
Asked at end of questionnaire
Separate block to collect full name, address, NINO, date of birth
Written consent forms
Detailed wording
Proxy consent packs
Consent in 2006/07 FRS
Consent lower than anticipated
40 - 45 per cent for personal interviews
Approx 35 per cent including proxies
Known biases: – Consent rate lower among ethnic minorities
– Consent falls slightly as age increases
– Employees have higher consent than self-employed
Development of new consent question
Question suspended from August 2007
Resources diverted to development of improved question
Qualitative pilot October 2007
Quantitative pilot in January 2008
Qualitative pilot
30 in-depth interviews with respondents: split into 3 samples
– Concluded that question needed to be simplified, more informal and required further clarification in the wording
Interviewer focus groups
– Findings consistent with respondent interviews
Quantitative pilot
Conducted in January 2008 main stage sample
(1900 individuals)
To test: Achieved consent rate Simplified version of the question Removal of paper consent forms Improved survey materials Removal of NINO/collection of personal details as part of
main questionnaire
2008 pilot results
Consent rate rose to 62%
No bias between sub-groups
Leaflet received positive response
No difference between DWP and ONS consent
New question introduced from April 2008
Administrative data held by DWP
Despite low consent rate, useful analyses can be carried out.
The FRS has been linked to the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS).
500 million lines of data covering: – benefit claims– employment spells– annual earnings– savings– tax credits– pensions– operational data on customers activities (e.g. participation in
back to work programmes).
FRSID
PersonalDetailsFRS DATA
FRS DATA –Dataset 1
FRSID
FRSID
PersonalDetails –
Dataset 2
FRSID
FRSID
PersonalDetails
ORCID
ORCID
FRSID
ORCID
FRS DATA – for those giving consent to link
FRS DATA
ORCID
WPLS
ORCID
FRS DATA
Imputation, editing and DV creation on full FRS.
FRS DATA- full release to users as in
previous yearsForward consenting cases to Data Matching team in
DWP
Matching methodology
“Traffic lights” system Staged approach by NINO, then surname (soundex),
initial of forename, DoB, gender and postcode sector
Match type
What matches
Green NINO plus 4 or 5 of the variables
Amber NINO plus 3 of the variables
Red NINO plus 2 of the variables
No Match NINO plus matches plus 1 or 0 of the variables
Matching methodology
Where match for NINO is not available, fuzzy matching by surname (soundex), initial of forename, DoB, gender and postcode sector
Match type What matches
Green Amber All 5 variables
Amber Red 4 variables, including DoB
Red Amber 4 variables, excluding DoB
Matching Rates 2006/07 data
Match Type Number of cases Percentage
Green 4413 67.9
Amber 709 10.9
Red 189 2.9
No Match 135 2.1
Green Amber 312 4.8
Amber Red 163 2.5
Red Amber 393 6.0
No Record 185 2.8
Total 6499 100.0
Results from Linked Data: Savings
Savings/assets data on FRS criticised as unreliable i.e. underestimates people’s savings.
This can impact on high profile National Statistics. For example, figures on Pension Credit Take-Up.
Work carried out to assess the level of any under-reporting, compared the FRS to the HMRC data.
Several caveats: – sample size small– HMRC data covers fewer savings products than the
FRS– HMRC data only available to 2004/5.
Savings Data
Data Source
Mean Median No of Ben Units
Minimum Maximum
FRS £39,511 £13,422 730 £0 £1,039,285
HMRC £51,476 £22, 482 730 £44 £1,059,245
• Table below shows the comparison of the FRS measure with the FRS/HMRC measure of total capital
• HMRC figure is calculated using combination of FRS assets plus HMRC assets
• Where an HMRC account exists, they have higher/larger amounts in them
Note: These figures are unpublished and should not be reproduced or quoted
Comparison of benefits
Only compared benefit spells which were live at the time of interview.
10 key benefits were examined.
Numbers claiming benefits
Benefit Type WPLS FRS
Retirement Pension 1765 1748
Pension Credit 475 371
Carer’s Allowance 84 70
Bereavement Benefit 34 31
Incapacity Benefit 245 221
Severe Disablement Allowance
40 34
Disability Living Allowance 422 420
Attendance Allowance 172 141
Job Seekers Allowance 103 94
Income Support 426 389
Comparison of WPLS with FRS
Benefit Type On Both On WPLS On FRS
Retirement Pension 1731 34 17
Pension Credit 359 116 12
Carer’s Allowance 59 25 11
Bereavement Benefit 28 6 3
Incapacity Benefit 188 57 33
Severe Disablement Allowance
15 25 19
Disability Living Allowance 370 52 50
Attendance Allowance 137 35 4
Job Seekers Allowance 86 17 8
Income Support 382 44 7
Comparison of Benefit Amounts
On Both On One Source
Benefit Type WPLS FRS WPLS FRS
Retirement Pension £94 £96 £90 £81
Pension Credit £44 £41 £37 £35
Carer’s Allowance £51 £53 £49 £55
Bereavement Benefit £85 £77 £80 £11
Incapacity Benefit £88 £85 £83 £73
Severe Disablement Allowance £63 £71 £54 £58
Disability Living Allowance £62 £59 £45 £56
Attendance Allowance £53 £50 £54 £47
Job Seekers Allowance £62 £59 £61 £68
Income Support £78 £73 £77 £113
Note: These figures are unpublished and should not be reproduced or quoted
Future Project Proposals
Investigating how benefits analysis may improve FRS validation
Rematch the data without using NINO to compare the quality of the match with/without NINO
Investigating how benefit mis-reporting affects total household income
Linking FRS earnings data to investigate how people are living on reported zero or low incomes
Comparison of FRS employment outcomes to data derived from P45 information
Questions
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