Family Resources Survey

Methodology

The FRS is based on a systematic random sample of 3,600 addresses drawn from the Land and Property Services Agency’s (LPSA) list of domestic addresses. The LPSA addresses are sorted by district council and ward, so the sample is effectively stratified geographically. Data is collected by personal interview using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), and the interviews are spread equally over the 12 months from April to March, with 300 addresses being allocated in each of the 12 months.  

Each year CSU, in consultation with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), who are responsible for the survey fieldwork in GB, consider possible changes to the questionnaire content in liaison with the survey clients. The survey clients are, in GB, the Department for Work and Pensions and their counterparts in NI, the Department for Social Development.

The questionnaire consists of both a household interview and an individual interview with each person aged 16 and over.  The household questionnaire consists of core items that are included each year and modules that recur (or are ´rotated´) on a regular cycle.  Core items in the household questionnaire include accommodation and tenure, housing costs, insurance policies, rates, childcare arrangements and care of the sick and disabled. Rotated items include household durables, vehicle ownership and use, NHS use and items received free of charge (e.g. prescriptions, milk). 

The individual questionnaire consists of questions relating to health and disabilities, education, employment status and job description, earnings from employment or self employment, pension arrangements, income from benefits, income from pensions, other sources of income, and total savings/assets.