This report describes the results of a series of fourteen focus groups conducted as part of development work for the PSE: UK survey. This qualitative development work is intended to inform the design of both the necessities Omnibus module and the main-stage PSE living standards survey. This preliminary report focuses on participants’ perceptions of the ‘necessities of life’, i.e. those items and activities that everyone should be able to afford to have or to do in our society today and should not have to go without. The recommendations arising from this report will contribute to the selection of necessities indicators in the forthcoming Omnibus module.