United Kingdom - surveys

In 2012, the PSE UK research team undertook two major surveys, one on attitudes to necessities and services and one on living standards. Together, the surveys provide a detailed picture of deprivation, social exclusion and inequality in the UK. The final 2012 living standards questionnaires, annotated with the top level results for each question, can now be download below. 

This annotated questionnaire provides details on a wide range of topics such as fuel poverty and debt. For example, 6% of households have fallen behind with some or many of their bills and a further 12% have a constant struggle to keep up. 18% of households have borrowed from their family in order to pay for their day to day needs. 29% of households report that they cut the number of hours the heating was on to reduce fuel costs

The PSE UK 2012 questionnaires are updated and improved versions of the PSE 1999 and the PSE Northern Ireland 2002/3, questionnaires, which in turn were updates and improvements of the Breadline Britain 1990 and 1983 questionnaires. Details of the 2012 Attitudes to necessities and Living Standards questionnaires can be found in the left hand menu. You can download the annotated questionnaires for 1999, 1990 and 1983 below.

In Reports, you'll find the PSE UK 2012 final reports and Results analysis provides a more detailed analysis of the necessities of life survey. Explore the data offers an opportunity to investigate the data by sub-groups and across years.

Questionnaire list

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Questionnaires

Author/s:
PSE Team

This annotated questionnaire gives top level results on a range of items and activities people in Northern Ireland feel are necessities and those thought desirable but not necessary. Items and activities for adults and, separately those for children are covered.

Attachment Size
NIOmnibusNecs2012(Sort)_annotated.pdf 402.45 KB
Author/s:
PSE Team

This annotated questionnaire gives the top level results for all the questions for Northern Ireland only. It provides an overview of the state of Northern Ireland today and the difficulties people face in trying to make ends meet: for example 43% of households could not afford to pay an unexpected, but necessary, expense of £500.

In this questionnaire, respondents are asked to say which of a range of items and activities they feel are necessities and which might be desirable but are not necessary. Items and activities for adults and, separately, those for children are covered. Items and activities covered include housing, household goods, food, clothing, personal goods, insurance and savings, pocket money and social and leisure activities. The results, broken down by social groups, can be found under Explore the Data.

Author/s:
PSE UK team

The top level results from the PSE UK living standards survey can be found on the annotated PSE UK living standards questionnaire. This provides details on a wide range of topics such as fuel poverty and debt. For example, 6% of households have fallen behind with some or many of their bills and a further 12% have a constant struggle to keep up.

The PSE Northern Ireland (PSENI) survey used the same refinements of the consensual method of measuring poverty used in the PSE Britain 1999 by carrying out further statistical analysis on the group below the threshold to exclude those who, though deprived, had higher levels of income. The PSENI survey found higher levels of poverty in Northern Ireland in 2002/03 than the PSE team found in Britain in 1999: 29.6 per cent of households were in poverty in Northern Ireland as against 25 per cent in Britain.

Attachment Size
bare_necessities_0[1].pdf 290.58 KB
Author/s:
Jonathan Bradshaw, David Gordon et al

The PSE 1999 survey provided a comprehensive set of question on deprivation and social exclusion, including a necessities module as to which items and activities respondents had, did not have but did not want and did not have because they could not afford it. The questionnaire developed a wide range of measures aimed at examining levels of participation and exclusion.

Author/s:
Joanna Mack, Stewart Lansley and Brain Gosschalk

The 1990 Breadline Britain questionnaire asks people which of a list of 44 items and actiivities they considered to be necessities for living in Britain in 1990 and which items and activities they had, which items they did not have because they couldn’t afford them and, to allow for personal choice, which they did not have and did not want. The questionnaire also covers a range of other aspects of living standards and attitudes to poverty.

Author/s:
Joanna Mack, Stewart Lansley and Brain Gosschalk

The 1983 Breadline Britain survey pioneered the use of socially perceived necessities asking which of a list of 33 items the respondents thought were necessary and which all people should be able to afford and should not have to do without. The list was designed to be representative of living standards by covering a cross-section of goods and activities, including heating, household goods, food, clothing, personal possessions and leisure and social activities.

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