One of the most significant datasets for measuring poverty and deprivation in the UK is Households Below Average Income (HBAI) produced by the Department of Work and Pensions on an annual basis. The Joseph Roundtree Foundation (JRF), Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and researchers from the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) all made use of this dataset in work published over the summer.
JRF reported on the cost of debt for low-income households in poland rcs data the current cost-of-living crisis, whilst the study from the CRSP focussed on how the number of children in poverty is on the rise in working households.
The IFS have released several briefings and reports in the past few months that look at various aspects of poverty, the cost-of-living and deprivation. In their publication on Poverty they look at recent trends in poverty and government policies that tackle the issue, in this they use not just HBAI data but also the Living Costs and Food Survey.
In their Living Standards and inequality report they examine trends in living standards with a focus on the impact of COVID-19. In this report they make use of many datasets which are available through the UK Data Service including the Annual Population Survey, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Family Expenditure Survey and FRS. Other reports from IFS made use of English Housing Survey and Family Expenditure Survey data to investigate housing quality and affordability for lower-income households and the FRS to look at how interest rate increases will affect people’s disposable income.