New Benefits Reliance Dataset Available

Recently we launched the Benefits Reliance indicator within the Economic Wellbeing Explorer and are now pleased to share a benefits reliance aggregated research dataset. 

This dataset looks at current account holders with high reliance on means tested benefits. The benefits variable is an aggregate measure of the preceding 13 weeks. It is created by summing the income from universal credit, housing credit and tax credit benefits and summing the total income per account, dividing the benefits income by the total income, then counting the proportion of accounts that exceed 20% of income from benefits.

The benefits reliance dataset covers around 5 million current account customers in Great Britain and is aggregated by ITL1/ITL2 code and age band for privacy.

Anyone can register to use myFoundry, though access to dashboards and curated datasets is by request. Micro-level data is restricted to researchers with an approved research proposal and is provided via our Trusted Research Environment (TRE).