Unlocking new insights: Covid Income and Spend Dynamics research datasets now in the FINDS data catalogue
At Smart Data Foundry, we believe that data can help us understand society’s most pressing challenges. By making unique financial datasets available in secure ways, we aim to support researchers in asking important questions, testing ideas, and generating evidence that informs policy, supports innovation, and creates positive impact.
We are pleased to share that two new datasets are now available in MyFoundry: Covid Income Dynamics and Covid Spend Dynamics. Covering the years 2019 to 2024, they provide a valuable view of how the Covid-19 pandemic affected people's finances across the UK. Together, they allow researchers to examine both income and pending during one of the most significant economic shocks in recent history.
Smart Data Foundry provides SDR UK’s Financial Data Service (FINDS), alongside the University of Edinburgh.
Covid Income Dynamics
The Covid Income Dynamics dataset shows how incomes changed during the pandemic (2019-2024). It is based on effectively anonymised personal current account records from a major UK high street bank. It includes categories such as wages and salaries, government benefits, pensions and other sources of income.
This level of detail allows researchers to explore how different groups experienced the pandemic and its aftershocks. For example, it could potentially be used to examine how government support schemes cushioned people from sudden income shocks, or to understand differences in financial resilience across regions and demographics. Because the dataset covers several years, it also enables analysis of income recovery and whether that recovery was shared evenly across society.
Covid Spend Dynamics
The Covid Spend Dynamics dataset complements this picture by showing how expenditure shifted between 2019 and 2024. Spending is grouped into categories, including essentials such as groceries and utilities, committed costs like rent, mortgages, and insurance, as well as discretionary and quality-of-life spending.
With this dataset, researchers could examine how people managed their money during lockdowns, reopening and the longer-term effects of the pandemic. It allows questions such as how the population managed to keep up with housing costs under financial strain, which areas of spending were most reduced, and whether discretionary and lifestyle purchases recovered once restrictions were lifted.
Why these datasets matter
The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the financial lives of people across the UK. By combining data on both income and spending, these two datasets offer researchers the opportunity to study the impact in detail. They can help measure the effectiveness of government interventions, uncover inequalities in financial resilience, and improve understanding of how people respond to financial shocks.
Access the Data
Both Covid Income Dynamics and Covid Spend Dynamics are now available in the FINDS data catalogue. Synthetic samples can be accessed immediately, while secure access to the microdata is available to accredited researchers through our Trusted Research Environment.
Please register and log in to explore the synthetic samples and request secure microdata access through our TRE.
We continue to regularly add new datasets to MyFoundry, creating additional opportunities for researchers to develop knowledge and insights. Keep checking back or follow us on social media to stay updated.
