FOI Reference: FOI/2023/4821
You asked
Please can you provide a dataset that shows gross household income within the UK broken down by the following:
- Local Authority (England and Wales) and split by quintile (e.g. gross household income for each local authority split by quintile)
- For the years 2015 onwards
I have found datasets separately that split by local authority or by quintile but would like the combined breakdown.
We said
Thank you for you request.
Our small area income estimates provide estimates of mean total and net income for Middle Layer Super Output Areas, or local areas, in England and Wales. Most recent estimates are available for 2018, with an update planned later this year. The modelling methodology enables survey data from DWP's Family Resources Survey (FRS) to be combined with census and administrative data to improve the quality of estimates at the small area level. However, this methodology cannot be easily modified to estimate median income or other income quintiles as requested. We have previously explored alternative approaches to small area estimation and have published our research into estimating distributions of household income for middle layer super output areas. A limitation of the research is that household-level covariates are required in both census data and survey data, and so the method cannot be used to produce the timeseries data requested.
Therefore, unfortunately, we do not hold the requested information. In order to fulfil this request, we would need to create new information, involving the development of new methods to produce information at a more granular level. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. Therefore, we do not hold this information for the purposes of FOI.
We have not conducted this analysis already, as it would not be possible to produce robust estimates at this granular level of local authority from the survey that is used in our annual average household income statistics. The most recently published UK-level quintile estimates are for the financial year ending 2022. Therefore, even if we were to create the information requested, it would not provide robust data that would be suitable to answer your question.
Further information about our income statistics are available in the Income and Earnings Statistics Guide. For any queries regarding the data provided, please contact the following email address: hie@ons.gov.uk.