Necessities

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.

A programming error resulted in higher than expected amounts of missing data which appears to consist mainly of unrecorded Don't Know responses. Rigorous testing found no additional biases and the missing data and don't knows are excluded from the analysis, as is the normal practice with these kind of analyses. See Statistical Briefing Note 2.

Would an independent Scotland choose a significantly different social settlement with a more generous social minimum than the rest of the UK? Drawing on the PSE UK findings into attitudes to necessities, Nick Bailey investigates.

Over a million people admit they plan to use payday loans to cover the cost of Christmas spending this year, according to a new survey from the Money Advice Service.

The research was carried out among 2,000 United Kingdom adults by One Poll in October 2013.

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. The survey then asked people which items 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. For more information see the overview of Breadline Britain 1983.