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.
Do views in Scotland on the necessities differ from those in the rest of the UK? Is reasonable to have a single poverty standard for the whole of the UK or should Scotland have a separate standard. In this this research analysis working paper, Maria Gannon and Nick Bailey examine the PSE UK findings.
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.
Children as young as six feel that money is among the most important things needed to fulfil their aspirations in life, according to a survey carried out for the children's rights watchdog for England.
The online survey was developed by Amplify, the Children's Commissioner's advisory group made up of children and young people. It was aimed at helping to identify the effect of living in a low-income household on children's aspirations, and considered both the material items and opportunities they think are important. It gathered over 1,300 responses from children and young people ranging in age from six to 23.
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.
Many young families cut back on fresh fruit and vegetables and switched to less healthy processed food as the recession squeezed household budgets, a study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies has revealed. It shows that rising food prices and stagnating wages have led people to buy less food and choose cheaper products.
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.
The 1990 Breadline Britain questionnaire asks people which of a list of 44 items and actiivities they considered to be necessities for living in Britain in 1990 and which items and activities 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 1990.
The PSE 1999 survey provided a comprehensive set of question on deprivation and social exclusion, including a necessities module as to which items and activities respondents had, did not have but did not want and did not have because they could not afford it. The questionnaire developed a wide range of measures aimed at examining levels of participation and exclusion.