Material deprivation

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has commissioned CASE to conduct a review of the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) material deprivation measures and the questions in the Family Resources Survey (FRS) which are used to derive these measures.

Specifically, the review will explore:

• which material deprivation items for families with children, families with working-age adults and families with pensioners should be included in the FRS
• what are the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches for determining who is materially deprived
• what are the advantages and disadvantages of developing a “core” set of questions for the whole population alongside measures aimed at specific family types
• do the advantages of changing the material deprivation items and methodology/methodologies outweigh the disadvantages, for example a break in the time series

The project involves qualitative research with focus groups to help identify a series of test questions to be included in the FRS to provide an up-to-date understanding of which items and activities are considered to be necessities for an acceptable standard of living in the UK today. Quantitative analysis of FRS data using information on the current set of material deprivation questions and the test questions will allow the research team to make recommendations on a new set, or sets, of material deprivation questions and test methodological aspects of material deprivation measures.