British Household Panel Survey

Overview

The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) began in 1991 and is a multi-purpose study whose unique value resides in the fact that:

it follows the same representative sample of individuals - the panel - over a period of years; it is one of the longest running panel surveys in the world
it is household-based, interviewing every adult member of sampled households
it contains sufficient cases for meaningful analysis of certain groups such as the elderly or lone parent families

The BHPS is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and carried out by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex. The main objective of the survey is to further the understanding of social and economic change at the individual and household level in Britain and the UK, and to identify, model and forecast such changes, and their causes and consequences in relation to a range of socio-economic variables.

The BHPS provides information on household organisation, employment, accommodation, tenancy, income and wealth, housing, health, socio-economic values, residential mobility, marital and relationship history, social support, and individual and household demographics.

The BHPS consists of a nationally representative sample of about 5,500 households recruited in 1991 from 250 areas of Great Britain, and containing a total of approximately 10,000 interviewed individuals. Adults in each household are re-interviewed each successive year, as are new members joining the household, children reaching the age of 16, and members of new households formed when individuals leave the original household. Since 1994, children aged 11-15 also complete a short interview.

Two additional samples in Scotland and Wales were recruited in 1999 to permit independent analysis of the two countries, to facilitate comparisons with England, and to assess the impact of devolution. The Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey (NIHPS) was formed in 2001 to increase coverage of the whole of the UK. The total sample size for the BHPS, including the extension samples, is now around 10,000 households across the UK.

Secure Data Service potentially disclosive versions of BHPS

The standard BHPS survey data available through the UK Data Archive/Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) under a standard EUL are provided at the Region/Metropolitan Area geographic level. Data at more detailed geographical levels (down to Wards, and Lower Layer Super Output Areas and Scottish Data Zones) are currently available through the UK Data Archive/ESDS under a under Conditional Access/Special Licence.

The BHPS data available through the SDS include British National Grid postcode grid references (at 1m resolution) for each household surveyed, derived from the ONS National Statistics Postcode Directory (NSPD). Grid references are presented in terms of Eastings and Northings, which are distances in metres (east and north, respectively) from the origin (0,0), which lies to the west of the Scilly Isles. Each grid reference is given a positional quality indicator to denote the accuracy of the grid reference. In the majority of cases, the assigned grid reference relates to the building of the matched address closest to the postcode mean. The grid references provided for Northern Ireland postcodes use the Irish National Grid system that covers all of Ireland and is independent of the British National Grid. No grid references are provided for postcodes in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

To order SN 6340 - British Household Panel Survey: Waves 1-17, 1991-2008: Secure Data Access version, National Grid Reference (Easting, Northing, OSGRDIND) data via the SDS, go directly to the relevant catalogue record and click on the Download/Order button.

Useful links

For further information, additional resources, and news and events, users are advised to visit the British Household Panel Survey web pages of ISER and ESDS:

Data availability

Users registered with the UK Data Archive/ESDS have access to the standard (non-disclosive) BHPS datasets via the instant download service or can analyse, visualise, subset and download teaching datasets from BHPS via the online Nesstar software tool:

Seventeen waves of data for the years 1991-2008 are currently available to researchers through the UK Data Archive/ESDS in a variety of formats. Wave 18 fieldwork is approaching completion and associated non-disclosive data will be released in early 2010.