State support

Published 3 December 2018

Last updated 14 May 2019 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• over half of family units in the UK received some type of state support, including the State Pension and Child Benefit, over the period studied – a ‘family unit’ in this data is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple plus any dependent children
• White British family units were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive state support (of any type) and Chinese family units were the least likely to
• White British family units were also the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive non-income related benefits (which include the State Pension and Child Benefit)
• family units in the Bangladeshi, Black, Mixed, Pakistani, and Other ethnic groups were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive income-related benefits and tax credits
• since 2009/10, the percentage of family units receiving any type of state support has declined for all ethnic groups apart from the Bangladeshi and Chinese groups

Things you need to know

Because of variations in the data from year to year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) takes 3 years’ worth of data and works out the average for that period. It does that every year, so each year there’s a new 3-year average. For example, the published data for the period from 2014/15 to 2016/17 is an average of the data for 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17.

While this type of survey methodology increases the reliability of the data, it means that tests for significant differences between ethnic groups have not been carried out. However, commentary has been supplied for those findings where differences between ethnic groups are reasonably reliable.

A household is one person or a group of people (not necessarily related) who have the accommodation as their only or main residence. If it is a group, they must share cooking facilities and also share a living room, sitting room or dining area.

Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds; in these circumstances, the ethnic background of the ‘household reference person’ is used to define the ethnic background of the household.

The household reference person is the person in whose name the dwelling is owned or rented or who is otherwise responsible for the accommodation.

The Family Resources Survey has been shown to under-report the number of people receiving benefits compared with administrative records held by DWP. For this reason, the percentages given here are likely to be slightly lower than the actual percentage of claimants in the population.

When analysing the data, keep in mind that the measure only includes family units as defined here (see 'What the data measures'). It does not include all families or households in the UK.

What the data measures

This data measures the different types of financial support family units receive from the state, and breaks this information down by ethnicity.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) uses the term ‘benefit unit’ to refer to a family unit made up of a single adult, or a married or cohabiting couple (including same-sex partners), plus any dependent children.

These benefit, or family, units contain a maximum of 2 adults and are categorised according to the ethnicity of the ‘head of benefit unit’. The head of the benefit unit is the adult with the highest income, or, in cases where the income of both adults is equal, the oldest adult.

For the purposes of this analysis, the data groups the types of state support into the following categories:

• any type of state support – this can consist of income-related benefits, non-income related benefits, tax credits or a combination of all three
• any non-income related benefits (which are dependent on the recipient’s circumstances and not means-tested) – for example, Child Benefit, State Pension, and Disability Living Allowance (divided into the benefit’s care component and disability component)
• any income-related benefits (which are means-tested and dependent on level of income and savings) – for example, Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefit, Income Support, and Pension Credit
• benefits which can be either income-related or non-income related – for example, Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• any type of tax credit (which are means-tested and dependent on the income level of a family unit) – for example, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit

For the purposes of this analysis, DWP has grouped together all claimants of JSA (income-related, non-income related, or a mixture of both) and all claimants of ESA (income-related, non-income related, or a mixture of both).

Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments are not included in this data as claimants are not required to provide their ethnicity when making a claim.

Most benefits are administered by DWP. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction are administered by local authorities.

The ethnic categories used in this data

This data uses the ethnic categories included in the Family Resources Survey. It also divides the White ethnic group into White British and 'White Other' (for White ethnic minorities).

The categories are as follows:

Asian/ Asian British:

• Indian
• Pakistani
• Bangladeshi
• Chinese
• Asian Other

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British

Mixed/ Multiple ethnic groups

White:

• White British
• White Other

Other

2. By ethnicity and type of support (all state support)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 (combined)
• Source: Family Resources Survey: financial year 2016/17

Percentage of family units receiving state support, by ethnicity and type of support

Ethnicity	Any income-related benefit	Any non-income related benefit	Any type of state support	Any type of tax credit
	%	%	%	%
All	19	52	56	10
Asian	17	43	47	16
Bangladeshi	34	50	56	30
Chinese	10	28	32	6
Indian	10	43	45	9
Pakistani	24	46	53	24
Asian other	17	40	45	15
Black	30	46	55	18
Mixed	22	38	44	16
White British	19	54	58	9
White other	13	36	39	11
Other	24	38	44	14

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of State support By ethnicity and type of support (all state support) Summary

For the purposes of this data, a ‘family unit’ is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple (including same-sex partners), plus any dependent children.

This data shows that:

• overall, 56% of family units in the UK received some type of state support during the period studied
• White British family units were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive some type of state support (at 58%), and family units in the Chinese ethnic group were the least likely to (at 32%)
• overall, family units were more likely to receive a non-income related benefit like the State Pension or Child Benefit (52% did so) than an income-related benefit (19%) or a tax credit (10%)
• family units from the Bangladeshi ethnic group were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive a type of tax credit (30% did so) and a type of income-related benefit (34%); Chinese family units were the least likely to receive either of these types of support (6% and 10% did so respectively)
• White British family units were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive a type of non-income related benefit (54%) and family units from the Chinese ethnic group were the least likely to (28%)

3. By ethnicity and type of benefit (non-income related benefits)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 (combined)
• Source: Family Resources Survey: financial year 2016/17

Percentage of family units receiving non-income related benefits by ethnicity and type of benefit

Ethnicity	Child Benefit	Disability Living Allowance (care component)	Disability Living Allowance (mobility component)	State Pension
	%	%	%	%
All	20	6	5	25
Asian	27	4	3	9
Bangladeshi	36	7	4	9
Chinese	17			8
Indian	24	4	3	12
Pakistani	33	5	4	6
Asian other	27	2	1	9
Black	30	5	4	11
Mixed	25	3	3	8
White British	18	6	6	28
White other	22	2	2	9
Other	24	3	1	7

Data not collected

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of State support By ethnicity and type of benefit (non-income related benefits) Summary

For the purposes of this data, a ‘family unit’ is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple (including same-sex partners), plus any dependent children.

This data shows that:

• overall, 25% of family units in the UK received the State Pension, 20% received Child Benefit, 6% received the care component of Disability Living Allowance and 5% received the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
• family units from the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive Child Benefit (at 36% and 33% respectively) and those from the Chinese and White British ethnic groups were the least likely to (at 17% and 18% respectively)
• 28% of White British family units received the State Pension, more than twice the proportion of any other ethnic group
• these figures are likely to reflect differences in the age profiles of the different ethnic groups – for example, the White British ethnic group has the highest percentage of people aged 65 years and over, and also the highest percentage of people receiving the State Pension

4. By ethnicity (income-related benefits)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 (combined)
• Source: Family Resources Survey: financial year 2016/17

Percentage of family units receiving income-related benefits by ethnicity and type of benefit

Ethnicity	Council Tax Reduction	Housing Benefit	Income Support	Pension Credit
	%	%	%	%
All	13	12	2	4
Asian	12	10	3	3
Bangladeshi	25	24	7	2
Chinese	8	5	1	2
Indian	7	6	1	3
Pakistani	15	13	4	3
Asian other	11	13	1	2
Black	21	24	5	3
Mixed	16	17	4	2
White British	13	12	2	4
White other	9	10	1	2
Other	18	20	4	2

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of State support By ethnicity (income-related benefits) Summary

For the purposes of this data, a ‘family unit’ is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple (including same-sex partners), plus any dependent children.

This data shows that:

• overall, Council Tax Reduction is the most commonly-claimed income-related benefit (claimed by 13% of family units in the UK), followed by Housing Benefit (12%), Pension Credit (4%), and Income Support (2%)
• family units in the Bangladeshi, Black and Other ethnic groups were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive Council Tax Reduction (at 25%, 21% and 18% respectively) and Housing Benefit (at 24%, 24% and 20% respectively)
• family units from the Chinese and Indian ethnic groups were the least likely out of all ethnic groups to receive Council Tax Reduction (at 8% and 7%) and Housing Benefit (at 5% and 6% respectively)

5. By ethnicity (Jobseeker's Allowance, or Employment and Support Allowance)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 (combined)
• Source: Family Resources Survey: financial year 2016/17

Percentage of family units receiving JSA or ESA

Ethnicity	Employment and Support Allowance	Jobseeker's Allowance
	Value	Value
All	4	2
Asian	2	2
Bangladeshi	3	2
Chinese	1
Indian	2	1
Pakistani	3	4
Asian other	3	2
Black	4	5
Mixed	4	4
White British	4	2
White other	1	1
Other	3	3

Data not collected

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of State support By ethnicity (Jobseeker's Allowance, or Employment and Support Allowance) Summary

For the purposes of this analysis, DWP has grouped together all claimants of JSA, and all claimants of ESA, regardless of whether their benefit is income-related, non-income related, or a combination of both.

A ‘family unit’ in this data is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple (including same-sex partners), plus any dependent children.

This data shows that:

• overall, 4% of family units in the UK received ESA and 2% received JSA
• family units in the White British, Mixed, and Black ethnic groups were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive ESA (all at 4%) and family units from the Chinese ethnic group were the least likely to (at 1%)
• Black family units were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive JSA (at 5%) and family units from the Chinese ethnic group were the least likely to (at under 0.5%)

6. By ethnicity (tax credits only)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 (combined)
• Source: Family Resources Survey: financial year 2016/17

Percentage of family units receiving tax credits by ethnicity and type of tax credit

Ethnicity	Child Tax Credit	Working Tax Credit
	%	%
All	9	5
Asian	15	9
Bangladeshi	29	15
Chinese	6	4
Indian	8	4
Pakistani	23	14
Asian other	14	8
Black	18	8
Mixed	15	8
White British	8	4
White other	11	7
Other	13	7

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of State support By ethnicity (tax credits only) Summary

For the purposes of this data, a ‘family unit’ is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple (including same-sex partners), plus any dependent children.

This data shows that:

• overall, 9% of family units in the UK received Child Tax Credit and 5% received Working Tax Credit
• family units from the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to receive Child Tax Credit (at 29% and 23% respectively) and Working Tax Credit (at 15% and 14% respectively)
• family units from the Chinese, Indian and White British ethnic groups were the least likely out of all ethnic groups to receive Child Tax Credit (at 6%, 8% and 8% respectively) and Working Tax Credit (all at 4%)

7. By ethnicity over time (all state support)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: 2009/10 to 2016/17
• Source: Family Resources Survey: financial year 2016/17

Percentage of family units receiving state support by ethnicity over time

Ethnicity	2009/10-2011/12	2010/11-2012/13	2011/12-2013/14	2012/13-2014/15	2013/14-2015/16	2014/15-2016/17
	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	62	61	60	58	57	56
Asian	49	50	50	49	48	47
Bangladeshi	53	52	59	55	56	56
Chinese	29	29	31	30	30	32
Indian	48	48	48	47	46	45
Pakistani	56	59	57	57	53	53
Asian other	48	51	49	49	44	45
Black	58	60	59	58	54	55
Mixed	49	47	46	44	45	44
White British	64	63	62	60	59	58
White other	48	47	46	45	42	39
Other	55	53	52	49	49	44

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of State support By ethnicity over time (all state support) Summary

For the purposes of this data, a ‘family unit’ is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple (including same-sex partners), plus any dependent children.

This data shows that:

• overall, the percentage of family units in the UK receiving state support (of any type) has decreased from 62% to 56% over the period studied
• there was an increase in the percentage of family units receiving state support in the Bangladeshi ethnic group (from 53% to 56%) and the Chinese ethnic group (from 29% to 32%)
• all other ethnic groups saw a decrease in the percentage of family units receiving state support over the period studied

8. Methodology

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is a continuous household survey which collects information on a representative sample of private households in the UK. Detailed information is recorded on respondents’ income from all sources:

• housing tenure
• caring needs and responsibilities
• disability
• spending on housing
• education
• pension scheme participation
• childcare
• family circumstances
• child maintenance

The survey is conducted in respondents’ homes. In the latest 3-year period, 2014/15 to 2016/17, the FRS sample consisted of just over 58,000 households in the UK. It has a financial-year survey period with surveys conducted throughout the year and is cross-sectional (a ‘snapshot’ of households over the year). Individuals are not followed up for later surveys.

Estimates are subject to sampling error and non-sampling bias. The FRS only covers private households. Therefore, individuals who live in communal accommodation like care homes or have no fixed address (for example, who are homeless) are not included in these results.

Households where every resident aged 16 years and over responds to the questions are classed as fully co-operating. Only households with full co-operation are included in the analysis. This may introduce some error, as the characteristics of individuals living in households which do not respond fully may be different to those who fully co-operate. Therefore, the sample will be more representative of those who do respond fully. Overall, 54% of households fully co-operated with the survey, meaning there was a sample size of 19,387 households in 2016/17.

Results derived from a low number of responses are more likely to be affected by statistical variation, so observed changes might not reflect real differences. As such, caution is needed when interpreting short-term trends in the data, especially for subgroups (for example, a specific ethnic group, age group and gender). Using a 3-year average for income minimises the risks due to uncertainty.

As the data is presented as a 3-year average, no statistical tests have been carried out to determine whether the estimates taken from the survey are statistically significantly different from one another.

In other words, as the results are based on a sample of the population, without further testing it isn’t possible to determine whether any differences observed would likely be seen across the entire population. This means that conclusions about differences between groups cannot be drawn. However, the data is still useful because it indicates where differences between ethnic groups might exist.

Weighting:

Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population and improve their accuracy.

For example, a survey which contains 25% women and 75% men will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know has an even 50/50 split.

Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.

Survey weights are usually applied to make sure the survey sample has broadly the same gender, age, ethnic and geographic make up as the general population.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Any values based on fewer than 100 responses have been suppressed.

Rounding

Percentages are given to the nearest whole percentage point. Due to this rounding, some figures may not add up.

Related publications

Family Resources Survey with previous years' data and background information.

Quality and methodology information

9. Data sources

Source

Family Resources Survey: financial year 2016/17

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Work and Pensions

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The Family Resources Survey is mainly used by the Department for Work and Pensions to develop and evaluate social welfare policy.

10. Download the data

State support received - Spreadsheet (csv) 45 KB

This file contains data for the 3-year period 2009/10 to 2016/17. This is the latest data available. This file contains: measure, ethnicity, year, value

Publication release date: 3 December 2018

Updated: 14 May 2019

full page history

1. 14 May 2019 Some headings have been changed. No data or commentary has been updated.
2. 3 December 2018 Updated with the most recent data (for 2016/17). Bullet points throughout the page have been updated to reflect the new data.

From: Department for Work and Pensions

Previous edition:

1. 10 October 2018

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