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The quality of social security benefit data in the British Family Resources Survey: implications for investigating income support take‐up by pensioners

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  • Ruth Hancock
  • Geraldine Barker

Abstract

Summary. Family Resources Survey (FRS) data for April 1997 to March 2000 are used to estimate the take‐up of income support (IS) by a subset of pensioners. We scrutinize the quality of FRS data for this purpose and describe a process of identifying and correcting inconsistencies in the data. Comparisons are made, before and after corrections to the data, of take‐up estimates, logistic regression take‐up models and predictions of take‐up responses to changes in IS rates. Overall, the corrections do not have large effects on estimated take‐up rates but suggest that non‐take‐up is marginally less serious than the uncorrected data imply. Logistic regressions using corrected and uncorrected data were in broad agreement on the factors influencing take‐up. There were some differences in the scale of these influences, with implications for predictions of take‐up responses to changes in the generosity of IS. Desirable improvements in the FRS are identified.

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  • Ruth Hancock & Geraldine Barker, 2005. "The quality of social security benefit data in the British Family Resources Survey: implications for investigating income support take‐up by pensioners," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(1), pages 63-82, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:168:y:2005:i:1:p:63-82
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-985X.2004.00336.x
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    1. Redmond,Gerry & Sutherland,Holly & Wilson,Moira, 1998. "The Arithmetic of Tax and Social Security Reform," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521632249, November.
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    1. Daniela Mantovani & Fotis Papadopoulos & Holly Sutherland & Panos Tsakloglou, 2006. "Pension Incomes in the European Union: Policy Reform Strategies in Comparative Perspective," Research in Labor Economics, in: Micro-Simulation in Action, pages 27-71, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Ruth Hancock & Marcello Morciano & Stephen Pudney & Francesca Zantomio, 2015. "Do household surveys give a coherent view of disability benefit targeting?: a multisurvey latent variable analysis for the older population in Great Britain," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 178(4), pages 815-836, October.
    3. Peter Lynn & Annette Jäckle & Stephen P. Jenkins & Emanuela Sala, 2012. "The impact of questioning method on measurement error in panel survey measures of benefit receipt: evidence from a validation study," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 175(1), pages 289-308, January.
    4. Stephen Pudney & Monica Hernandez & Ruth Hancock, 2007. "The welfare cost of means-testing: pensioner participation in income support," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 581-598.
    5. Pudney, Stephen & Hancock, Ruth & Zantomio, Francesca, 2006. "Estimating the impact of a policy reform on welfare participation: the 2001 extension to the minimum income guarantee for UK pensioners," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-21, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Hernandez, Monica & Pudney, Stephen, 2007. "Measurement error in models of welfare participation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 327-341, February.
    7. Zantomio, Francesca, 2008. "The route to take-up: raising incentives or lowering barriers?," ISER Working Paper Series 2008-35, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    8. Bruckmeier, Kerstin & Riphahn, Regina T. & Wiemers, Jürgen, 2019. "Benefit underreporting in survey data and its consequences for measuring non-take-up: new evidence from linked administrative and survey data," IAB-Discussion Paper 201906, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    9. Pudney, Stephen, 2010. "Disability benefits for older people: how does the UK Attendance Allowance system really work?," ISER Working Paper Series 2010-02, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    10. Richiardi, Matteo & Vella, Melchior, 2024. "Mind vs matter: economic and psychologic determinants of take-up rates of social benefits in the UK," Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis Working Paper Series CEMPA6/24, Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

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