PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(28 August 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he has assessed how far back in time it is possible to produce an adjusted poverty estimate of Households Below Average Income (HBAI); and if his Department will commit to going back as far as they can, by a named date.

Asked by:
Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat)

The latest Households Below Average Income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2025 release, published in March 2026, used an improved approach that uses linked administrative data in place of survey responses for the major state benefits and tax credits. In this March 2026 release, low-income estimates based on administrative linked data were produced for 2024/25 and the back-series years 2023/24, 2022/23 and 2021/22. In March 2027, administrative data linking will be applied to a further three back-series years: 2020/21, 2019/20 and 2018/19. Administrative linked estimates for Great Britain cannot be produced prior to 2018/19 due to the changes in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018.

For more information please see both:Family Resources Survey Transformation: integrating administrative data for benefits - GOV.UK and Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK

Answered by:
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