This working paper takes the new material deprivation questions for older people, asked in the Family Resources Survey since 2008, and assesses ways that they might be used to construct an overall measure of deprivation.
It uses data from the Family Resources Survey from the period May 2008-March 2009, and applies a range of statistical methods of analysis to compare different strategies for constructing a single measure of deprivation from the responses to the fifteen questions in the new block.
It also considers the ways in which to select a threshold for the single measure of pensioner material deprivation, separating deprived and non-deprived pensioners.
Notes to Editors:
- DWP Working Paper 89: ‘Using the new Family Resources Survey question block to measure material deprivation among pensioners’ is available on the DWP Website: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/wp-index.asp
- The Working Paper was undertaken by Professor Stephen McKay of the School of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham
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