On 9 July, we were pleased to organise the Family Finance Surveys User Conference 2025 in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The event was held on a hybrid basis at Friends House in London and included a broad range of research presentations and data updates.
The impact of raising the state pension age
This year’s keynote speech was a fascinating presentation by Jonathan Cribb, Associate Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on how raising the state pension age has affected British households.
He illustrated that as the state pension age increased for women, there was an increase in employment rates among affected groups. This change was almost entirely accounted for by people staying in employment, particularly those with low wealth, but there is little evidence of those not working in their 50s returning to work due to the change.
There is some evidence of health benefits from working longer. Increased work by women aged 60-63 is associated with higher levels of cognition and greater mobility, particularly for single women. However, the picture is complex and depends on the type of work carried out. There is also evidence of a decline in mental health and general wellbeing.
In terms of the financial impact, the increase in the state pension age from 65 to 66 is estimated to have reduced net income for affected people by around £108 per week and to have increased income poverty.
Data updates
Following the keynote speech, staff from the ONS provided a comprehensive set of data updates. This included an overview of the Surveys Improvement and Enhancement Plan the ONS is implementing. The plan aims to improve capacity and trust, streamline the survey process for respondents, and increase the efficiency of ONS systems and processes.
There were also presentations on the latest developments in household finances statistics at ONS, Average Household Income and Inequality data, and findings from the Wealth and Assets Survey
Staff from the DWP then gave their own analytical updates and statistical developments. This included information on the integration of administrative data into the Family Resources Survey and wider DWP family finance developments.
One of the key resources highlighted was a new training module developed as a collaboration between the UK Data Service and DWP to help you get the most from the Family Resources Survey data. The interactive module includes an overview of the survey, including sample design; key features of the datasets and documentation; guidance on accessing the data; and hands-on exercises with code examples (R and SPSS), including merging data files.
Research presentations
The remaining sessions featured presentations from researchers who have used Family Finance Survey data in their work, all of which is available via the UK Data Service data catalogue. The research included:
- New evidence on the impact of the Scottish Child Payment on child poverty.
- An assessment of how declining survey response rates affect the reliability of the Living Costs and Food Survey.
- A research paper on eliciting the marginal propensity to consume in surveys.
- Work on assortative mating and wealth inequality in Great Britain.
Slides from the presentations are available via our event page. This was the last of our summer 2025 user conferences and we’d like to thank everyone who attended the events either in person or online. We look forward to welcoming you to more user conferences in the future!