Family Resources Survey 2002-03
Assets and savings
Key definitions
For a full explanation of all definitions used in this survey please refer to the Glossary.
Below are the key definitions used in the assets and savings section. Where the definitions are short they are given, but longer definitions will refer you to the Glossary.
Account types
See Glossary entries
Adult
All those aged 16 and over, except for 16 to 18 year olds in full time non-advanced education; all adults in the household are interviewed as part of the FRS.
Age
Age last birthday (i.e. at time of interview).
Any type of account
Any account or investment for which information is collected on the survey. See also other entries for categories used in tables, i.e. Current account, Post Office account, TESSA, Other bank/building society accounts, etc.
Benefit unit
A single adult or a couple living as married and any dependent children.
Child
All those aged under 16 or an unmarried 16 to 18 year old in full time non-advanced education.
Direct payment account
A direct payment account is one that can accept electronic payment of benefits via the Banker's Automated Clearing System (BACS) system. Such accounts were formerly known as Automatic Credit Transfer (ACT) accounts.
Economic status
See the Glossary for definition.
Ethnic group
The group to which respondents consider they belong. The FRS (harmonised) question has 15 categories. There are five main output categories. These are White, Mixed, Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British and Chinese or Other Ethnic Group.
For more information on harmonisation see Methodology section.
Family status
See the Glossary for definition.
Government Office Region
Government Offices for the Regions were established across England in 1994. In 1996 the regions covered, known as Government Office Regions, became the primary classification for the presentation of regional statistics. Government Office Regions are built up of complete counties/unitary authorities. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not subdivided into Government Office Regions but are listed with them as regions in FRS tables.
Head of benefit unit
The Head of the Benefit Unit will either be the same as the Head of the Household if it is the benefit unit to which the Head of the Household belongs, or if not, it will be the first person in the benefit unit. For all benefit units in the household that are couples, the Head will usually be the male, but in certain circumstances may be female.
Head of household
See the Glossary for definition.
Household
A single person or group of people living at the same address as their only or main residence, who either share one meal a day together or share the living accommodation (i.e. a living room). A household will consist of one or more benefit units.
Household composition
See the Glossary for definition.
Pension age
65 for men, 60 for women.
Savings
See the Glossary for definition.
Sick or disabled adult
Adults below state pension age who have a long standing illness or are restricted in what they can do, or are included on the Local Authority Register of Disabled People.
Total weekly household income
Weekly income from all sources for all adults and children in the household.
The full derivation of this variable is available on request from the FRS Team, at the address listed in the Contact section.
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