[GB] Wealth and Assets Survey

Full name of the series in original language

Wealth and Assets Survey

Abstract

The Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) is a longitudinal survey, which aims to address gaps identified in data about the economic well-being of households by gathering information on level of assets, savings and debt; saving for retirement; how wealth is distributed among households or individuals; and factors that affect financial planning.

The WAS commenced in July 2006, with a first wave of interviews carried out over two years, to June 2008. Interviews were achieved with 30,595 households at Wave 1. Those households were approached again for a Wave 2 interview between July 2008 and June 2010, and 20,170 households took part. The third wave will cover July 2010 - June 2012. Currently, only data from Waves 1 and 2 are available from the UK Data Service. Wave 3 covered July 2010 - June 2012. Private households in Great Britain were sampled for the survey (meaning that people in residential institutions, such as retirement homes, nursing homes, prisons, barracks or university halls of residence, and also homeless people were not included).

The WAS contains data at the individual level. The WAS questionnaire was divided into two parts with all adults aged 16 years and over (excluding those aged 16 to 18 currently in full-time education) being interviewed in each responding household. Wave 1 files are provided according to this structure; Wave 2 files are grouped in terms of finance, pensions and property.

• Household schedule: This was completed by one person in the household (usually the head of household or their partner) and predominantly collected household level information such as the number, demographics and relationship of individuals to each other, as well as information about the ownership, value and mortgages on the residence and other household assets.
• Individual schedule: This was given to each adult in the household and asked questions about economic status, education and employment, business assets, benefits and tax credits, saving attitudes and behaviour, attitudes to debt, insolvency, major items of expenditure, retirement, attitudes to saving for retirement, pensions, financial assets, non-mortgage debt, investments and other income.

An End User Licence (EUL) version of the WAS, which contains less detailed data, is available under SN 7215. The Office for National Statistics have provided information on the differences between the standard EUL version and the restricted-access SL version; see the document 'eul_sl_differences.pdf', included with the documentation for SN 7215. Users are advised to download the EUL version first (SN 7215) to see if it is suitable for their needs, before beginning the application process for the SL version (SN 6415).

Further information and documentation may be found on the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey webpage:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/was/wealth-in-great-britain-wave-3/2010-20....
Users are advised to the check the page for updates before commencing analysis.

For the 12th edition (August/October 2014), data and documentation for Wave 3 have been added to the study, along with a new Wave 1-3 link file. Data for Waves 1 and 2 have also been revised: some cross-sectional imputed Wave 2 data has been recalculated due to improved imputation methods introduced at Wave 3 and changes in routing architecture. In addition some minor corrections have been made to a number of variables used for linking.

A Special Licence (SL) version of the WAS, which contains more detailed data, is available under SN 6415. The SL version is subject to more stringent access conditions. The Office for National Statistics have provided information on the differences between the standard End User Licence (EUL) version and the SL version; see the document 'eul_sl_differences.pdf', included with the documentation. Users are advised to download the EUL version first (SN 7215) to see if it is suitable for their needs, before beginning the application process for the SL version.

Further information and documentation may be found on the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey webpage:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/was/wealth-in-great-britain-wave-3/2010-20...
Users are advised to the check the page for updates before commencing analysis.

For the 3rd edition (October 2014), data and documentation for Wave 3 have been added to the study. Data for Waves 1 and 2 have also been revised: some cross-sectional imputed Wave 2 data has been recalculated due to improved imputation methods introduced at Wave 3 and changes in routing architecture. In addition some minor corrections have been made to a number of variables used for linking.

Geographic coverage

United Kingdom

Time method

Longitudinal

Time period

2006 => 2010

Types of available microdata

Consistency type

Access mode

Update date

15/09/2021