You asked
Please would you provide an analysis of the spending habits of a) unemployed welfare claimants b) those in routine occupations, b) intermediate occupations, c) higher managerial and professional occupations as a percentage of disposable income with regard to spending on a) alcohol, b) tobacco, c) gambling, at five year intervals for the last 15 years.
If this data for the last 15 years is unavailable, please provide it for the last 5 years.
We said
This request is being answered using the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF). Some of the information requested already exists in tables from the survey's annual publication, Family Spending, which is available on the ONS website at the following address:
Information about the tables relevant to your request is provided below. The data are not available for all of the last 15 years on a fully comparable basis, so the links are for the last 5 published years: 2009 to 2013. Data are published in the year following the reference period, so for example, 2013 data are published in the 2014 edition of Family Spending.
Links to tables of specific interest to your request are provided below. Please note that the figures are presented for households, rather than individuals. Expenditure figures represent average weekly household expenditure. Expenditure is categorised using the COICOP classification system (Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose).
Gross income by socio-economic classification is presented in Table A43 of the publication for years 2010-2013, and Table A46 for 2009. A similar tabulation could be produced for disposable income, though a charge would be made for the work required.
Expenditure by broad categories is presented by employment status (Table A17 for years 2010-2013 and Table A19 for 2009) and socio-economic classification (Table A22 for years 2010-2013, and Table A24 for 2009).
The expenditure items you identify are included in the broad categories presented in Tables A17 and A22 (Tables A19 and A24 for 2009) . Alcohol and tobacco are included in the 'Alcoholic drinks and tobacco' commodity or service heading, while gambling is included in 'Recreation and culture'. A similar tabulation could be provided for more detailed breakdowns of expenditure, though a charge would be made for the work required.
You specifically requested spending as a percentage of disposable income. We do not routinely express expenditure as a percentage of income, for the following reasons: The LCF is designed primarily as a survey of household expenditure on goods and services. It also gathers information about the income of household members, and is an important and detailed source of income data. However, it is not possible to draw up a balance sheet of income and expenditure either for individual households or groups of households. Most expenditure information collected relates to the two week period immediately following the interview, whereas income components can refer to a much longer period (the most recent 12 months). LCF income does not include withdrawal of savings; loans and money received in payment of loans; receipts from maturing insurance policies; proceeds from the sale of assets (such as a car); and winnings from betting or windfalls, such as legacies. Despite this, recorded expenditure might reflect these items, as well as the effects of living off savings, using capital, borrowing money or income – either recent or from a previous period. Hence, there is no reason why income and expenditure should balance.
As noted above, some of the tabulations requested could be produced for a charge. This would be carried out via the LCF Data Service. The minimum charge for this would be £145 but each request is assessed depending on the amount of work involved. We are also obliged to make ad-hoc data requests publicly available on the ONS website as soon as they are provided to customers, as part of the government's Transparency and Open Data agenda. Please contact socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk if you are interested in obtaining bespoke tables.