Families and Children Study (FACS)

Aims, coverage and methodology

Figen DevirenDepartment for Work and Pensions

                                                

Contents

• Study design

• Sample design

• Questionnaire content

• Timetable of survey

• Response rates

• Weighting

• Examples of FACS analysis

• Commissioned and managed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and is co-sponsored by Department for Education and Skills and Department for Transport.

• National Centre for Social Research carry out fieldwork and other elements of the design and data production processes.

Stakeholders

• A refreshed panel study of approximately 7000 families in Britain, investigating the circumstances of all families with dependent children.

• FACS has been conducted annually from 2001 (incorporated sample from 1999 and 2000).

• Clustered sampling method using 150 postcode districts, sampled from child benefit records

Study design

Sample design

• Panel: Families are sampled from child benefit records and are followed every year until their children are no longer dependent.

• Booster: Cases added from families with a new first birth.

• Refreshed panel design means that FACS is suitable for longitudinal, cross-sectional and time-series analysis.

Data collection

• The fieldwork is conducted by National Centre for Social Research:

• A one hour interview for the main respondent (the mother figure)

• A partner interview (proxy from 2007)

• A ten minute self-completion questionnaire for all children aged 11-15 in the family (2003, 2004 and 2006 onwards)

Questionnaire contentIt covers a range of topics including: • health• disability and caring• education• income• child maintenance• benefits and tax credits• childcare • housing• material well-being• travel to work and school• labour market activity• children's attitudes and activities• money management, savings and debt

Timetable

Questionnaire development March-June

Questionnaire finalised August

Fieldwork Sept – Feb (+1)

Data processing and production Feb – Apr

Annual report published and data archived

Spring

Response ratesFor 2005

• Panel response rate was 87%

• Booster response rate was 65%

• Child self-completion response rate was 88%.

Response rates

• Cross-sectional weights to adjust to population

• Longitudinal weights adjust for sample back to 2001 and 1999

• Calculations of the response rates, design effects and complex sampling errors are available in the FACS annual reports.

Weighting

Annual report

• Presents cross-sectional findings of each wave’s data

• Most topics are are reported against standard break variables eg household type, age of youngest child, disability status and income quintiles.

Some cross-sectional findings

• One in five children lived in a household where no one worked over 16 hours per week

• Lone parent families were more likely to be in the lowest income quintile

• Nearly all lone parents and over two thirds of couple families received either a benefit or tax credit

• Lone parents were twice as likely to describe their health as not good

Some cross-sectionalfindings• Almost half of children walked to school• Nearly one in ten children aged 11-15 had

truanted at least once• Around one third of children aged 11-15 had

been bullied at least once• Over a half of working mothers used childcare

either informal or formal• Nine out of 10 non working mothers said there

were specific reasons preventing them working more than 16 hours per week. In half the cases this was ‘wanting to be with their children’

Published analyses (1)• Low income homeowners in Britain: descriptive analysis,

Meadows, P and Rogger, D (2005) • Newborns and new schools: critical times in women's

employment, Brewer, M. and Paull, G. (2005) • Maternal education, lone parenthood, material hardship,

maternal smoking and longstanding respiratory problems in childhood: testing a hierarchical conceptual framework. Spencer N. J. (2005)

• The Socio-Economic Circumstances of Families Supporting a Child at Risk of Disability in Britain in 2002 Emerson, E. and Hatton, C. (2005)

• The economic position of large families, Iacovou, M and Berthoud, R. (2006)

Published analyses (2)• Social equalisation in youth: evidence from a cross-

sectional British survey. Spencer N. J. (2006) • The Living Standards of Children in Bad Housing Barnes

M, Lyon N, and Conolly A. (2006) • Persistent employment disadvantage, Berthoud, R and

Blekesaune, M (2007) Lone parents with older children and welfare reform. Haux T. (2007)

• The Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Social Exclusion. Levitas R, Pantazis C, Fahmy E, Gordan D, Lloyd E. and Patsios D. (2007)

• Mothers' child support arrangements: a comparison of routes through which mothers obtain awards for maintenance in Britain, Morris S. (2007)

Current analysis

• Partnership and employment trajectories, Gillian Paull

• Families health, disability, caring and employment, Steve McKay and Adele Atkinson

• Trajectories of low income families, Gillian Paull

• Disability and family break-up, Steve McKay

Further information

• The National Centre for Social Research conducts the fieldwork:

http://www.natcen.ac.uk• Respondent website providing potential respondents and

current respondents with a brief overview of the survey and answers to frequently asked questions.

http://www.natcen.ac.uk/facs/ • FACS website for potential users of FACS data, includes

questionnaire

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/facs/

• FACS data is available from the ESRC data archive: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk

• The FACS questionnaires are also available from the Questionbank:

http://qb.soc.surrey.ac.uk/surveys/facs/facsintro.htm

Useful addresses

Any questions?

Contact details:figen.deviren@dwp.gsi.gov.uk020 7962 8291

elizabeth.rayner@dwp.gsi.gov.uk020 7962 8648