The Families and Children Study (FACS) is a
longitudinal study collecting information about families with dependent children in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, managed by the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
History
Originally, the FACS was known as the
Survey of Low Income Families (SOLIF) which was set up in 1999 as a new survey for Britain’s lone parent families and low-income couples with dependent children. Six annual waves have been completed so far. From the third wave in 2001 onwards, the survey was renamed FACS and was extended to high-income families in order to represent a complete sample of British families.
Topics covered in the FACS so far have been, for example, health and well-being, behaviour and childcare provision, use of local services, education and training, employment, family income, receipt of benefits and material deprivation. The FACS pursues amongst others the long term objective to eradicate child poverty within a generation within the Government’s Public Service Agreement. Other objectives include the evaluation of the Government’s work incentive measures, to compare living standards of families across Great Britain and across the income distribution, and to observe changes in the above.
The study is carried out by the
National Centre for Social Research
The National Centre for Social Research is a registered charity trading as NatCen Social Research and is the largest independent social research institute in the UK. The research charity was founded in 1969 by Sir Roger Jowell and Gerald Hoinvill ...
(NatCen) on behalf of the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Other sponsors are the
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the
Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
(DfT).
Methodology and scope
The main methods of data collection are face-to-face interviews as well as self-completion
questionnaires. The mother is the main respondent but partners are interviewed, too, and in certain waves children aged 11 to 15 are also given questionnaires.
The sample includes about 7,000 families per wave and the FACS has effectively become a “true panel” with 1999 respondents being re-interviewed in the subsequent waves between 2000 and 2004. Additionally, new families have been included each year to increase the sample size and to allow representative cross-section as well as longitudinal comparison.
[ESDS, FACS catalogue record entry]
Survey results
A list of publications that have used the FACS is available from the
Economic and Social Data Service
The Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) is a national data archiving and dissemination service that was founded in January 2003. It is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Jisc. In July 2012, the ESRC announce ...
br>
website
Re-using the data
The data and additional study information are available on the
Economic and Social Data Service
The Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) is a national data archiving and dissemination service that was founded in January 2003. It is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Jisc. In July 2012, the ESRC announce ...
(ESDS
website. Users will have t
registerin order to access the download section.
References
External links
ESDS Longitudinal websiteDepartment for Work and Pensions (DWP) websiteDepartment for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) websiteDepartment for Transport (DfT) websiteNational Centre for Social Research (NatCen) website
Child welfare in the United Kingdom
Cohort studies
Department for Work and Pensions