Living Costs and Food 

Survey

Giles Horsfield

Office for National Statistics

UK
Contents

• Introduction

• Key Results of 2009 survey

• Data collection: interview and diary

• Developments: looking ahead
Living Costs and Food Survey

• Sample of around 6,000 households

• Interview plus two-week diary of 

expenditure

• Response (interview plus diary) = 51%

– decline in response

– similar trend across social surveys
Sample design

• Stratified by:

– region

– ownership of cars

– socio-economic group head of household

• Clustered: post code sectors are PSUs
Interview: overview

• Expenditure

• Income

• Ownership of consumer durables

• Demographics

• Also part of Integrated Household Survey 

(IHS)
Uses of Survey

• Retail Price Index

• Consumer price indices

• Spending patterns of population

• Household expenditure for GDP

• Effect of taxes and benefits

• Food consumption and nutrition
Headline figure 2009

• Average household weekly expenditure was 

£455 (£471 in 2008)

• First drop since current methods 

implemented in 2001-02
Average weekly expenditure on main 

commodities and services 2009

Source: Living Costs and Food Survey, Office for National Statistics

5

7

1 1

1 2

2 1

2 8

3 5

3 8

5 2

5 7

5 8

5 8

0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00

Health

Education

Alcoholic drinks, tobacco and narcotics

Communication

Clothing and footwear

Household goods and services

Miscellaneous goods and services

Restaurants and hotels

Food and non-alcoholic drinks

Housing, fuel and power

Recreation and culture

Transport 

Expenditure (£)
Changes over time (percentage of total 

expenditure)

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0

Health

Education

Alcoholic drinks, tobacco and narcotics

Communication

Clothing and footwear

Household goods and services

Miscellaneous goods and services

Restaurants and hotels

Food and non-alcoholic drinks

Housing, fuel and power

Recreation and culture

Transport 

Other expenditure items

Percentage of total expenditure

2001/02

2009
• £71 a week - average net rent paid by renters

– London £111

– North East £37

• £133 a week - average mortgage payment by mortgage 

holders

– London £203

– Scotland £112

Housing-related costs (renters and 

mortgage holders)
Households with... 2009

Source: Living Costs and Food Survey, Office for National Statistics 0

10

2 0

3 0

4 0

5 0

6 0

7 0

8 0

9 0

10 0

2000-

0 1

2001-

0 2

2002-

0 3

2003-

0 4

2004-

0 5

2005-

0 6

2006 2007 2008 2009

Percent

Landline

telepho ne

M o bile pho ne

Satellite, digital

o r cable

receiver

H o me

co mputer

Internet

co nnectio n
Ownership by income decile 2009

Percent

Source: Living Costs and Food Survey, Office for National Statistics

0

1 0

2 0

3 0

4 0

5 0

6 0

7 0

8 0

9 0

100

Telephone Mobile phone Satellite,

digital, cable

Home

computer

Internet

connection

Lowest

Highest
Interview: expenditure

• Expenditure on:

– regular payments, eg. utility bills 

– insurance 

– licences

– season tickets

• Large purchases (retrospective). Specified 

items for 3-12 months:

– motor vehicles

– carpets; furniture; holidays; some housing

• Other purchases over £5,000 in last 3 months
Diary: overview

• Two weeks

• All adults (essential that Main Diary Keeper 

completes diary)

• Children aged 7-15 complete simplified diary

• Diary designed to capture a high level of 

detail on food and drink purchases, including 

weights and measures
Encouraging respondents

• Incentive: £10 per adult; £5 per child, for 

completed diaries

• Information given about uses of survey

– phone and internet links

– Advance letter and leaflet

• Interviewers well briefed on importance of 

survey
Easing respondent burden

• Till receipts attached to diary

• Mini diary issued for recording purchases 

while eating out etc

• Support from interviewers in completing diary, 

annotating receipts etc

• Questionnaire content reviewed and 

streamlined
Diary: interviewers role

• Brief respondents

• Return to check progress during diary period

• Check at end of diary period, and annotate 

diary and receipts where necessary

• Where information is missing (eg weights and 

measures) return to retailers to check

• Calling patterns optimised
Diary: HQ processing

• Team of coders transfer data from paper 

diaries to electronic format (Blaise)

• Check data quality: queries returned to 

interviewers where necessary; 

• Missing data imputed: obtained via web 

searches and other sources

• Questionnaire and diary data combined
Further developments

• Improved efficiency in collecting “missing” 

weights and measures; increased use of the 

internet

• Consideration given to increased use of 

technology in data collection (scanners)

• Questionnaire review

• Pilot of increased incentive to improve 

response