DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-6721-32
title: Annual Population Survey, 2004-2024: Secure Access
title: Annual Population Survey, 2004- : Secure Access
title: APS

description: &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Background&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;The &lt;i&gt;Annual Population Survey&lt;/i&gt; (APS) is a major survey series, which aims to provide data that can produce reliable estimates at local authority level. Key topics covered in the survey include education, employment, health and ethnicity. The APS comprises key variables from the &lt;i&gt;Labour Force Survey&lt;/i&gt; (LFS) (held at the UK Data Archive under GN 33246), all of its associated LFS boosts and the APS boost. Thus, the APS combines results from five different sources: the LFS (waves 1 and 5); the English &lt;i&gt;Local Labour Force Survey&lt;/i&gt; (LLFS), the &lt;i&gt;Welsh Labour Force Survey&lt;/i&gt; (WLFS), the &lt;i&gt;Scottish Labour Force Survey&lt;/i&gt; (SLFS) and the &lt;i&gt;Annual Population Survey Boost Sample&lt;/i&gt; (APS(B) - however, this ceased to exist at the end of December 2005, so APS data from January 2006 onwards will contain all the above data apart from APS(B)). Users should note that the LLFS, WLFS, SLFS and APS(B) are not held separately at the UK Data Archive. For further detailed information about methodology, users should consult the &lt;i&gt;Labour Force Survey User Guide&lt;/i&gt;, selected volumes of which have been included with the APS documentation for reference purposes (see 'Documentation' table below).&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
The APS aims to provide enhanced annual data for England, covering a target sample of at least 510 economically active persons for each Unitary Authority (UA)/Local Authority District (LAD) and at least 450 in each Greater London Borough. In combination with local LFS boost samples such as the WLFS and SLFS, the survey provides estimates for a range of indicators down to Local Education Authority (LEA) level across the United Kingdom.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Secure Access APS data&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Secure Access datasets for the APS include additional variables not included in the standard End User Licence (EUL) versions (see under GN 33357). Extra variables that typically can be found in the Secure Access version but not in the EUL versions relate to:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;geography&lt;br&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;types of benefits claimed&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;qualifications, education and training, including level of highest qualification, qualifications below highest level, class of first degree, single subject of degree, qualifications from Government schemes, number of O-levels/GCSEs etc passed, type of 'other qualification', type of other work-related or vocational qualifications, qualifications related to work, sources of qualifications, qualifications from school, level of Welsh baccalaureate&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;frequency of Welsh speaking&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;casual/holiday work&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;regular/normal work pattern&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;reasons not in work or for leaving work, reasons not looking for work&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;payment of own National Insurance and tax&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;smoking habits &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;single year of age&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;health issues&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;learning difficulty/disability&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;number of bedrooms&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;serving in armed forces&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;marital status&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;main reason for coming to the UK&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The EUL version contains less detailed variables. For example, the lowest geography is Government Office Region, only banded age is available, only 3-digit SOC is available for main, second and last job, and only industry division for main, second and last job.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the APS will need to fulfil additional requirements, commencing with the completion of extra application forms to demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the extra, more detailed variables, in order to obtain permission to use that version. Secure Access data users must also complete face-to-face training and agree to the Secure Access User Agreement and Licence Compliance Policy (see 'Access' section below). Therefore, users are encouraged to download and inspect the EUL version of the data prior to ordering the Secure Access. Further details and links to all APS studies available from the UK Data Archive can be found via the &lt;a href="https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/series/?sn=200002" title="APS Key Data series"&gt;APS Key Data series&lt;/a&gt; webpage.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Documentation and coding frames&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The APS is compiled from variables present in the LFS. For variable and value labelling and coding frames that are not included either in the data or in the current APS documentation (e.g. coding frames for education, industrial and geographic variables, which are held in LFS User Guide Vol.5, Classifications), users are advised to consult the latest versions of the LFS User Guides, which are available from the ONS &lt;a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/labour-market/labour-market-statistics/index.html" title="Labour Force Survey - User Guidance"&gt;Labour Force Survey - User Guidance&lt;/a&gt; webpages.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Disability variables from 2013 onwards - LFS and APS&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
ONS have provided some information on changes since 2013 to the disability variables available on the LFS and APS. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) disabled (current disability) category within the historic DISCURR variable no longer corresponds with the advised legal definition of 'current disability'. DISCURR should only be available on LFS microdata from Spring 1998 to January-March 2013 (JM13); beyond that point users should ignore or delete it. In addition, the same 'DDA disabled (current disability)' category within variable DISCURR13 is also not the most appropriate variable to use because a) it is not comparable to the corresponding category in variable DISCURR due to question changes, and b) it no longer measures either the DDA definition of disability or the latest Equality Act definition of disability. However, DISCURR13 is available from the April-March 2013 quarter (AJ13) onwards and was introduced to demonstrate that the variables used to compile DISCURR had also changed from that quarter. Therefore, users are advised to use the disability variable DISEA from AJ13 onwards, which reflects the Equality Act 2010 legal definition of 'disabled', measured according to the &lt;a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/harmonisation/primary-set-of-harmonised-concepts-and-questions/long-lasting-health-conditions-and-illnesses--impairments-and-disability.pdf" title="GSS Harmonised Standard"&gt;GSS Harmonised Standard&lt;/a&gt; on health conditions and illnesses. The harmonised disability variables DISEA and DISCURR13 should both be present on the APS person microdata from April 2013-March 2014 (A13M14) onwards. This ensures that APS users have a complete 12 months' data on which to base analysis of the variables. DISCURR should only be present on APS microdata up to and including April 2012-March 2013 (A12M13).&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Variables DISEA and LNGLST&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Dataset A08 (Labour market status of disabled people) which ONS suspended due to an apparent discontinuity between April to June 2017 and July to September 2017 is now available. As a result of this apparent discontinuity and the inconclusive investigations at this stage, comparisons should be made with caution between April to June 2017 and subsequent time periods. However users should note that the estimates are not seasonally adjusted, so some of the change between quarters could be due to seasonality. Further recommendations on historical comparisons of the estimates will be given in November 2018 when ONS are due to publish estimates for July to September 2018. &lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
An article explaining the quality assurance investigations that have been conducted so far is available on the &lt;a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/analysisofthediscontinuityinthelabourforcesurveydisabilitydataapriltojune2017tojulytoseptember2017" target="_blank"&gt;ONS Methodology&lt;/a&gt; webpage. For any queries about Dataset A08 please email Labour.Market@ons.gov.uk.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Occupation data for 2021 and 2022 data files&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;The ONS have identified an issue with the collection of some 
occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their 
surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this 
will affect the
accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard 
Occupational
Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of 
ONS' headline
statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, 
are affected and you
can continue to rely on their accuracy. For further information on this 
issue, please see:
&lt;a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/occupationaldatainonssurveys" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/occupationaldatainonssurveys&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;Latest edition information:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;For the thirty-third edition (December 2025), a data file for July 2023 to June 2024 has been added to the study.&lt;/p&gt;