DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-8346-6
title: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: Waves 8-11, 2016-2024, Primary Data: Special Licence Access
title: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: Special Licence Access
title: ELSA

description: &lt;div&gt;The &lt;em&gt;English Longitudinal Study of Ageing&lt;/em&gt; (ELSA) study is a longitudinal survey of ageing and quality of life among older people that explores the dynamic relationships between health and functioning, social networks and participation, and economic position as people plan for, move into and progress beyond retirement. The main objectives of ELSA are to:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;construct waves of accessible and well-documented panel data;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;provide these data in a convenient and timely fashion to the scientific and policy research community;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;describe health trajectories, disability and healthy life expectancy in a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and over;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;examine the relationship between economic position and health;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;nvestigate the determinants of economic position in older age;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;describe the timing of retirement and post-retirement labour market activity; and&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;understand the relationships between social support, household structure and the transfer of assets.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Further information may be found on the the &lt;a href="https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;ELSA project&lt;/a&gt; website or the &lt;a href="https://natcen.ac.uk/participant-contents/elsa-50-health-and-life" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;Natcen Social Research: ELSA&lt;/a&gt; web pages.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Health conditions research with ELSA - June 2021&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The ELSA Data team have found some issues with historical data measuring health conditions. If you are intending to do any analysis looking at the following health conditions, then please contact the ELSA Data team at NatCen on &lt;a href="mailto:elsadata@natcen.ac.uk"&gt;elsadata@natcen.ac.uk&lt;/a&gt; for advice on how you should approach your analysis. The affected conditions are: eye conditions (glaucoma; diabetic eye disease; macular degeneration; cataract), CVD conditions (high blood pressure; angina; heart attack; Congestive Heart Failure; heart murmur; abnormal heart rhythm; diabetes; stroke; high cholesterol; other heart trouble) and chronic health conditions (chronic lung disease; asthma; arthritis; osteoporosis; cancer; Parkinson's Disease; emotional, nervous or psychiatric problems; Alzheimer's Disease; dementia; malignant blood disorder; multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Special Licence Data&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Special Licence Access versions of ELSA have more restrictive access conditions than versions available under the standard End User Licence (see 'Access' section below). Users are advised to obtain the latest edition of SN 5050 (the End User Licence version) before making an application for Special Licence data, to see whether that is suitable for their needs. A separate application must be made for each Special Licence study. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Special Licence Access versions of ELSA include:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Primary data from Wave 8 onwards (SN 8346) includes all the variables in the EUL primary dataset (SN 5050) as well as year and month of birth, consolidated ethnicity and country of birth, marital status, and more detailed medical history variables.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Wave 8 Pension Age Data (SN 8375) includes all the variables in the EUL pension age data (SN 5050) as well as year and age reached state pension age variables.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Wave 8 Sexual Self-Completion Data (SN 8376) includes sensitive variables from the sexual self-completion questionnaire.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Wave 3 (2007) Harmonized Life History (SN 8831) includes retrospective information on previous histories, specifically, detailed data on previous partnership, children, residential, health, and work histories.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Detailed geographical identifier files for Waves 1-10 which are grouped by identifier held under SN 8430 (Local Authority Type Pre-2009 Boundaries), SN 8441 (Local Authority Type Post-2009 Boundaries), SN 8431 (Quintile Index of Multiple Deprivation Score), SN 8432 (Quintile Population Density for Postcode Sectors), SN 8433 (Census 2001 Rural-Urban Indicators), SN 8437 (Census 2011 Rural-Urban Indicators).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Where boundary changes have occurred, the geographic identifier has been split into two separate studies to reduce the risk of disclosure. Users are also only allowed one version of each identifier:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;either SN 8430 (Local Authority Type Pre-2009 Boundaries) or SN 8441(Local Authority Type Post-2009 Boundaries)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;either SN 8433 (Census 2001 Rural-Urban Indicators) or SN 8437 (Census 2011 Rural-Urban Indicators)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;ELSA Wave 6 and Wave 8 Self-Completion Questionnaires included an open-ended question where respondents could add any other comments they may wish to note down. These responses have been transcribed and anonymised. Researchers can request access to these transcribed responses for research purposes by contacting the ELSA Data Team at NatCen.&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: Waves 8-11, 2016-2024, Primary Data: Special Licence Access&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The datasets contain all the variables in the End User Licence (EUL) primary datasets (SN 5050) as well as year and month of birth, detailed ethnicity, country of birth, marital status, and more detailed medical history variables. These data are only available from Wave 8 onwards, and have more restrictive access conditions than those available under the standard EUL (see 'Access' section). Before considering applying for the Special Licence data, users should consult the EUL datasets first to check whether they are sufficient for their needs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Latest edition information&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;For the sixth edition (February 2026), &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;the Wave 11 core data file and documentation were added to the study. The Wave 11 datasets include the same variables as the previous releases, with the drug coding variables moved from the ELSA Health Visit to the main interview, and combined 4-digit SOC coding moved from Secure Access to this Special License data. Therefore, the Wave 11 data (like Wave 10) contains variables previously made available in the Health Visit data. As a result of this change, there will be no Wave 11 ELSA Health Visit Special License dataset.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Please note that the ELSA team is currently looking to produce Special Licence data for the earlier Waves 1-7.&lt;/p&gt;