Statistics about personal incomes
Source: gov.uk (2025-03-12)

Find statistics about UK taxpayers, their income, and the Income Tax they are liable for.

The Survey of Personal Incomes

Statistics about personal incomes are assessed using the annual Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI). The SPI is based on information held by HMRC about individuals who could be liable for UK Income Tax and covers income that can be assessed for tax for each tax year. Data for the SPI is sampled from HMRC administrative systems.

The statistics in this collection cover:
- Accredited Official Statistics tables 3.1 to 3.11, 3.16 and 3.17
- Accredited Official Statistics tables 3.12 to 3.15a (geographical breakdowns)
Individual tables (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-income-by-tax-year) of the statistics covered are available for the latest published tax year to tax year 2010 to 2011.

Most tables exclude individuals who are not taxpayers unless otherwise stated.

You can find the latest publication in the section titled ‘Accredited Official statistics‘.

You can find publications for previous tax years in the section titled ‘Previous publications’.

You can find tables for tax years 2009 to 2010 and earlier on the National Archives website (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/*/http:/hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu.htm).

Supporting documentation on the methodology used to produce these statistics is available in the release for each tax year.

Note: comparisons over time may be affected by changes in methodology. Notably, there was a revision to the grossing factors in the 2018 to 2019 publication, which is discussed in the commentary and supporting documentation for that tax year. Further details, including a summary of significant methodological changes over time, data suitability and coverage, are included in the Background Quality Report.

Release schedule

These statistics are published annually, usually in February or March. You can find the release dates on the HMRC national statistics release schedule (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schedule-of-updates-for-hmrcs-statistics). Any changes to the publication date will also be announced there.

Related Statistics

Income Tax liabilities and distributions

HMRC also produce statistics on Income Tax liabilities and receipts (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/series/income-tax-statistics-and-distributions). Use these to find out:
- how much tax is paid and collected by HMRC in any given year, and how tax is collected
- detailed breakdowns of the number of people paying Income Tax and the distribution of Income Tax liabilities across taxpayers and tax bands
HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK

HMRC also produce statistics on tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk). Use these to find out:
- monthly receipts for the last four tax years from tax and duties, National Insurance Contributions, and fines and penalties that HMRC are responsible for administering
- analysis on observed trends in tax receipts
PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) Statistics

Experimental monthly estimates (https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/earningsandemploymentfrompayasyouearnrealtimeinformationuk/previousReleases) of payrolled employees and their pay from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) data. This is a joint release between HMRC and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

ONS guide to sources of data on income and earnings

This guide (https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/methodologies/aguidetosourcesofdataonearningsandincome) outlines the different data sources and outputs that feed into the analysis of income and earnings within the UK. It explains important information for each data source, including what data are available and the sources’ main uses, strengths and limitations.

Contact details

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