Counting people with low incomes: the impact of recent changes in official statistics

<p>'...[the public is not yet convinced that]... changes made in the presentation of the data are based on bona fide methodological rather than political grounds'. </p><p>So wrote the all-party House of Commons Social services select committee in its report (HMSO(1988)) on the new Department of Social Security series of low income statistics 'Households Below Average Income' which were published for the first time in May 1988 (DSS(1988a)). For more than a decade, under both Conservative and Labour administrations, tables had been produced showing the numbers of individuals and families with incomes below or near to Supplementary Benefit levels, and these figures were widely used by non-Government commentators in discussions of the extent of poverty in Great Britain. This series, entitled 'Low Incom Families', was ended in 1988 with the final figures relating to 1985 (DSS(1988b)). At the same time, the new 'Households Below Average Income' figures were produced for the first time, and for comparison covered the period 1981-85.</p>