English Housing Survey, 2014-2016: Secure Access / EHS

The English Housing Survey (EHS) is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) that collects information about people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England. The EHS brings together two previous surveys into a single fieldwork operation: the English House Condition Survey (EHCS) (available from the UK Data Archive under GN 33158) and the Survey of English Housing (SEH) (available from the Archive under GN 33277). The EHS covers all housing tenures and provides valuable information and evidence to inform the development and monitoring of the department's housing policies. Results from the survey are also used by a wide range of other users including other government departments, local authorities, housing associations, landlords, academics, construction industry professionals, consultants, and the general public. The EHS has a complex multi-stage methodology consisting of two main elements; an initial interview survey of around 14,000 households and a follow-up physical inspection. Some further elements are also periodically included in or derived from the EHS: for 2008 and 2009, a desk-based market valuation was conducted of a sub-sample of 8,000 dwellings (including vacant ones), but this was not carried out from 2010 onwards. A periodic follow-up survey of private landlords and agents (the Private Landlords Survey (PLS)) is conducted using information from the EHS interview survey. Fuel Poverty datasets are also available from 2003, created by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The EHS interview survey sample formed part of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS) (available from the Archive under GN 33420) from April 2008 to April 2011. During this period the core questions from the IHS formed part of the EHS questionnaire. The EHS is used to derive two types of datasets: Household and Housing Stock. These are available separately for the End User Licence (EUL) and Special Licence (SL) versions, but are combined into one study for the Secure Access EHS:Household datasets comprise the full interview data (plus associated derived variables) for all cases where an interview has been completed. Datasets are provided for single financial years together with annual weights. The survey consists of a detailed interview using a CAPI based program. An interview is first conducted with the householder. Household datasets should be used for any analysis where only information from the household interview is required. Housing Stock data are available for all cases where a physical survey has been completed. For occupied properties, the datasets include data from the household interview as well as data from the physical survey. For vacant properties, only data for the physical survey are provided. The data are made available for a two year rolling sample i.e. approximately 12,000 cases together with the appropriate 2-year weights. This means that if you use more than one housing stock dataset, you must use either odd or even years. For example, you need to use the Housing Stock Dataset for '2012' and '2014' or '2013' and '2015', but not the dataset for '2014' and '2013' as you would double-count the cases surveyed between April 2013 and March 2014. The Housing Stock datasets should be used for any analysis requiring information relating to the physical characteristics and energy efficiency of the housing stock. Derived datasets provide key analytical variables compiled post-fieldwork including energy efficiency ratings, decent home indicators and equivalised income.Secure Access EHS data: Secure Access datasets for the EHS up to 2013/14 are available under UK Data Archive SN 6923 and include two detailed geographical variables that are not available in the standard EUL versions: Postcodes and Lower Layer Super Output Areas. These variables have been merged into the General derived data file within each Household and Housing Stock dataset. The two variables are also available in a separate Detailed Geography data file, along with the key variable 'aacode', allowing the user to merge with other files of their choice. All other files are the same as in the EUL versions. Secure Access datasets for the EHS from 2014/15 are available under Archive SN 8121. From the submission of the 2014/15 datasets onwards, the EHS Secure Access approach was changed by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The Postcode and Lower Layer Super Output Area variables remain available and DCLG also provide versions of the full EHS datasets as used internally, i.e. not disclosure controlled, for Secure Access.

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Geographic Coverage:

GB

Resource Type:

dataset

Available in Data Catalogs:

UK Data Service