Dataset: Benefit Cap (Point in Time Caseload)
Field: Westminster Parliamentary Constituency
Description
Westminster Parliamentary Constituency is taken from Housing Benefit (HB) data. It is based on the address of the HB claimant, and therefore the capped household.
It is possible for the claimant to reside in a different Local Authority (LA) to the one administering their HB claim. Therefore it is important to note the distinction between residence-based and administration-based geographies, which are not always directly comparable. Care should therefore be taken to distinguish whether a residence-based or administrative-based geography has been used when creating tabulations.
Classification
A full list of codes and names relating to local authority areas can be obtained from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/products/names--codes-and-look-ups/names-and-codes-listings/names-and-codes-for-administrative-geography/index.html
We classify Unknown / Missing as ZZXXXXXXX
Total number of categories: 650
Quality Statement
Parliamentary constituency is derived from the postcode of the claimant’s address.
Postcode is present for over 99 per cent of claimants but, for some claimants, the postcodes are incomplete or missing. To improve the quality of postcode information, the claimant’s address is processed through address cleansing software.
For postcodes that are still incomplete after address cleansing, Parliamentary constituency has been assigned where possible using postcode district.
It is possible that errors can occur in the recording of address / postcode (both on form and inputting onto computer system within the local authority processing the claim).