Dataset: Children in Low Income Families

Field: Age of Child

Description

Child age is derived as the duration from Date of Birth (DOB) to 31 March in each year. This point in time has been chosen to ensure that new-borns are included in the low-income statistics for each year. Thus, for 2017/18, analyses of family relationships and income during that year are linked to child ages as at 31 March 2018. A child is defined as an individual aged under 16. A person will also be defined as a child if they are 16 to 19-years old and they are:

• not married nor in a civil partnership nor living with a partner; and
• living with parents/a responsible adult; and
• in full-time non-advanced education or in unwaged government training.

Classification

Age is available as either single year of age, or as age bands, for all children aged up to 19. Age groups are banded as follows:

• 0-4
• 5-10
• 11-15
• 16-19

Total number of categories: 4

Quality Statement

The age of child on the reference date is derived from date of birth. It is derived from date of birth information as recorded on the Customer Information System (CIS). CIS is a more reliable source of information as it links to all of the DWP benefit systems and contains the most up to date information for each individual. Statistics are badged as Official Statistics.

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