Dataset: NINo Registrations To Adult Overseas Nationals Entering The UK
Field: Census Output Area hierarchical geographies through to United Kingdom
Description
There are many different geographical breakdowns available, some of which are made up of smaller geography types. For example, regions build up exactly into countries.
The Census Output Area 2021 (COA) hierarchy is built up from COA to the National Level based on the address of the claimant.
Available breakdowns within this hierarchy are Census Output Area, Local Authority, Region, Country and the National level (UK).
Classification
A full list of codes and names relating to local authority areas can be obtained from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website here.
Quality Statement
Residency based geographies are derived by matching the postcode provided on the Migrant Workers Scan (MWS) to a geography reference file provided by ONS in order to allocate a COA . The addresses on the MWS are first put through a data cleansing procedure which makes sure postcodes are formatted correctly and the address fields are populated correctly. 2021 COAs are then assigned to claimants using the ONSPD (ONS Postcode Directory), starting with a direct postcode to COA lookup and then working through a logical address allocation routine.
In cases where a COA cannot be allocated due to a missing postcode or a postcode which does not match to a COA, an additional process has been implemented whereby an attempt is made to find an address via DWP’s Customer Information System (CIS). Finally the National Statistics Postcode Look-Up (NSPL) is used to assign lower level geographies based on the COA. Following this procedure, there may still be a small number of records that are recorded as unknown where the COA is missing or is not able to be matched with the NSPL.