Dataset: People on Universal Credit
Field: Age (in bands and single year)
Description
Age is derived from the claimant's date of birth taken from the Universal Credit Full Service (UCFS) database. Age is recorded in years when the scan of the source data is taken.
Classification
For Universal Credit data, age is available as either single year of age, or as age bands.
Applicable to: all claimants
Single year of age is available for all ages between 16 and 70 inclusive and 'over 70'
Total number of categories (excluding unknown/missing): 56
Age bands: 16 to 19, 20 to 24, 25 to 29, 30 to 34, 35 to 39, 40 to 44, 45 to 49, 50 to 54, 55 to 59, 60 to 64, 65 to 70, over 70
Total number of categories (excluding unknown/missing): 12
Quality Statement
The age of claimant on the count date is derived from date of birth.
Date of birth is recorded as part of the Universal Credit claim process. In support of the claim, proof of identity must be provided.
From February 2026, claimant ages are classified into revised age bands, with ages reported up to and including 70 years. The over 70 age group contains people aged 71 to 90 inclusive only. Over 90 years is classified as missing/unknown for this measure.