Dataset: People on Universal Credit
Field: Residence Based Geography: National - Regional - LA - Ward
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 ward hierarchy is built up from ward to the National level based on the address of the Universal Credit claimant. Intermediate geographies nest within this hierarchical structure, with wards building into Local Authorities, in turn building into Regions, and finally into Countries.
Available breakdowns within this hierarchy are Ward, Local Authority, Region, Country and the National level (Great Britain).
Classification
Applicable to: All claimants
Total number of categories (excluding Unknown / Missing):
A full list of codes and names relating to wards can be obtained from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website.
Quality Statement
Residency based geographies have been derived from postcode. This postcode relates to a claimant's place of residence and not the Jobcentre Plus office administering the claim. The postcode data is then used to determine the ward the claimant lives in.
In a very small proportion of cases where postcode is missing, a postcode is randomly assigned, and the ward is determined from that postcode. There are a very small number of records that are still recorded as unknown because the postcode is invalid.