FOI reference: FOI-2024-1864

You asked

I'm writing to you to make a request for the information regarding; wages, household GDP/GPP, and amount of benefits received based on income and the expenditure by government on the provision of those benefits so I can accurately demonstrate that if people earn under X amount per-annum they fall under the category of economic net negative, if there is no means of providing this information or if there is already information that pertains to my request I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry relating to wages, household GDP/GPP, and benefits (Ref: FOI-2024-1864). The Office for National Statistics publish a range of statistics that may suit your needs as detailed below.  

Earnings 

The ONS release the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Average earnings (including hourly and annual) are available in table 1.  

It is worth noting that ASHE is based on a sample of employee jobs taken from HM Revenue and Customs' Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records, and therefore does not cover self-employment income. If you require any further information on earnings, please contact us via our email address: earnings@ons.gov.uk

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

We do not hold estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per household, however, estimates of GDP per head of the UK population are available:  

The data for GDP are in Chained Volume Measure (CVM) estimates so have the effects of inflation removed which means they can be used to compare over time periods on a consistent basis. 

If you require any further information on GDP, please contact us via our email address: gdp@ons.gov.uk.

Household Benefits

As part of our Effects of Taxes and Benefits on UK Household Income (ETB) national statistics, we publish estimates of the cash benefits and benefits-in-kind households receive on average across the income distribution. Benefits-in-kind relate to non-cash benefits such as the National Health Service, education, free childcare and travel subsidies, and are modelled taking household composition and demographics into account. Estimates are available by household disposable income decile in Table 2b.  

The dataset also includes estimates of direct and indirect taxes paid on average by households, and estimates of the number of people living in households receiving more in cash benefits and benefits-in-kind than is being paid in direct and indirect taxes.  

If you require any further information on household taxes and benefits, please contact us via our email address: hie@ons.gov.uk.

Expenditure on benefits

The ONS produce public finance statistics (PSF) that examine how the relationship between UK public sector monthly income and expenditure leads to changes in deficit and debt. Estimates of net social benefits paid by central government are available.  

PSF does not present detailed information on individual benefits and or any tax-based policy decisions. For this information we suggest contacting the relevant central government departments: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) regarding benefits and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) regarding tax information. 

If you require any further information on PSF data published by the ONS, please contact us via our email address: public.sector.inquiries@ons.gov.uk.