Geographical Data on Social Security Benefits in Northern Ireland

The following spreadsheets contain data on claimants of social security benefits at electoral ward level. Analyses have been provided by gender and age for most benefits. Data is provided for both 1984 and 1992 electoral wards.

The information is taken from 100% scans of the operational computer systems that administer the benefits.

Data is generally available to Statistics and Research Branch on a quarterly basis, in arrears. For some benefits the data is available for analysis approximately 2 months after the extract date. For others it may be 6 months before data is available. Statistics and Research Branch will update the website twice a year with the most up-to-date data available for each benefit at that time.

In producing this analysis, individual records were attributed to wards on the basis of their postcode. Not all records can be correctly allocated to a ward using this method, and some cannot be allocated at all. Past investigation has demonstrated that mis-allocations and non-allocations do not necessarily occur randomly between areas, and at ward level, the proportion of records mis-allocated or unallocated can be substantial. At present, it seems likely that a higher than average proportion of the records that cannot be attributed to a ward are in the following areas: Fermanagh District Council, Derry District Council and parts of Belfast City Council.

To ensure that there is no likelihood of an individual being identified from the information supplied in the tables cell counts of fewer than five have been suppressed.