Family Resources Survey 2001-02
Quality of benefits data
As part of the data validation process, comparisons are made between the FRS and other data sources. Table M.6 
shows a comparison of FRS benefit recipients compared to administrative data. The table shows both FRS sample data and grossed up sample estimates (see explanation of grossing factors in next section). Despite much time and effort being spent on benefit validation, there are still areas where there are known problems with the FRS data. The FRS under reports receipt for most of the benefits. The discrepancy between FRS and administrative data is particularly pronounced for Attendance Allowance, Severe Disability Allowance and Jobseeker's Allowance.
Users should note that some of the discrepancies in the two sources of data may be due to the fact that it is not always possible to compare like with like. Adjustments are made to try and eliminate some of the differences between the two sources. For example, the denominator for the administrative and the FRS data in Table M.6 is the same and the administrative data figures for Retirement Pension and Widow's Benefit have been adjusted to remove those resident overseas. However, the fact that the FRS only interviews members of private households whereas administrative benefit systems (apart from Income Support) do not distinguish between people in private households and those in institutions remains a problem in comparing the two sources. For most benefits, only a very small minority of recipients will be in institutions, but this will have a greater effect on Attendance Allowance comparisons.
The number of families in receipt of child benefit in November 2001 is the source of one of the control totals (see Estimation methodology) used to weight the sample, and so is not included in the comparison.
