Living Costs and Food Survey, 2006-2024: Secure Access

<i>Background</i><br>
A household food consumption and expenditure survey has been conducted each year in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) since 1940. At that time the National Food Survey (NFS) covered a sample drawn solely from urban working-class households, but this was extended to a fully demographically representative sample in 1950. From 1957 onwards the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) provided information on all household expenditure patterns including food expenditure, with the NFS providing more detailed information on food consumption and expenditure. The NFS was extended to cover Northern Ireland from 1996 onwards. In April 2001 these surveys were combined to form the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), which completely replaced both series. From January 2008, the EFS became known as the Living Costs and Food (LCF) module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). As a consequence of this change, the EFS questionnaire was altered to accommodate the insertion of a core set of questions, common to all of the separate modules which together comprise the IHS. Some of these core questions are simply questions which were previously asked in the same or a similar format on all of the IHS component surveys (including the EFS). For further information on the LCF questionnaire, see Volume A of the LCF 2008 User Guide, held with SN 6385. Further information about the LCF/EFS, including links to published reports based on the survey, may be found on the ONS <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/methodologies/livingcostsandfoodsurvey" title="Living Costs and Food Survey" target="_blank">Living Costs and Food Survey</a> webpage. Further information on the NFS and Living Costs and Food Module of the IHS can be found by searching for 'Family Food' on the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/" title="GOV.UK" target="_blank">GOV.UK</a> website.<br>
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<i>Purpose of the LCF (formerly EFS)</i><br>
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has overall project management and financial responsibility for the LCF/EFS, while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) sponsors the food data. As with the FES and NFS, the LCF continues to be primarily used to provide information for the <i>Retail Prices Index</i>, <i>National Accounts</i> estimates of household expenditure, analysis of the effect of taxes and benefits, and trends in nutrition. The results are multi-purpose, however, providing an invaluable supply of economic and social data. The merger of the two surveys also brings benefits for users, as a single survey on food expenditure removes the difficulties of reconciling data from two sources.<br>
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<i>Design and methodology</i><br>
The design of the LCF/EFS is based on the FES, although the use of new processing software by the data creators has resulted in a dataset which differs from the previous FES structure. The most significant change in terms of reporting expenditure, however, is the introduction of the <i>European Standard Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose</i> (COICOP), in place of the codes used in the FES and NFS, which were unique to the two surveys. An additional level of hierarchy has been developed for the EFS to improve the mapping to the previous FES and NFS codes. The LCF/EFS was conducted on a financial year basis from 2001, but was moved from a financial to a calendar year basis from January 2006 in anticipation of the introduction of the IHS. Therefore, whilst SNs 4697, 5003, 5210, 5375 and 5688 cover 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 respectively, SN 5986 covers January-December 2006, and subsequent studies cover January-December of the survey year. The documentation for SN 5986 provides further details of the change in methodology.<br>
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<i>Northern Ireland sample</i><br>
Users of the LCF/EFS should note that, due to funding constraints, from January 2010 the Northern Ireland (NI) sample used for the LCF was reduced to a sample proportionate to the NI population relative to the UK.<br>
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<i>Variables available in the Secure Access version</i><br>
The Secure Access version includes geographical variables with detail below government office region up to the postcode level, and urban/rural area indicators, as well as other sensitive variables. Also included are the raw diary information files and the family expenditure codes files.<br>
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In response to user demand, the Living Costs and Food Survey moved from a calendar to financial year survey from 2015. See documentation for further details of the change.<br>
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<i>Latest edition information</i><br>
For the 17th edition (April 2026), data and documentation for 2023-2024 were added to the study <br>

背景
自1940年起，大不列颠（不含北爱尔兰）每年都会开展家庭食品消费与支出调查。彼时的全国食品调查（National Food Survey, NFS）仅纳入城市工薪阶层家庭作为抽样样本，1950年该调查扩展为具备完整人口统计学代表性的抽样框架。1957年起，家庭支出调查（Family Expenditure Survey, FES）可提供包括食品支出在内的全品类家庭支出模式信息，而NFS则专注于提供更为细致的食品消费与支出数据。1996年起，NFS的覆盖范围扩展至北爱尔兰。2001年4月，两项调查合并为支出与食品调查（Expenditure and Food Survey, EFS），全面替代了原有的两项调查系列。2008年1月起，EFS更名为综合家庭调查（Integrated Household Survey, IHS）下设的生活成本与食品（Living Costs and Food, LCF）模块。此次调整后，EFS问卷进行了修订，以纳入一套适用于构成IHS的所有独立模块的核心问题集。其中部分核心问题仅是此前在IHS各组成调查（含EFS）中以相同或类似格式发布的原有问题。如需了解LCF问卷的详细信息，请参阅存放在SN 6385中的《LCF 2008用户指南》卷A。有关LCF/EFS的更多信息，包括基于该调查生成的已发布报告链接，可访问英国国家统计局（Office for National Statistics, ONS）的<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/methodologies/livingcostsandfoodsurvey" title="Living Costs and Food Survey" target="_blank">生活成本与食品调查</a>官方网页。如需了解NFS及IHS的生活成本与食品模块的更多信息，可在<a href="https://www.gov.uk/" title="GOV.UK" target="_blank">GOV.UK</a>网站搜索“Family Food”关键词。

LCF（原EFS）的调研目的
英国国家统计局（ONS）负责LCF/EFS的整体项目管理与财务统筹，而环境、食品与农村事务部（DEFRA）则为食品数据模块提供资助。与此前的FES和NFS一致，LCF的核心用途包括为零售价格指数、国民账户的家庭支出估算、税收与福利政策影响分析以及营养趋势研究提供数据支撑。但其应用场景实则多元，可提供极具价值的经济与社会数据资源。两项调查的合并也为使用者带来了显著便利：单一的食品支出调查消除了整合两份不同来源数据的繁琐难题。

设计与方法论
LCF/EFS的设计框架基于FES，但由于数据生产方采用了全新的处理软件，生成的数据集结构与此前的FES存在差异。不过在支出报告维度最显著的变革，是引入了《按用途划分的个人消费欧洲标准分类》（COICOP），替代了FES与NFS中仅适用于这两项调查的专属编码体系。此外，为优化与原FES和NFS编码的映射关系，EFS新增了一层层级结构。2001年起，LCF/EFS以财年为周期开展调研，但为配合IHS的上线，自2006年1月起从财年调整为日历年开展。因此，SN 4697、5003、5210、5375及5688分别覆盖2001-2002、2002-2003、2004-2005及2005-2006财年，而SN 5986覆盖2006年1月至12月，后续的调研均覆盖调查年份的完整自然年。SN 5986的配套文档进一步详述了此次方法学调整的细节。

北爱尔兰抽样样本
LCF/EFS的使用者需注意，受经费约束，自2010年1月起，LCF所使用的北爱尔兰（NI）样本比例调整为与北爱尔兰人口占英国总人口的比例相匹配。

安全访问版可用变量
安全访问版包含政府办公区域以下至邮政编码级别的精细化地理变量、城乡区域标识，以及其他敏感类变量。此外还包含原始调研日记信息文件与家庭支出编码文件。

为响应使用者需求，生活成本与食品调查自2015年起从日历年调整为财年开展。有关此次调整的详细细节，请参阅配套文档。

最新版本信息
第17版（2026年4月）新增了2023-2024财年的数据与配套文档。