Notes
English House Condition Survey (EHCS)
Main uses
EHCS is the major survey of the physical conditions of the housing stock in England and each record is based on an extensive expert inspection of the dwelling. It also includes an interview with the occupying household. As such, the survey can be used to analyse how the characteristics of the housing stock varies according to the characteristics of households (e.g. how does the energy efficiency of houses vary by household type, income or tenure).
The data from the physical inspection if also used to calculate how much it would cost to keep the house at given temperatures and, when combined with data on household income, this is the main source of data about 'fuel poverty' (where a household is said to be in poverty poverty if they would have to spend more than 10% of their household income on fuel to keep their home in a 'satisfactory' condition).
Note that, while there are equivalent surveys in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, these surveys are infrequent, their data is not typically publicly available, and their detailed definitions are unlikely to be identical to those in EHCS. As such, they cannot easily be combined with the EHCS data to give full UK-wide figures.
Source
In summary:
- Available from: the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Request via the DCLG EHCS website.
- Registration required: no.
- First survey available: 1991. Note the the survey was only undertaken in 1991, 1996 and 2001 before becoming an annual survey in 2003.
- Frequency: annual.
- Updated: August.
- Scope: England.
- Format: SPSS.
- Files: 4 main files per year, each at the dwelling/household level, with numerous other supporting files.
- Documentation: some, but not a comprehensive user manual.
- Weighted or unweighted: weighted.
- Household income data: yes. Equivalised in the 2005 dataset but unequivalised only in the earlier datasets.
The four main files are as follows:
| File | A record per: | Contains data about |
|---|---|---|
| General | dwelling | basic data about the dwelling (tenure, whether occupied or not, location, etc) |
| Interview | household | (for occupied dwellings) data about the household |
| Physical | dwelling | detailed data about the state of the dwelling |
| Fuel poverty | household | data relevant to fuel poverty |
General issues
Which software to use
As the annual dataset is around 17,000 records per file, it can be exported into Excel.
Which tables to use
Most analyses will require data from both the general table and at least one of the other three main tables but usually not any of the other more detailed tables. Any of the tables can be linked together using the key field.
What weights to use
Use the dwelling weight if the analysis applies to all dwellings, whether or not they are occupied. Use the household weight if the analysis only applies to occupied properties.
What household income to use
Use equivalised rather than unequivalised household income (i.e. household income after adjusting for household size and composition rather than actual household income). In the 2005 dataset, household income is available on both an unequivalised and equivalised basis. In the earlier datasets, however, it is only available on an unequivalised basis and therefore the equivalisation has to be done manually using data from the people table to derive household size and composition).
Relevant graphs on this website
UK graphs
Because the dataset is for England only, the graphs below are also for England only.
| Indicator | Graphs | Tables | Weight | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-decent homes | all bar the third | general and physical | dwelling | |
| third | general, interview and physical | household | Use the household weight because household income is obviously only available for occupied dwellings. | |
| Energy inefficient homes | all bar the third | general and physical | dwelling | Use the latest definition of SAP rating (SAP05). |
| third | general, interview and physical | household | Use the latest definition of SAP rating (SAP05). Use the household weight because household income is obviously only available for occupied dwellings. |
|
| Fuel poverty | all bar the third | general, interview, physical and fuel poverty | household | Use the household weight because fuel poverty is household data. Use the 'full income' fuel poverty flag. |
| third | general and fuel poverty | household | Use the household weight because fuel poverty is household data. Use the 'full income' fuel poverty flag. Use the latest definition of SAP rating (SAP05). |
For those analyses which are by household income and which use the datasets prior to 2005:
- Equivalise the household income (i.e. adjust the income for household size and composition) before deducting housing costs using data about the household composition from the people table combined with the OECD equivalisation scales.
- Allocate each record to a household income quintile, calculating the quintile thresholds required to achieve this.