Five Family Payments evaluation: annex A - mixed methods research

Appendix B. Additional survey respondent demographics

Financial circumstances of survey respondents

Respondents were asked ‘how well would you say you yourself are managing financially these days’, with responses ranging from ‘living comfortably’ to ‘finding it very difficult’. Only 4% of respondents said that they were ‘living comfortably’. Around two-thirds of respondents (65%) said they were ‘doing alright’ (26%) or ‘just about getting by’ (39%). Under one-third of respondents (27%) said they were ‘finding it quite difficult’ (18%) or ‘very difficult’ (9%), with 4% selecting ‘prefer not to say’.

Food insecurity

Over half (54%) of respondents said ‘yes’ when asked ‘during the past 12 months, was there a time when you were worried you would run out of food because of a lack of money or other resources?’. One-third (33%) said ‘no’ and 13% preferred not to say.

Respondents most likely to report that there was a time in the past 12 months they were worried they would run out of food because of a lack of money or resources were:

• Households with a disabled family member (62%, compared with 42% of households without a disabled family member).
• White ethnic families (57%, compared with 41% of minority ethnic families).
• One parent/carer households (57%, compared with 51% of two or more parent/carer households).

All respondents were asked ‘How often has your household used a food bank or similar service in the last 12 months?’. Around two-thirds (65%) of respondents had not used a food bank or similar services in the last 12 months. Around one-fifth (21%) of respondents had used a food bank or similar services in the last 12 months: ranging from less than once a month (11%); about once or twice a month (7%); to at least weekly (2%).

Respondents most likely to report using a food bank or similar service in the last 12 months were:

• Households with a disabled family member (39%, compared with 31% of households without a disabled family member).
• Minority ethnic families (42%, compared with 34% of white ethnic families).
• Households living in 20% most deprived areas (26%, compared with 18% of households living in 20% least deprived areas).
• One parent/carer households (38%, compared with 32% of two or more parent/carer households).

Health

The majority of participants (76%) reported that their health in general was ‘very good’ (8%), ‘good’ (33%) or ‘fair’ (35%). Around one-fifth (22%) reported their health in general was ‘bad’ (16%) or ‘very bad’ (6%). Respondents from a household with a disabled family member were significantly more likely to report their general health was ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ (34%) than respondents without a disabled family member (3%).