NS-SeC of Household Reference Person
Definition
The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC) of the household reference person. NS-Sec provides an indication of socio-economic position based on occupation.
To assign a person aged 16 and over to an NS-SeC category their occupation title is combined with information about their employment status, whether they are employed or self-employed and whether or not they supervise other employees. Full-time students are recorded in the ‘full-time students' category regardless of whether they are economically active or not.
Find out more about the National Statistics Socio-economic classification on the ONS website.
Classification
Total number of categories 17
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | L1: Employers in large establishments |
| 2 | L2: Higher managerial and administrative occupations |
| 3 | L3: Higher professional occupations |
| 4 | L4: Lower professional and higher technical occupations |
| 5 | L5: Lower managerial and administrative occupations |
| 6 | L6: Higher supervisory occupations |
| 7 | L7: Intermediate occupations |
| 8 | L8: Employers in small establishments |
| 9 | L9: Own account workers |
| 10 | L10: Lower supervisory occupations |
| 11 | L11: Lower technical occupations |
| 12 | L12: Semi-routine occupations |
| 13 | L13: Routine occupations |
| 14 | L14.1: Never worked |
| 15 | L14.2: Long-term unemployed |
| 16 | L15: Full-time students |
| -5 | No code required - comprises schoolchildren and full-time students living away from home during term time and all those under the age of 16. |
England & Wales (2021) and Scotland (2011) comparison
NS-Sec is comparable with the equivalent version created by ONS for the 2021 census in England & Wales (ns_sec).
This variable is derived from the occupation variable. During Scotland's Census 2011, occupations were coded using the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SIC2010). For the 2022 Census, SOC2020 was used.
Because of this difference, NS-SEC cannot be compared with 2011 because the classifications in the occupation variable have changed.
Definition
The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC) provides an indication of socio-economic position based on occupation. It is an Office for National Statistics standard classification.
To assign a person aged 16 and over to an NS-SeC category, their occupation title is combined with information about their employment status, whether they are employed or self-employed, and whether or not they supervise other employees. Full-time students are recorded in the ‘full-time students' category regardless of whether they are economically active or not.
Although all people aged 16 and over are assigned to a NS-SeC category, statistical outputs for this variable are generally based on the 16 to 74 years old population due to statistical disclosure control considerations.
The rebased version of NS-SeC used in census results uses occupation coded to SOC2010.
Find out more about the classification.
In 2011 Census results, because the census did not ask a question about the number of employees at a person's workplace, the reduced method of deriving NS-SeC (which does not require this information) is used.
The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.
Classification
Total number of categories 41
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Employers in large organisations |
| 2 | Higher managerial and administrative occupations |
| 3.1 | Higher professional occupations: Traditional employees |
| 3.2 | Higher professional occupations: New employees |
| 3.3 | Higher professional occupations: Traditional self-employed |
| 3.4 | Higher professional occupations: New self-employed |
| 4.1 | Lower professional and higher technical occupations: Traditional employees |
| 4.2 | Lower professional and higher technical occupations: New employees |
| 4.3 | Lower professional and higher technical occupations: Traditional self-employed |
| 4.4 | Lower professional and higher technical occupations: New self-employed |
| 5 | Lower managerial and administrative occupations |
| 6 | Higher supervisory occupations |
| 7.1 | Intermediate occupations: Intermediate clerical and administrative occupations |
| 7.2 | Intermediate occupations: Intermediate sales and service occupations |
| 7.3 | Intermediate occupations: Intermediate technical and auxiliary occupations |
| 7.4 | Intermediate occupations: Intermediate engineering occupations |
| 8.1 | Employers in small establishments: Employers in small establishments in industry, commerce, services etc. |
| 8.2 | Employers in small establishments: Employers in small establishments in agriculture |
| 9.1 | Own account workers: Own account workers (non-professional) |
| 9.2 | Own account workers: Own account workers (agriculture) |
| 10 | Lower supervisory occupations |
| 11.1 | Lower technical occupations: Lower technical craft occupations |
| 11.2 | Lower technical occupations: Lower technical process operative occupations |
| 12.1 | Semi routine occupations: Semi-routine sales occupations |
| 12.2 | Semi routine occupations: Semi-routine service occupations |
| 12.3 | Semi routine occupations: Semi-routine technical occupations |
| 12.4 | Semi routine occupations: Semi-routine operative occupations |
| 12.5 | Semi routine occupations: Semi-routine agricultural occupations |
| 12.6 | Semi routine occupations: Semi-routine clerical occupations |
| 12.7 | Semi routine occupations: Semi-routine childcare occupations |
| 13.1 | Routine occupations: Routine sales and service |
| 13.2 | Routine occupations: Routine production |
| 13.3 | Routine occupations: Routine technical |
| 13.4 | Routine occupations: Routine operative |
| 13.5 | Routine occupations: Routine agricultural |
| 14.1 | Never worked |
| 14.2 | Long-term unemployed |
| 15 | Full-time students |
| 16 | Occupations not stated or inadequately described |
| 17 | Not classifiable for other reasons |
| XX | No code required - comprises household spaces with no usual residents |
Source question or variables
NS-SEC (Derived variable)
HRPPUK11 (Derived variable)
SIZHUK11 (Derived variable)
Known Quality Issues
This variable relies on relationship data, which include some known quality issues. Find out more about quality issues and assurance.
Definition
This derived variable classifies a household according to the NS-SeC of the Household Reference Person (HRP).
Classification
For codes, see National Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC) - NSSPUK.
Not applicable category comprises: All household spaces with no residents