ESDS Longitudinal provides: a web-based download service specialist user support in conjunction with the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) training and workshops a range of value-added data enhancements for a number of key UK longitudinal data collections, including the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)

The BHPS is carried out by ISER at the University of Essex. The main objective of the survey is to further understanding of social and economic change at the individual and household level in Britain (the UK from Wave 11 onwards), to identify, model and forecast such changes, their causes and consequences in relation to a range of socio-economic variables. The BHPS provides information on household organisation, employment, accommodation, tenancy, income and wealth, housing, health, socio-economic values, residential mobility, marital and relationship history, social support, and individual and household demographics. Wave 9 saw the recruitment of two additional samples to the BHPS in Scotland and Wales to permit independent analysis of the two countries and to facilitate analysis compared to England in order to assess the impact of devolution. Wave 11 saw the formation of the Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey (NIHPS), to extend representation to cover the whole of the UK.

The BHPS provided the UK component of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The ECHP survey presents comparable micro-level (persons/households) data on income, living conditions, housing, health and work in the European Union (EU). The survey covers all but one of the EU member states and follows the same private households and persons over consecutive years from 1994-2001. The ECHP data can be accessed via Eurostat - see epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/microdata/echp.

From Wave 19, the BHPS will be subsumed into a new longitudinal study called Understanding Society, or the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), conducted by ISER. The BHPS Wave 19 will be part of Understanding Society Wave 2 (January 2010 - March 2011). The BHPS fieldwork will therefore move from September - April to January - March. This means that the gap between interviews 18 and 19 for the BHPS sample ranges between 16 and 30 months rather than the standard 12 months. From Wave 2, the BHPS sample will be a permanent part of the larger study and interviews will be annual again. BHPS sample members will have an identifier within the Understanding Society datasets, allowing BHPS users to match BHPS Wave 1-18 data to Understanding Society Wave 2 (and onwards) data. Understanding Society is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 6614. Further information is available at: www.understandingsociety.org.uk/default.aspx

Users registered with the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) have access to the BHPS datasets via the download service or can analyse, visualise, subset and download teaching datasets from BHPS via the online Nesstar software tool.

• How to register with ESDS: www.esds.ac.uk/aandp/access/login.asp
• BHPS datasets: www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/bhpsTitles.asp
• ESDS Nesstar Catalogue: nesstar.esds.ac.uk/webview/index.jsp

In addition to the main BHPS data, there are also a number of other related datasets available including: the Derived Current and Annual Net Household Income Variables dataset the Combined Work-Life History dataset the Consolidated Marital, Cohabitation and Fertility Histories dataset the Calibrated Time Use dataset Each of these datasets is available via www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/bhps.asp

From Spring 2011, very detailed geographical BHPS data have been made available via the Secure Data Service. These data are subject to strict conditions of access: BHPS National Grid Reference data at the Secure Data Service: www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/bhpsSDS.asp Secure Data Service FAQs: securedata.data-archive.ac.uk/about/faq Overview of access to BHPS geographical variables: securedata.data-archive.ac.uk/find/which-data

Three BHPS samplers have been added to the Teaching Datasets section of the ESDS Nesstar Catalogue. The first two contain Wave 1 respondents, and follow them for eleven waves, selecting broadly the same variables at each wave. The first sampler focuses on the theme of work, family and health, and can also be used to examine social and income mobility. The second sampler is based around the theme of social and political attitudes. The third sampler contains Wave 1 respondents and follows them for thirteen waves. This file is based around the theme of time use, leisure activity and membership of social organisations.

See the Guide to the BHPS Nesstar teaching datasets:
www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/support/L1.asp.

There are a host of BHPS resources on the web. Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) resources: BHPS: www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps/ Publications using the BHPS: www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps/publications/ BHPS mailing list: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/bhps.html ESDS Longitudinal resources: UK longitudinal data in an international context: www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/resources/international.asp ESDS Longitudinal data mailing list: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/esds-longitudinal.html Other resources: Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF): www.human.cornell.edu/pam/research/centers-programs/german-panel/cnef.cfm Northern Ireland Household Panel Survey (NIHPS): www.ark.ac.uk/nihps/ Paul Lambert's guide 'The British Household Panel Survey: Introduction to a longitudinal data resource': www.longitudinal.stir.ac.uk/wp/lda_2006_2.pdf

L33196 Guide to British Household Panel Survey