Methodology

How information was collated

Information was collected through desk research from already available information online from resources pages (adls.ac.uk, adrn.ac.uk, data.gov.uk, the DWP tabulation tool and its successor Stat-Xplore, the NI Department for Communities pages).

Publicly available information in the DWP Freedom of Information Requests was also included as was information on gov.scot,gov.wales and nidirect.gov.uk. Keywords searched for included terms such as: “sanctions, benefits”; decisions; benefits; appeal(s); complaint(s); social security; welfare; tax benefits; disability; employment. We also scanned citation repositories (Google Scholar, CiteseerX and ResearchGate) for related work in the area and mentions of data sources that have been previously used in academic research.

References to the data sources were collated, and were annotated with information included in the online documentation. Where information was unclear, further clarification was requested by contacting the data controllers and data processors directly. For this report, we would like to thank the Ministry of Justice Datalab Staff, the External Data Sharing Advice Centre (EDSAC) of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the HM Courts and Tribunals Service the NI Courts and Tribunals Service (aka The Appeals Service) and the Citizen’s Advice staff for their help and support throughout the compilation of this report.

Data Access Spectrum

Data sources included in the report include those that we have been made aware that have been used for research as well as some where we know that the organisation is collecting data (for operational purposes and audit requirements) but where there is no clear pathway on how researchers can access that data for analysis.

When describing the levels of access of the various data sources, we have adopted the following classification, following the principle that access is a spectrum of options (Desai, Ritchie, & Welpton, 2016):

• Open data sources: data sources freely available to download on the internet, with no limitation on access (i.e. no need for registration, application or fee requirement)
• Controlled Access Data Sources: data sources available to access, but with some limitations to access (e.g. registration needed, involves application process, there is a fee payable)
• Data sources without a clear pathway to access: data sources that exist (we know that this is the case, because there is evidence that information is collected for operational or other purposes) but there are barriers to access (e.g. illegal to make available to researchers, not enough resources to extract data, data can be extracted but of very poor quality, public perception, risk averseness, data has been deleted).