Friday 13 April 2018
The States' next Household Expenditure Survey, which gathers information about the goods and services that are bought by people living in Guernsey, will be taking place over 12 months from May 2018.
The survey is repeated periodically - it was last carried out in 2012/13 - and information gathered is anonymised before being used by both the States and the public. For example, the results are:
- Used to update the Retail Prices Index (RPI) basket, to ensure it remains accurate and relevant to what people in Guernsey spend their money on (see www.gov.gg/rpi for the latest figures). Changes in the RPI are used to inform:
- Tax allowances
- Social Security benefit rates
- Pension payments
- Maintenance payments
- Wage negotiations
- Rental price reviews
- Published for anyone to access for market or social research, see www.gov.gg/household for the results of the last survey.
To ensure the survey results provide a detailed and representative picture of spending in Guernsey, it is important that more than 1,000 households representing a broad range of the community take part.
States of Guernsey Chief Information Officer, Colin Vaudin, said:
'The Household Expenditure Survey provides important information for the States of Guernsey and members of the community. Encouraging enough households to contribute, to enable us to generate a reliable sample for the Survey, is always a challenge due to the amount of detail required. However, we've made it easier to complete since last time and we're offering incentives for those who take part.'
Helen Walton, Head of Data & Analysis, said:
'We will be contacting various large employers, charities and social groups directly, but would like to open up the invite to anyone who would like to be involved. More information and promotional materials can be provided to anyone that is interested in encouraging others to take part. Completing the survey can help people better understand where all their money goes each month as well as ensuring we have accurate information on the cost of living in Guernsey.'
Anyone that opts in (and a random sample of selected households) will be sent a letter explaining the survey in more detail. One of the team of fieldworkers will then make an appointment to visit the household and help them complete the initial questionnaire, which covers regular household payments and other large purchases. After that, household members will all be asked to keep a record of everything that they buy in shops or online over the following two weeks.
Ms Walton said:
'We recognise that this is not a small task, so to say thank you to the households that take part, each one is offered the opportunity to either be entered into one of four quarterly prize draws to win up to £500 or receive a £25 voucher towards a meal at a number of select local restaurants.'
All information is provided in confidence and anonymised.
If you would like to take part in the survey or just find out more about it, call 717188 or email hes@gov.gg and we will start the process.
