RAPID: Population interactions with employment, benefits and pensions - UK
RAPID: Population interactions with employment, benefits and pensions – UK is a population-based dataset created from administrative records held by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The dataset includes de-identified records for all people with a National Insurance number, including children, who were alive on or after 6 April 2010. It captures an annual summary of employment, benefit and pension activities, and the income associated with those activities, between 2010/11 and 2023/24. The dataset enables analysis of month-on-month activities and the transitions between employment and benefits, including the ability to analyse populations to low levels of geography by age, sex and derived economic activity in each month.
This year, RAPID was made available for accredited researchers to apply to access in the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service. This represents a significant milestone in the availability of UK-wide economic administrative data for public good research. The dataset can be used to uncover insights related to priority policy questions around employment, inequalities and financial security.
Investing in the research use of RAPID
Funding from ADR UK will boost the research output from RAPID over the coming year. The first users of the dataset include three ADR UK Research Fellows, who will use the data to undertake a variety of projects. Their research will investigate themes including the labour market dynamics of older working-age people; the economic determinants of health-related benefit claims; and a local view of economic inactivity in the UK. As well as generating new evidence to inform policy across these priorities, the fellows will test the dataset as an asset for academic research and provide feedback and advice for data owners and future users.
Also announced this year, a new ADR UK Academic Lead team will work with DWP and HMRC to drive secure research use of economic data for public benefit from 2026 – 2031. A core part of this team’s work will focus on scaling up research use of RAPID, including providing training and support for researchers, advising data owners on potential improvements, and building a sustained community of practice.
By investing in and supporting the research use of RAPID, we are building the potential of the dataset to help inform better economic decisions for the UK.
