Wage and Employment Dynamics - Phase 2 (HMRC)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Faculty of Business and Law
Abstract
The project links data from ONS surveys, education systems, and the tax and benefit systems to provide insights into the dynamics of earnings and employment, integrating data across individuals, years, jobs, income sources and employers. The research produced from this will be of direct interest to policy makers across government. Equally importantly, the project aims to creates the basis for a sustainable, documented 'wage and employment spine' with the potential to fundamentally transform research and policy analysis across a vast range of topics. Public benefit will be maximised by high-quality metadata and training for users.
Publications
Felix Ritchie
(2025)
Data Explained: ASHE-HMRC
Felix Ritchie
(2023)
HMRC PAYE Variable list
Felix Ritchie
(2023)
HMRC Self assessment variable list
Felix Ritchie
(2023)
HMRC PAYE & SA data Quick guide for users
Forth J
(2023)
How common is low pay in Britain? New findings from linked data
in International Journal of Population Data Science
Marco Fongoni
(2023)
When are wages cut? The roles of incomplete contracts and employee involvement
Rachel Scarfe
(2025)
Data Insight: New evidence on gender pay gaps in Great Britain
Rachel Scarfe
(2025)
Data Insight: How many jobs, how much earned?
Schaefer D
(2023)
The extent of downward nominal wage rigidity: New evidence from payroll data
in Review of Economic Dynamics
Van Phan
(2023)
Can we identify students in ASHE?
| Description | 1. Creation of the ASHE-PAYE Dataset One of the most significant outcomes of this project is the creation of the ASHE-PAYE dataset. By linking ASHE, a well-established survey on wages and earnings, with PAYE data, which records income tax submissions for employees, we have created a richer and more comprehensive dataset. This new resource provides a novel level of detail on individual earnings trajectories, employment patterns, and income fluctuations over time. For policymakers and researchers, this dataset is a public good that enhances evidence-based decision-making. It enables better analysis of wage inequality, career progression, and the impact of policy interventions such as minimum wage adjustments. By improving our understanding of employment dynamics, the dataset supports strategies for economic growth and social mobility. 2. Creation of the ASHE-Self Assessment Dataset In addition to PAYE-linked data, the project successfully linked ASHE to Self-Assessment tax records, creating the ASHE-Self Assessment dataset. This provides detailed insights into the earnings of self-employed individuals and those with multiple income streams. Historically, self-employment income has been difficult to measure accurately due to data limitations, but this dataset fills a critical gap. This dataset is particularly valuable for understanding the growing gig economy and the changing nature of work. It allows researchers and policymakers to assess income volatility, how self-employment compares to traditional employment in terms of earnings stability, and many more nuanced dynamics. 3. User documentation Both the ASHE-PAYE and ASHE-SA datasets have been fully developed, curated, and are now held as flagship datasets by ADR UK. Their establishment as national research assets ensures long-term accessibility for researchers across academia, government, and the public sector. In order to promote and support their use the WED team have produced a number of documents including the HMRC user guide, data dictionaries, metadata, other quality assurance papers. 4. Stakeholder Support The project has curated a research community composed of a diversity of academic, government and public stakeholders. We have created the WED project KnowledgeHub, a knowledge sharing platform designed for peer-to-peer collaboration for users of the WED datasets; established a Community of Interest with profiles of data users on the WED website, establishing connections between them and other researchers; and have set up regular meetings with new data users to guide their research. We have held quarterly stakeholder meetings to discuss the project's progress, and the most recent meeting was devoted to platforming new data users, connecting them with important stakeholders, such as those working with HMRC and other data users, and established mechanisms for keeping the community informed of research advances. We also support a number of ESRC funded PhD's and ADR UK funded research fellows to use these ADR UK flagship datasets, producing insights into policy relevant areas, including the disability wage gap, inequality-driven skills gaps, and job to job mobility. |
| Exploitation Route | The WED stakeholder group network has become a significant part of the project's success. It contains academic, government and public representatives, each with direct links to one another. The stakeholder group meetings have been especially fruitful, allowing researchers to connect with policy makers to ensure priorities are aligned. In the latest meeting we platformed new data users, allowing new connections to be made. As these meetings have been so useful, it has been decided that the meetings will continue, and the stakeholder group will be maintained going forward, allowing new research collaborations to be made. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| URL | https://www.wagedynamics.com/hmrc/ |
| Description | National Minimum Wage Low Pay Commission Report 2023 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65e0b1f93f6945001103601d/E03071356_NMW_LPC_Report_202... |
| Description | Transforming the UK's Evidence Base Select Committee |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/44964/documents/223187/default/ |
| Description | ADR UK research fellowships 2022 |
| Amount | £113,590 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/Y001184/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2023 |
| End | 02/2025 |
| Description | Future Data Services Senior Strategic Fellowship |
| Amount | £73,200 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/X001288/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2022 |
| End | 05/2024 |
| Description | The Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence |
| Amount | £74,913 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Office for National Statistics |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2024 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Description | Wage and Employment Dynamics - Phase 3 (WED3) |
| Amount | £236,265 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/X000516/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2022 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Title | ASHE-PAYE Dataset and Code Files |
| Description | This dataset links ASHE with Pay As You Earn data, in this reporting year, the project released the dataset and the corresponding Stata code files. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Completing this enabled us to enter the dataset into a fellowship call for researchers to apply to use with ADR UK funding. https://www.adruk.org/news-publications/news-blogs/funding-opportunity-apply-for-a-2024-adr-uk-research-fellowship-using-adr-england-flagship-datasets Since then, lots of new researchers have begun working on the data, greatly expanding the network of researchers exploring employment data in the UK. |
| URL | https://www.wagedynamics.com/hmrc/ |
| Title | ASHE-Self Assessment Dataset and Code Files |
| Description | This dataset links ASHE with Self Assessment data, in this reporting year, the project released the dataset and the corresponding Stata code files. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Completing this enabled us to enter the dataset into a fellowship call for researchers to apply to use with ADR UK funding. https://www.adruk.org/news-publications/news-blogs/funding-opportunity-apply-for-a-2024-adr-uk-research-fellowship-using-adr-england-flagship-datasets Since then, lots of new researchers have begun working on the data, greatly expanding the network of researchers exploring employment data in the UK. |
| URL | https://www.wagedynamics.com/hmrc/ |
| Description | Collaboration with members of the Resolution Foundation |
| Organisation | Resolution Foundation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Research Paper: Unstable Pay: New estimates of earnings volatility in the UK This paper, written by Mike Brewer, Nye Cominetti and Stephen P. Jenkins, used the ASHE-PAYE dataset to explore earnings volatility in the UK. The WED team was instrumental in the development of this project, including collaborating on the same SRS project application. The team have been working alongside WED for some time, however this is one of the more formal collaborations to date. This collaborative work will continue past the official project end date. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This report uses a newly available ASHE-HMRC dataset to look at monthly and weekly volatility in employee pre-tax earnings. It is one of a very few UK studies to look at high-frequency earnings volatility on a large scale, and the first do so on a sample that is representative of the population of employees in the UK. Earnings volatility will not pose problems for all workers (for example, if erratic earnings are the minority of a household's income, or if they are the side effect of being able to take shifts that fit around other parts of a worker's life). But unpredictable earnings can mean financial stress, difficulty planning for the future, and increased reliance on credit or social support. So understanding earnings volatility is crucial for building fairer labour markets, effective social policies, and financial security in an uncertain world. |
| Impact | https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/unstable-pay/ |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Low Pay Commission |
| Organisation | Low Pay Commission |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We are working to support LPC researchers. |
| Collaborator Contribution | LPC have made an in-kind contribution of dedicating research time to the WED project. |
| Impact | Project has just started, so no outputs to report at this stage. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | ADR UK Linkage Steering Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The ADR UK Linkage Steering group considers ways to help deliver the strategic objectives of ADR UK's research strategy - we report progress in relation to all three WED projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Academic Stakeholder Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A group of seven academics who contribute to governance and setting strategy for the WED project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com |
| Description | Academic, government and Public Stakeholder Group Meetings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Academic, government and public stakeholder meeting to discuss getting the most out of WED 1 data, how to move forward with WED 2 & 3 data, and a discussion of engagement activities. These included around 15 members for the academic and governmental joint group in January, while the others reached around 10 per session. Public SH meetings were held as group sessions in 2023, reach around 10 individuals, however in 2024, these meetings have been a series of one-on-one meetings which are ongoing. There were SH meetings in March and September 2023, and January 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DW_Jan_2024.pptx |
| Description | Better Data, Better Policy, Better Research Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Event to promote ADR UK flagship datasets. I presented on my on green jobs research to demonstrate what could be achieved with the WED linked datasets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.adruk.org/news-publications/events/research-development-workshop-better-data-better-rese... |
| Description | COPE Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented "The impact of a rising wage floor on labour mobility across firms" at the Colloquium on Personnel Economics Conference, Zürich (16th February 2024) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/forthetal_cope_feb2024.pdf |
| Description | Data Research, Access and Governance Network research Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Introduced the work of the WED programme to the DRAGoN research Group at UWE |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Government Stakeholder Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Representatives from nine government/policy departments (i.e. Bank of England, DWP, DfE, BEIS, HM Treasury, Government Equalities Office, Low Pay Commission, ONS and Welsh Government |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com |
| Description | HMRC Expert User Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A panel of six expert users from different academic institutions who were providing support and advice in developing the WED datasets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | HMRC User Group Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We ran a workshop in January 2023 for researchers who engage with HMRC data to develop research ideas and a direction for the WED2 HMRC dataset |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | HMRC Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Met with members of HMRC to discuss research priorities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | HMRC user workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Workshop to identify policy needs and potential research projects with HMRC stakeholders and policy makers. Research priorities discussed and additional SH invited in. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Institute of Fiscal Studies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | IFS hosted a WED event to explore ways in which the WED datasets could inform the work of the IFS. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Interview with Lucy Stokes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In our third instalment of our Talking Heads series, we spoke to Lucy Stokes (NIESR) about how the WED project has developed over her time working with the team, and about her hopes for the future of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.wagedynamics.com/2023/12/20/talking-heads-with-lucy-stokes/ |
| Description | Joseph Rowntree Foundation Funding Call |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Following exploratory discussions, JRF presented at two WED workshops which were set up to promote the use of the WED datasets. they focussed on the WED 2 datasets, as it allowed researchers to focus on within year income volatility. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Low Pay Commission - 9th Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We presented a paper at the LPC 9th Symposium - The Distribution of Ethnic Pay Gaps Among men in England and Wales: The Role of the Firm |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/WED-presentation-to-LPC-2-September-2021-v4.p... |
| Description | Low Pay Commission - Research Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We presented a paper as part of an LPC workshop "How do your wages grow? ASHE Panel analyses 2004 - 2018" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/WED_LPC_Presentation_April_2022.pdf |
| Description | National Institute of Economic and Social Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | NIESR hosted an event promoting the WED project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at the Low Pay Commission Research Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented "Wage progression among minimum-wage workers in Britain, 2004-2021" at the Low Pay Commission Research Workshop and 5th Assisi Workshop in Economics (April 2023) and University of Reading (May 2023) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LPC_15May2023.pdf |
| Description | Public Engagement Strategic Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | A group of six organisations to oversee and build trust in the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com |
| Description | Public Engagement Strategy Group Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Met with 5 Public Engagement Strategy Group members to better understand their research needs . |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Scottish Economic Society - Conference April 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We presented two papers at the Scottish Economic Society conference 1. To cut or not to cut? Theory and evidence on the frequency of nominal pay cuts (http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/SES-WERS_ASHE-Presentation-2022.pdf) 2. The extent of nominal wage rigidity: new evidence from payroll data (http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/scot_econ_soc_dnwr_slides_2022.pdf) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/SES-WERS_ASHE-Presentation-2022.pdf |
| Description | WED Research Development Workshop - Bank of England |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Wage and Employment Dynamics (WED) hosted a second in a series of workshops which is bringing together academics and policymakers to explore policy relevant research ideas which could be addressed using the new WED datasets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.wagedynamics.com/2022/12/14/wed-research-development-workshop-bank-of-england-2nd-decemb... |
| Description | WED Research Development Workshop - University of Sheffield |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event brought together academics and policymakers to explore policy relevant research ideas which could be addressed using the new WED datasets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.wagedynamics.com/2022/11/22/wed-research-development-workshop-university-of-sheffield-21... |
| Description | WED Training Event - Understanding and using the WED Code |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Practical training session to inform potential users of the WED dataset how to work with the WED code. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com |
| Description | WED Workshop - University of Sheffield |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop hosted by the University of Sheffield to bring together the academic and policy community to explore how the WED datasets could be used to answer policy questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com |
| Description | Wage Dynamics Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The website is the WED project's main dissemination outlet linking to all outputs and provides the latest updates for visitors. Outputs and deliverables from HMRC research will also be hosted here. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com |
| Description | Wed Workshop - Bank of England |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop hosted by the Bank of England to bring together the academic and policy community to explore how the WED datasets could be used to answer policy questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.wagedynamics.com |
| Description | Work Pensions and Labour Economics study Group - 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | We presented 4 papers at the WPEG 2022 conference: o New datasets and findings from the WED project o Should I worry about response/attrition and what can I do about it? o An overview of the ASHE-Census data o Accounting for employers in the distribution of ethnicity wage gaps |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |