Thanks to the efforts of the ADR Wales team within Welsh Government and the dedicated SAIL data acquisition team and the ONS (Office for National Statistics), HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) Income data is now accessible through the SAIL Databank.
Approved SAIL researchers can now apply for access to 10 years of annual paid employed income data for those living in Wales who completed the Census in 2021 providing new possibilities for groundbreaking analysis
HMRC PAYE Income data is compiled annually by employers for each employee. The dataset contains information on the total annual earnings from employment and occupational pensions for each of the last ten years.
The PAYE dataset can be linked to other key data sources such as Census 2021, enabling robust, policy-relevant research, which is particularly valuable as tax and earnings are not devolved matters in Wales.
Access to the data, which is de-identified, is governed by strict protocols, including approval from the Research Accreditation Panel (RAP), the data owners, and the SAIL Information Governance Review Panel.
Speaking of the new data available, Professor David Ford, Director of the SAIL Databank said: “The research community has gained a powerful new asset. The arrival of HMRC PAYE Income data is a significant step forward for the research community. Its utility is unparalleled and will prove to be a game-changing asset for researchers seeking deeper, more meaningful economic and employment insights.
“Our team has worked closely with HMRC to ensure that data can be made available to inform research while maintaining the highest standards of safe data access in a secure research environment.”
Mark Brewin, Deputy Director for Data Sharing and Acquisition, said: “HMRC takes the privacy of taxpayer information extremely seriously and we have worked closely with ADR to provide a dataset that enables valuable research while safeguarding customer information.
“We fully support the Government’s strategic objective to safely use administrative data held by departments within research and wider policy making. This data being made available in the secure research environment provided by the SAIL Databank will help support future, data driven, policy-making decisions.”
ADR UK Director, Dr Emma Gordon said: “We are thrilled that HMRC PAYE Income data is now available through secure research access within SAIL. Its depth and detail will equip accredited researchers with unprecedented insights.
“This milestone strengthens ADR UK’s, and our partners, ongoing relationship with HMRC, whose support for the ADR UK programme of work has been instrumental in delivering data-driven insights that shape policy and benefit society.”
For further information on the HMRC PAYE Income data visit – https://healthdatagateway.org/en/dataset/1228
To find out how to apply to access the data as a safe researcher in the SAIL Databank visit – https://saildatabank.com/data/apply-to-work-with-the-data/