Northern Ireland House Condition Survey update: May 2022
The commencement of the fieldwork for the NI House Condition Survey (NIHCS) is under review due to the ongoing risks to health, and to data quality issues related to the pandemic.
Although restrictions have now eased, the pandemic continues to have an effect on research, particularly where surveys take place in the homes of participants. This is case for the NIHCS, which involves surveyors spending approximately 1 hour in each home in order to complete a technical inspection and a face-to-face interview.
We will continue to monitor and review the situation, and as part of this process we will undertake a pilot survey during the summer of 2022. This will help us to assess the willingness of householders to take part in face-to-face research, and to explore the possibility of using alternative methods of data collection. The findings of the pilot survey will be used when planning for the next NIHCS.
We will provide updates on the pilot survey and the timing of the next NIHCS when available.
If you have any queries please contact the NIHCS team at:
Modelled statistics
Following the postponement of the NIHCS in 2021, we consulted with users to identify requirements for key statistics which could be modelled using data from the 2016 NIHCS.
The statistics requested by users were:
- Fuel poverty indicator: 2019 and 2020
- Energy consumption tables
- Heat loss parameter variable, and factors which influence the heat loss parameter
Fuel poverty indicator: update for users 07/03/22
In order to calculate the fuel poverty estimates, the modelling process uses a series of assumptions based on available data. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the data for 2020 relating to household income, fuel prices, energy efficiency improvements and the change in household make-up (re-grouping or bubbling) were not available through external sources or datasets.
Therefore at this time, it is not possible to produce a robust fuel poverty figure for 2020. We will revisit this at a later date.
The 2019 fuel poverty estimates report was published on 22nd March 2022. Work on the remaining modelling is ongoing. We will provide further updates when publication dates have been announced.