Northern Ireland households given cash to complete 'living standards' survey

The voucher can be redeemed from a voucher that will be sent to survey participants.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) is handing out cash for households to complete a "standards of living" survey.

The Family Resources Survey is being conducted by Nisra on behalf of the Department for Communities and the Department for Work and Pensions.

It is aimed at trying to gauge household circumstances to help inform government policy.

Northern Ireland has been in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis with soaring energy and food prices.

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A total of 4,000 householders have been randomly selected for the survey with a £10 Post Office voucher offered as a "token of appreciation". The voucher can be exchanged for cash.

In a letter sent to households it says it is aiming to get a mixture of different types of people from all walks of life and the sample includes a cross-section of the community.

"We are interested in people from all age groups and all parts of the country," it said.

It said it can not ask households outside those chosen as this would "bias the results".

Householders were urged to take part to make the results as "accurate as possible".

The letter says a visit will be made to the home for an interview and they would like to talk to all in the household. It stressed all information would be treated with confidence and would be anonymised when provided to other organisations.

Nisra and the Department for Communities were approached for comment.