Office for National Statistics
Household saving ratio and gross disposable income
2012 Quarter Four
The household saving ratio (seasonally adjusted) in 2012 Q4 was 6.7 %, compared with 7.9% in
2012 Q3. This fall is because of higher growth in household final consumption than in household
resources. Household total resources fell by -0.1%, whilst final consumption increased by 1.2 %.
Table 1: Households and non-profit institutions serving households (seasonally adjusted)
£ billion
Period on period growth (per cent)
Disposable
Total
Final
Gross Disposable
Total
Final
Gross
income
resources consumption saving
income
resources consumption saving
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Saving
ratio (%)
872.4
904.6
933.6
972.5
1007.3
1055.8
911.3
932.4
960.1
1007.7
1044.1
1091.5
896.1
911.8
896.3
941.5
975.9
1013.6
15.2
20.6
63.8
66.2
68.2
77.9
3.3
3.7
3.2
4.2
3.6
4.8
4.3
2.3
3.0
5.0
3.6
4.5
5.4
1.8
-1.7
5.0
3.7
3.9
-34.4
35.5
209.8
3.6
3.1
14.3
1.7
2.2
6.6
6.6
6.5
7.1
2009 Q1
2009 Q2
2009 Q3
2009 Q4
226.1
234.4
235.3
237.8
230.8
240.8
242.9
245.6
223.7
221.2
223.6
227.8
7.1
19.6
19.3
17.8
-1.7
3.7
0.4
1.1
-2.1
4.4
0.9
1.1
-0.8
-1.1
1.1
1.9
-30.5
177.2
-1.5
-7.9
3.1
8.2
8.0
7.2
2010 Q1
2010 Q2
2010 Q3
2010 Q4
239.3
241.8
245.6
245.8
247.3
250.0
254.9
255.4
230.1
235.3
236.6
239.5
17.2
14.7
18.3
15.9
0.7
1.0
1.6
0.1
0.7
1.1
1.9
0.2
1.0
2.3
0.5
1.2
-3.5
-14.3
24.4
-13.0
6.9
5.9
7.2
6.2
2011 Q1
2011 Q2
2011 Q3
2011 Q4
247.3
251.0
253.1
256.0
255.5
260.4
261.5
266.7
242.1
242.6
244.2
246.9
13.4
17.7
17.3
19.8
0.6
1.5
0.9
1.1
0.0
1.9
0.4
2.0
1.1
0.2
0.6
1.1
-16.1
32.4
-2.2
14.0
5.2
6.8
6.6
7.4
2012 Q1
2012 Q2
2012 Q3
2012 Q4
255.2
264.9
266.9
268.8
266.5
272.9
276.2
276.0
249.2
252.5
254.5
257.4
17.3
20.4
21.7
18.5
-0.3
3.8
0.7
0.7
-0.1
2.4
1.2
-0.1
0.9
1.3
0.8
1.2
-12.4
17.7
6.6
-14.8
6.5
7.5
7.9
6.7
 Household
gross
disposable
income rose by £1.9 billion (0.7 %)
to £268.8 billion in 2012 Q4.
Gross disposable income (quarter on quarter growth)
%
5
4
3
 In 2012, gross disposable income
was £1,055.8 billion, an increase of
£48.5 billion (4.8 %) compared with
2011.
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
2002
Q1
2002
Q3
2003
Q1
2003
Q3
2004
Q1
2004
Q3
2005
Q1
2005
Q3
2006
Q1
2006
Q3
2007
Q1
Latest estimates
2007
Q3
2008
Q1
2008
Q3
2009
Q1
2009
Q3
2010
Q1
2010
Q3
2011
Q1
2011
Q3
2012
Q1
Previous estimates
Saving ratio (quarterly)
%
2012
Q3
 Gross saving was £18.5 billion in
2012 Q4, a decrease of £3.2 billion
(-14.8 %) compared with 2012 Q3.
10
 In 2012 gross saving was £77.9
billion; a rise of £9.7 billion (14.3
%) compared with 2011.
8
6
4
2
 The saving ratio for 2012 was 7.1
% compared with 6.5 % in 2011.
0
-2
2002 Q1
2003 Q1
2004 Q1
2005 Q1
2006 Q1
2007 Q1
Latest estimates
2008 Q1
2009 Q1
Previous estimates
2010 Q1
2011 Q1
2012 Q1
Gross disposable income (annual growth)
%
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1949
1952
1955
1958
1961
1964
1967
1970
1973
1976
1979
1982
1985
1988
1991
1994
1997
2000
2003
2006
2009
2012
Gross disposable income grew by 4.8 % in 2012. This is the highest growth since 2001 when
gross disposable income grew by 6.5 %.
Saving ratio (annual)
%
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
1949
1952
1955
1958
1961
1964
1967
1970
1973
1976
1979
1982
1985
1988
1991
1994
1997
2000
2003
2006
2009
2012
The saving ratio was 7.1% in 2012. The last time the household saving ratio was higher was in
1997 at 8.1%.
Gross and real disposable income
(quarter on quarter growth)
%
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
2002 Q1
2003 Q1
2004 Q1
2005 Q1
2006 Q1
2007 Q1
2008 Q1
Gross Disposable Income
2009 Q1
2010 Q1
2011 Q1
2012 Q1
Real Disposable Income
In 2012 Q4, gross disposable income rose by 0.7% compared with the previous quarter. Real
disposable income decreased by 0.1%.
Real gross disposable income is calculated using the implied deflator for household and nonprofit institutions serving households (NPISH) final consumption. This accounts for the effects of
changes in the price.
Total resources and final consumption
(quarter on quarter growth)
%
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
2002 Q1
2003 Q1
2004 Q1
2005 Q1
2006 Q1
2007 Q1
Total resources
2008 Q1
2009 Q1
2010 Q1
2011 Q1
2012 Q1
Final Consumption
The saving ratio increases if total resources grow faster than consumption.
In the latest quarter total resources fell by 0.1 %, whilst final consumption recorded growth of 1.2
%. The negative growth in total resources compared to final consumption resulted in a decrease
in the saving ratio when compared to the previous quarter, from 7.9% to 6.7 % (see Table 1).
Net lending / borrowing (quarterly)
£ billion
15
10
5
0
-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
2000 Q1
2001 Q1
2002 Q1
2003 Q1
2004 Q1
2005 Q1
2006 Q1
2007 Q1
2008 Q1
2009 Q1
2010 Q1
2011 Q1
2012 Q1
Net lending / net borrowing is calculated as ‘total change in liabilities and net worth’ minus ‘gross
capital formation’ and ‘acquisitions less disposals of non-produced / financial assets’.
In 2012 Q4, householders were net lenders of £5.2 billion. In 2009 Q2 households became net
lenders after an extensive period of being net borrowers
£ billion
Components of total change in liabilities and net worth: change between
2012 Q3 and 2012 Q4
1
0.7
0.4
0.1
-0.2
-0.5
-0.8
-1.1
-1.4
-1.7
-2
-2.3
-2.6
-2.9
-3.2
-3.5
Gross saving
Investment grants
Other capital transfers
Capital transfers receivable
Capital taxes
Other capital transfers
Capital transfers payable
In the latest quarter, changes in liabilities and net worth decreased by £3.2 billion between 2012
Q3 and 2012 Q4, due mainly to a decrease in ‘gross saving’ of £3.3 billion.
Gross disposable income components
£ billion
1500
1000
500
0
-500
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Compensation of employees
Gross Operating Surplus and Mixed Income
Net Social Contributions
Net Social Benefits
Net Property Income
Taxes on Income and Wealth
Net misc. transfers
Gross Dispoable Income
2012
Between 2011 and 2012 Gross disposable income is estimated to have risen from £1007.3
billion to £1055.8 billion
Gross saving components
£ billion
1500
1000
500
0
-500
-1000
-1500
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Final consumption
Taxes
Wages and Salaries
Net Benefits
Gross Operating Surplus and Mixed Income
Net Property Income
Net misc. transfers
Gross Saving
2012
Between 2011 and 2012, gross saving is estimated to have risen from £68.2 billion to £77.9
billion.
Loans secured on dwellings
£ billion
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2005 2005 2005 2006 2006 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 2012 2012
Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Banks and building societies
In 2012 Q4, £1,035.9 billion of loans secured on dwellings were by banks and building societies
%
Contributions to quarter on quarter gross disposable income growth:
2012 Q4
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
Net misc.
transfers
Taxes on Income Compensation of
and Wealth
employees
Net Property
Income
Gross Operating
Surplus and
Mixed Income
Net Social
Contributions
Net Social
Benefits
Gross Dispoable
Income
Gross disposable income increased by 0.7 % in 2012 Q4. The largest positive contribution came
from a 0.6 % increase in ‘net social benefits’ and small positive growth from most other
contributing factors, offset by a negative growth of -0.5 % in ‘net miscellaneous transfers’.
Contributions to quarter on quarter growth in gross saving: 2012 Q4
%
10
5
0
-5
-10
-15
Final
consumption
Net misc.
transfers
Taxes
Wages and
Salaries
Net Benefits
Net Property
Income
Gross Operating
Surplus and
Mixed Income
Gross Saving
Gross saving decreased by 14.8 % in 2012 Q4. The largest contribution to this fall came from
‘final consumption’ (-13.7 %).
Revisions to gross disposable income components: 2012 Q3
£ billion
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
Gross Operating
Surplus and
Mixed Income
Net Social
Contributions
Compensation of Taxes on Income
employees
and Wealth
Net misc.
transfers
Net Social
Benefits
Net Property
Income
Gross Dispoable
Income
In 2012 Q3, gross disposable income was revised up by £0.4 billion to £268.8 billion. The largest
contribution to this revision was an upward revision to ‘net property income’ (£1.3 billion).
.
Revisions to gross saving components: 2012 Q3
£ billion
3
2
1
0
-1
Wages and
Salaries
Final
consumption
Gross Operating
Surplus and
Mixed Income
Taxes
Net misc.
transfers
Net Benefits
Net Property
Income
Gross Saving
The components making the largest contribution to the gross saving revision (£0.5 billion) were
‘net benefits’ (£1.3 billion) which was offset by a negative contribution of - £0.6 billion to ‘wages
and salaries’.
Contributions to the gross saving revision: 2012 Q3
Per cent
15
10
5
0
-5
Wages and
Salaries
Final
consumption
Gross Operating
Surplus and
Mixed Income
Taxes
Net misc.
transfers
Net Property
Income
Net Benefits
Gross saving
revision
The level of gross saving was revised up by 2.4 % for 2012 Q3, ‘net benefits’ (3.9 %) was the
largest positive contribution, offset by ‘wages and salaries’ which was revised down by 4%.
BACKGROUND NOTES
1)
All data contained in this briefing are seasonally adjusted where appropriate as
recommended.
2)
Revisions
Details of revisions are available in the Quarterly National Accounts first release:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa2/quarterly-national-accounts/q4-2012/index.html
Gross saving
 In 2011 Q1, gross saving was revised down by £4.7 billion to £13.4 billion. The main






component to this revision was a downward revision of £3.4 billion in net benefits.
In 2011 Q2, gross saving was revised up by £0.53 billion to £17.7 billion. The main component
to this revision was an upward revision of £3.4 billion in net property income receipts
In 2011 Q3, gross saving was revised down by £1.8 billion to £17.3 billion. The main
component to this revision was a downward revision of £2.1 billion in net property income
receipts.
In 2011 Q4, gross saving was revised up £1.09 billion to £19.8 billion. The main component to
this revision was an upward revision of £2.9 billion in net property income receipts.
In 2012 Q1, gross saving was revised down by £3 billion to £17.3 billion. The main component
to this revision was an downward revision of £3.6 billion in wages and salaries.
In 2012 Q2, gross saving was revised down by £0.8 billion to £20.4 billion. The main
component to this revision were downward revisions of £1.4 billion in wages and salaries and
£1.4 in gross operating surplus and mixed income
In 2012 Q3, gross saving was revised up by £0.5 billion to £21.7 billion. The main component
to this revision was an upward revision of £1.3 billion in net property income receipts
Saving ratio







3)
In 2011 Q1, the saving ratio was revised down 0.4 percentage points (to 5.2 %)
In 2011 Q2, the saving ratio was revised down 0.1 percentage points (to 6.9 %)
In 2011 Q3, the saving ratio was not revised and remained (6.6 %)
In 2011 Q4, the saving ratio was revised up 0.2 percentage points (to 7.2 %)
In 2012 Q1, the saving ratio was revised down 0.5 percentage points (to 6.5 %)
In 2012 Q2, the saving ratio was revised up 0.1 percentage points (to 7.4 %)
In 2012 Q3, the saving ratio was revised up 0.2 percentage points to (7.7 %)
Pensions
The treatment of pensions in the National Accounts is complicated. For the purposes of
this release the following needs to be borne in mind.
For funded social schemes (mostly occupational defined contribution schemes),
contributions (employers’ and employees’) count towards gross saving and hence the
saving ratio. Benefits (that is, pension payments) detract from saving. For unfunded
schemes (mostly the state pension schemes and defined benefit schemes) it is the other
way round. Contributions and benefits to and from personal pension schemes are not
identified as transactions in the non-financial accounts. Contributions to a personal
scheme are considered to be financial transactions and not consumption.
Employers’ contributions are treated as paid by the household sector in the secondary
distribution of income account; they appear as a resource in the household sector’s
accounts as part of compensation of employees. We distinguish between actual and
imputed employer contributions, but they are treated identically.
It is worth noting that in the calculation of gross disposable income the transactions
relating to funded social schemes act in the same way as do transactions for unfunded
schemes. So contributions to a funded scheme detract from disposable income but not
from saving.
Further details can be found in the article ‘The treatment of pensions in the National
Accounts’, available at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/elmr/economic-and-labour-market-review/no--10-october-2007/the-treatment-of-pensions-in-the-national-accounts.pdf
4)
Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured
ONS updated the treatment of the output of financial intermediation services in Blue Book
2008. This development related to the measurement of the service charge that banks
and other financial institutions make indirectly by charging customers higher rates of
interest on lending compared to what they pay out in deposits. This service charge is
known as Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM).
The consumption of FISIM is estimated by comparing the interest paid or received
against a reference rate which is closely linked to the Bank of England rate. The
allocation of FISIM to consuming sectors is built up separately for loans and deposits for
each sector.
The impact on the household sector is divided between final consumption and
intermediate consumption. FISIM on loans for house purchases are scored as
intermediate consumption and deducted from the sector’s operating surplus. The
remaining deposits and loans to final consumers are allocated to household expenditure,
the majority of which is related to deposits.
For further information on the concept of FISIM can be found in the article ‘Improving the
measurement of banking services in the UK National Accounts’:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/elmr/economic-and-labour-market-review/no--5-may-2007/improving-the-measurement-of-banking-services-in-the-uk-nationalaccounts.pdf
and ‘The recording of financial intermediation services within sector accounts’:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/elmr/economic-and-labour-market-review/no--6-june-2010/the-recording-of-financial-intermediation-services-within-sectoraccounts.pdf
5)
Charts and tables
To aid analysis, the many components that go towards the calculation of the saving ratio
can be combined or netted off. The table ‘GSAVE’ shows one such analysis, with 4character identifiers for each category. The charts contained in this briefing and the
revisions in section 2 of these notes are based on this table, some with further
aggregation.
An alternative analysis has also been included at the end of the briefing as table
‘GSAVE2’.
The table below shows the differences between GSAVE and GSAVE2.
GSAVE
Total property income receipts (+)
Total property income payments (-)
Total social benefits receipts (+)
Total social benefits payments (-)
Unfunded employee social benefits –
households (+)
Unfunded employee social benefits – NPISH
(+)
Private funded social benefits (-)
Miscellaneous transfers – receipts (+)
Miscellaneous transfer payments (-)
Employers’ contributions (+)
Employers’ actual social contributions (-)
Employees’ actual social contributions (-)
Self contributions (-)
Imputed social contributions (-)
Employees actual social contributions funded
pension schemes (+)
Taxes on income (-)
Other current taxes (-)
GSAVE2
Net property income receipts (+)
Unfunded social schemes – benefits (+)
Net miscellaneous transfers (+)
Unfunded social schemes – contributions (-)
Taxes (-)
Note: GSAVE was previously SAVRAT. GSAVE2 was previously SAVRAT2.
6)
Data Quality
In the financial account the household sector is treated as a residual sector for many of
the transaction lines. This is because of well known difficulties in obtaining accurate data
from household surveys about detailed financial transactions. We often make use of a
control total and totals for other sectors that we can obtain from administrative data and
business surveys, and assume that the household sector is responsible for the
difference.
7)
Reliability
The saving ratio depends on the relatively small difference between two large estimates,
namely total household and NPISH resources and final consumption expenditure.
Therefore revisions to either of these large estimates can have relatively big impacts on
the saving ratio. Care should be taken before interpreting recent estimates of the saving
ratio, especially for quarters.
Estimates for the most recent quarters are provisional and, as usual, are subject to
revisions in the light of updated source information. ONS now publishes analyses of past
revisions of headline published data, comparing original published estimates with the
equivalent estimate three years later. Such an analysis is therefore not included in this
Release. Details of ONS policy on standards for presenting revisions in time series First
Releases can be found at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/elmr/economic-trends--discontinued-/no--604-march-2004/ons-policy-on-standards-for-presenting-revisions-in-time-series-firstreleases.pdf
ONS has a website dedicated to revisions to economic statistics which brings together
ONS work on revisions analysis, linking to articles analysis and key documentation from
the Statistics Commission’s report on revisions. The webpage can be found at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide
method/methodquality/specific/economy/revisions/economic-statistics/index.html
8)
National Accounts
The data in this briefing are consistent with the Quarterly National Accounts First Release
published on 27 March 2013.
9)
Additional information
More information on the household saving ratio can be found at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/elmr/economic-and-labour-market-review/no--3-march-2008/economic---labour-market-review.pdf
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/elmr/economic-and-labour-market-review/no--5-may-2010/recent-developments-in-the-household-saving-ratio.pdf
10)
11)
Next Publication
To reflect user demand it is planned that the data within this note will be incorporated into
future National Accounts publications. Until then, these data will be published on the ONS
website as a response to requests.
Statistical Contact
Gareth Clancy
Email: Gareth.Clancy@ons.gov.uk
Tel: 01633 455889
© Crown copyright 2013
Index to Tables
Estimates from Quarterly National Accounts
Breakdown of components of gross saving (current prices)……………………………...GSAVE
Alternative breakdown of components of gross saving (current prices)…………………GSAVE2
Breakdown of components of gross disposable income (current prices)………………GDIncome
Revision tables (differences from previous release of the Quarterly National Accounts)
Breakdown of components of gross saving (current prices)………………………………GSAVE
Alternative breakdown of components of gross saving (current prices)…………………GSAVE2
Breakdown of components of gross disposable income (current prices)……………….GDIncome