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Socio economic classification (SEC)

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Key Value
Name Socio economic classification
Short name SEC
Part of Entry Profile (EntryProfile)
Description This entity collects the socio-economic classification of Students if 21 or over at the start of their Engagement or parental classification if under 21
Applicable to England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Coverage All Students where EntryProfile.UCASSCHEMECODE exists and Qualification.QUALCAT has a HESA level of H, I, J or C or is M0002 and EntryProfile.PERMADDCOUNTRY = XF, XG, XH, XI, XK, XL, GG, JE or IM.)
Must not be returned for Students outside of the stated coverage.
Notes

This data is required at entry to a student's Engagement and is not required to be maintained throughout a student's Engagement.



This collects the socio-economic background of students aged 21 and over at the start of their course, or for students under 21 the socio-economic background of their parent, step-parent or guardian who earns the most is returned. It is based on occupation, and if the parent or guardian is retired or unemployed, this is based on their most recent occupation.

Code 09 'Not classified' includes the 3 categories:



  1. students occupations not stated or inadequately described


  2. not classifiable for other reasons.



For students entering through UCAS this information will be available from UCAS via the *J transaction.



Providers are encouraged to provide this information for other full-time undergraduates in order to provide more complete statistical information for the sector.
Quality Rules Quality rules to follow
Optional? Yes
Reason required To classify the social background of Students in a standard way. Used to monitor the impact of widening participation policies, and analyses relating to widening access and data quality
Field Length 2
References
Valid Values
Code Label
01 Higher managerial & professional occupations
02 Lower managerial & professional occupations
03 Intermediate occupation
04 Small employers & own account workers
05 Lower supervisory & technical occupations
06 Semi-routine occupations
07 Routine occupations
08 Never worked & long-term unemployed
09 Not classified

Contact Liaison by email or on +44 (0)1242 388 531.