The National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification User Manual

This user manual describes in detail the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC), the standard UK government classification, which was rebased following changes to the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) in 2000, and gives practical advice on using it to derive classifications. The main chapters describe the classes and general principles for deriving classifications and the appendices contain detailed derivation tables explaining how each category is derived from SOC and employment status.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the government department that provides UK statistical and registration services. ONS is responsible for producing a wide range of key economic and social statistics which are used by policy makers across government to create evidence-based policies and monitor performance against them.