Background

The Community Life Survey collects information about the way adults (16+) perceive their neighbourhood and community.

Headline Measures – 2020/21

• 37% of respondents (approximately 17 million people in England) agreed that they borrow from, and exchange favours with, their neighbours which was in line with 2019/20. This measure however was statistically significantly lower than in 2013/14, when data was first collected (42%, approximately 23 million people).

• 83% of respondents (approximately 38 million people in England) agreed that their area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together. This was in line with the 2019/20 figure.

• 79% of respondents (approximately 36 million people in England) were satisfied with their local area as a place to live, a statistically significant increase than in 2019/20 (76%).

• 65% of respondents (approximately 30 million people in England) felt they belonged to their neighbourhood. This was inline with the 2019/20 figure.

• 84% of respondents (approximately 38 million people in England) felt they belonged to Britain. This was inline with the 2019/20 figure.

• 65% of respondents (approximately 30 million people in England) agreed that people in their neighbourhood pull together to improve the neighbourhood. This is statistically significantly higher than in 2019/20 (59%) and the highest agreement recorded since the CLS began in 2013/14.

Further data

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/datasets/socialcapitalheadlineindicators" class="govuk-link">Social capital headline indicators, which presents data on subjects including the opinions of respondents about their neighbourhood

The Community Life Survey is a nationally representative annual survey of adults (16+) in England that tracks the latest trends and developments across areas related to social action and empowering communities. Data collection on the Community Life Survey commenced in 2012/13 using a face-to-face format. During the survey years from 2013/14 to 2015/16 a push-to-web format was tested, which included collecting online/paper data alongside the face-to-face data, before moving fully to a push-to-web format in 2016/17. The results included in this release are based on online/paper completes only.

For the 2023/24 and 2024/25 survey years, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) partnered with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to boost the Community Life Survey to be able to produce meaningful estimates at Local Authority level. This has enabled us to have the most granular data we have ever had. The questionnaire for 2024/25 has been developed collaboratively to adapt to the needs and interests of both DCMS and MHCLG, including some new questions and changes to existing questions, response options and definitions in the 23/24 and 24/25 surveys.

Fieldwork for 2024/25 was delivered over two quarters (October – December 2024 and January – March 2025) in line with the 2023/24 survey. As such there are two quarterly publications in 2024/25, in addition to the annual publication. The quarterly releases contain headline findings only and do not contain geographical or demographic breakdowns – this detail will be published through the 2024/25 annual publication, due in Autumn 2025.

The pre-release access list above contains the ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Community Life Survey data. In line with best-practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours. Details on the pre-release access arrangements for this dataset are available in the accompanying material.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-code/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

The responsible analyst for this release is Lydia Warden. For enquiries on this release, please contact communitylifesurvey@dcms.gov.uk.

Official statistics are produced impartially and free from political influence.

This is an ad-hoc statistical release of management information that provides provisional revisions to the police officer and police community support officer neighbourhood policing figures originally published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2024’ statistics (published on 24 July 2024).

Following concerns raised by police forces about the accuracy of their previously published neighbourhood policing figures, in January 2025 the Home Office asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to conduct a data validation exercise on the March 2024 figures. Despite the data being confirmed by contacts in each individual police force ahead of publication in July 2024, this exercise uncovered inaccuracies in the figures.

Data in this release, which has been provided to the Home Office as management information by the NPCC, summarises those provisional revisions to March 2024 neighbourhood policing data.

The tables provide 2013 information on residency-based small area pupil attainment (early years foundation stage profile and key stages 1, 2, 4 and 5) The data is broken down by:

• gender
• free school meal eligibility (key stages 1, 2 and 4 only)
• ethnicity (key stages 2 and 4 only)

The tables also provide information on residency-based pupil absence broken down by gender for the 2012 to 2013 academic year.

The tables can be viewed and downloaded from the ONS website at http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/" class="govuk-link">www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk

Additional information: maps

The maps accompanying this publication show pupil attainment or absence rates at either local authority district (LAD) or middle super output area (MSOA) level.

The attainment/absence bandings given in the maps have been classified into quantiles where each class banding contains approximate equal numbers of data values.

Contact

Jenny Easby

0207 783 8457

jenny.easby@education.gsi.gov.uk

This is a monthly report on publicly funded community services for children, young people and adults using data from the Community Services Data Set (CSDS) reported in England. The CSDS is a patient-level dataset and has been developed to help achieve better outcomes for children, young people and adults. It provides data that will be used to commission services in a way that improves health, reduces inequalities, and supports service improvement and clinical quality. These services can include NHS Trusts, health centres, schools, mental health trusts, and local authorities. The data collected in CSDS includes personal and demographic information, diagnoses including long-term conditions and disabilities and care events plus screening activities. These statistics are classified as experimental and should be used with caution. Experimental statistics are new official statistics undergoing evaluation. They are published in order to involve users and stakeholders in their development and as a means to build in quality at an early stage. More information about experimental statistics can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website. We hope this information is helpful and would be grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes to complete a short customer satisfaction survey. Please use the survey in the related links to provide us with any feedback or suggestions for improving the report.