Due to the Coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom and subsequent lockdown, retail and recreation locations such as restaurants and cafes saw an 85 percent decline in their footfall in March 2020 compared with their usual activity. By contrast, residential locations saw a 15 percent increase, implying that people in the UK are complying with the social distancing encouraged by the government.

The coronavirus lockdown has resulted in a significant increase in residential location footfall in the United Kingdom, compared with a huge decline in workplace locations. London saw the highest increase in residential location tracking at 19 percent, as well as the largest decline in workplace activity at -62 percent. In all the major UK cities provided here, there has been a decline in workplace activity and an increase in residential activity, implying that the British public are adhering to the government's social distancing pleas.

Experimental results of the pilot Office for National Statistics (ONS) online time-use study (collected 28 March to 26 April 2020 across Great Britain) compared with the 2014 to 2015 UK time-use study.

In May 2020, a survey carried out in the United Kingdom found that around two-thirds of the British missed seeing family and friends the most during the lockdown period as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. 38 percent of respondents said they miss going to restaurants and pubs, while 35 percent reported that they missed going on holidays. The latest number of cases in the UK can be found here. For further information about the coronavirus pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The coronavirus outbreak has had a huge impact on retail locations in the United Kingdom (UK). Since mid-March, footfall in UK retail locations (including high streets, shopping centers and retail parks) fell the sharpest on April 12, coinciding with Easter, with a decline of 89.9 percent.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

In May 2020, a survey carried out in Great Britain found that, since the lockdown restrictions were imposed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, nearly 78 percent of the respondents said staying in touch with family and friends remotely had helped them cope during this period, while a further 68 percent said watching films or using streaming services had helped them.

The latest number of cases in the UK can be found here. For further information about the coronavirus pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In June 2020, 31 percent of 16 to 39 year olds reported experiencing moderate to severe symptoms of depression, prior to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown around 11 percent of those aged between 16 and 39 years reported depression symptoms. Across all adults, signs of depression has more than doubled when compared with before the pandemic. For further information about the coronavirus pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In recent years behavioural science has quickly become embedded in national level governance. As the contributions of behavioural science to the UK's COVID-19 response policies in early 2020 became apparent, a debate emerged in the British media about its involvement. This served as a unique opportunity to capture public discourse and representation of behavioural science in a fast-track, high-stake context. We aimed at identifying elements which foster and detract from trust and credibility in emergent scientific contributions to policy making. With this in mind, in Study 1 we use corpus linguistics and network analysis to map the narrative around the key behavioural science actors and concepts which were discussed in the 647 news articles extracted from the 15 most read British newspapers over the 12-week period surrounding the first hard UK lockdown of 2020. We report and discuss (1) the salience of key concepts and actors as the debate unfolded, (2) quantified changes in the polarity of the sentiment expressed toward them and their policy application contexts, and (3) patterns of co-occurrence via network analyses. To establish public discourse surrounding identified themes, in Study 2 we investigate how salience and sentiment of key themes and relations to policy were discussed in original Twitter chatter (N = 2,187). In Study 3, we complement these findings with a qualitative analysis of the subset of news articles which contained the most extreme sentiments (N = 111), providing an in-depth perspective of sentiments and discourse developed around keywords, as either promoting or undermining their credibility in, and trust toward behaviourally informed policy. We discuss our findings in light of the integration of behavioural science in national policy making under emergency constraints.

In April 2020, a survey carried out in the United Kingdom found that since the lockdown restrictions were imposed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 20 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 24 years were consuming a little more alcohol than usual, while a further four percent were drinking alcohol a lot more than usual. Furthermore, just under a fifth of respondents in the age groups between 25 and 54 years of age were a drinking a bit more alcohol than normal. The latest number of cases in the UK can be found here. For further information about the coronavirus pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of November 1, 2020, 53 percent of surveyed adults in Great Britain reported that their well-being was being affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The share of adults who reported their well-being was being adversely affected also amounted to 53 percent in March as the country was entering its first lockdown, before gradually decreasing to a low of 39 percent in August as the UK began to open up. However, the effects of the crisis have been felt more in recent weeks as the number of cases rose again in the 'second wave' and the country entered a second lockdown for November.

The latest number of cases in the UK can be found here. For further information about the coronavirus pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In recent years behavioural science has quickly become embedded in national level governance. As the contributions of behavioural science to the UK's COVID-19 response policies in early 2020 became apparent, a debate emerged in the British media about its involvement. This served as a unique opportunity to capture public discourse and representation of behavioural science in a fast-track, high-stake context. We aimed at identifying elements which foster and detract from trust and credibility in emergent scientific contributions to policy making. With this in mind, in Study 1 we use corpus linguistics and network analysis to map the narrative around the key behavioural science actors and concepts which were discussed in the 647 news articles extracted from the 15 most read British newspapers over the 12-week period surrounding the first hard UK lockdown of 2020. We report and discuss (1) the salience of key concepts and actors as the debate unfolded, (2) quantified changes in the polarity of the sentiment expressed toward them and their policy application contexts, and (3) patterns of co-occurrence via network analyses. To establish public discourse surrounding identified themes, in Study 2 we investigate how salience and sentiment of key themes and relations to policy were discussed in original Twitter chatter (N = 2,187). In Study 3, we complement these findings with a qualitative analysis of the subset of news articles which contained the most extreme sentiments (N = 111), providing an in-depth perspective of sentiments and discourse developed around keywords, as either promoting or undermining their credibility in, and trust toward behaviourally informed policy. We discuss our findings in light of the integration of behavioural science in national policy making under emergency constraints.

As of May 21, 2020, about one third of respondents in the United Kingdom planned to spend their annual leave on holidays in the UK if travel abroad was still difficult due to lockdown restrictions. Over a quarter of respondents expected to spend more time at home.

Provisional deaths registration data for single year of age and average age of death (median and mean) of persons whose death involved coronavirus (COVID-19), England and Wales. Includes deaths due to COVID-19 and breakdowns by sex.

Given the outbreak of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), pandemic during March 2020, lockdown measures taken by governments have forced many families, especially those who have children, to re-arrange domestic and market work division. In this study, I investigate the factors associated with partnered and employed individuals’ involvement with housework during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom. Drawing evidence from the first wave of the Covid-19 Survey from the Five National Longitudinal Studies dataset with using OLS regressions, this study found that daily working hours, socioeconomic status, and partner’s key worker status are important indicators of daily time spent on housework. Furthermore, interaction analysis showed that women living with a key worker partner not only did more housework than women whose partner was working in a regular job, but they also did more housework than men living with a key worker partner during the lockdown. Policy implications of regulating maximum daily working hours and key worker status are discussed in the context of re-arranging paid and unpaid work between couples during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom.

Citation: Sönmez, I ̇brahim. 2021. A Missed Opportunity for Men? Partnered and Employed Individuals’ Involvement with Housework during the COVID-19 Lockdown in the UK. SocialSciences10: 135. https:// doi.org/10.3390/socsci10040135