The Community Life Survey is a nationally representative annual survey of adults (16+) in England that tracks the latest trends and developments across areas that are key to encouraging 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, covering the ten survey years from 2013/14, when this method was first tested, to 2023/24.

Fieldwork for 2023/24 was delivered over two quarters (October to December 2023 and January to March 2024) due to an extended period earlier in 2023/24 to develop and implement the boosted design. As such there are two quarterly publications in 2023/24, in addition to this annual publication, which covers the period of October 2023 to March 2024.

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/">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 https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/">OSR website.

The responsible analyst for this release is Rebecca Wyton. For enquiries on this release, contact communitylifesurvey@dcms.gov.uk

The table below lists links to ad hoc statistical analyses on the Taking Part survey that have not been included in our standard publications.

Background

Released: 29 July 2021

Geographic Coverage: England

This release provides estimates on a number of measures covering social cohesion, community engagement and social action over the period of April 2020 to March 2021. The survey ran over the course of a year, recording respondents’ answers consistently over the year during different periods of lockdown measures. It is therefore likely that COVID-19 pandemic impacted respondent’s behaviours and responses, although we can not state that any change is caused purely because of this.

The Community Life Survey is a nationally representative annual survey of adults (16+) in England that aims to track the latest trends and developments across areas that are key to encouraging social action and empowering communities.

The survey moved from a face-to-face mode to an online (with paper mode for those who are not digitally engaged) in 2016/17. The results included in the release are based on online/paper completes only, covering the eight years from 2013/14, when this method was first tested, to 2020/21.

Differences between groups are only reported on in this publication where they are statistically significant i.e. where we can be confident that the differences seen in our sampled respondents reflect the population.

Responsible statistician: Aleister Skinner

Statistical enquiries: evidence@dcms.gov.uk, @DCMSInsight

Headline Estimates

Estimates from the 2020/21 Community Life Survey show that among adults (16+) in England:

• Most adults (95%) agreed that if they needed help there are people who would be there for them.

• 66% of respondents met up in person with friends or family at least once a week, a significant decrease from 2019/20 (74%).

• The proportion of adults reporting they felt lonely often/always remained similar to 2019/20 at 6%.

• Measures for life satisfaction, happiness and self-worth have decreased from 2019/20.

• 79% of respondents agree that they were satisfied with their local area as a place to live, an increase from 2019/20 (76%).

• 65% of respondents agreed that people in their neighbourhood pull together to improve their neighbourhood; this was higher than in 2019/20 (59%).

• 41% of respondents have taken part in civic participation, 19% in civic consultation, and 7% in civic activism.

• 27% of respondents agreed that they could personally influence decisions in their local areas.

• There was a decrease in the proportion of people giving to charitable causes. 63% of respondents reported having given to charitable causes in the last 4 weeks (at the time of responding to the survey). This was lower than in 2019/20 where 75% of respondents reported doing so and the lowest since the Community Life Survey began in 2013/14.

• There was a decrease in the proportion of people formally volunteering. 17% of respondents reported formally volunteering at least once a month, the lowest recorded participation rate since data collection in the Community Life Survey.

• There was an increase in the proportion of people informally volunteering. 33% of respondents had volunteered informally at least once a month, the highest percentage on record in the Community Life Survey.

Chapters

1. Identity and Social Network

2. Wellbeing and Loneliness

3. Neighbourhood and Community

4. Civic Engagement and Social Action

5. Volunteering and Charitable Giving

6. Annexes

Notes

• There are likely to be interactions between different demographics reported in this publication. For example, ethnic groups have different age and regional profiles. This report considers each demographic characteristic individually, so differences cited here cannot necessarily be attributed directly to the characteristic being described.
• The

The Adults’ People and Nature Survey for England gathers information on people’s experiences and views about the natural environment, and its contributions to our health and wellbeing.

Data is published quarterly as Accredited Official Statistics. Since June 2023 we no longer publish the full dataset on gov.uk. The full dataset will instead be published via https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/series/series?id=2000123">UK Data Service.

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/">Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You can read about how Official Statistics in Defra comply with these standards on the Defra Statistics website.

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

To receive updates on the survey, including data releases and publications, sign-up via the https://people-and-nature-survey-defra.hub.arcgis.com/">People and Nature User Hub.

Background

The Community Life Survey is a household self-completion survey of adults aged 16+ in England. The survey is a key evidence source on social cohesion, community engagement and social action.

This report summarises the results from the 2019/20 survey, which ran from April 2019 to March 2020. In 2016/17, the survey discontinued face-to-face collection and moved fully to a ‘push to web’ approach.

The majority of the fieldwork took place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further information on the impact the pandemic may have had on our estimates is available in Annex B.

This nationally representative survey provides statistics on behaviours and attitudes to inform policy and action in these areas. The survey provides data of value to a range of users, including government departments, public bodies, those working in the voluntary and charity sectors and the public.

Responsible statistician: Alistair Rice

Statistical enquiries: evidence@dcms.gov.uk, @DCMSInsight

Media enquiries: 020 7211 2210

Date: 14th July 2020

Headline Estimates

Estimates from the 2019-20 Community Life Survey show that among adults (16+) in England:

• 23% took part in formal volunteering at least once a month.

• 37% took part in formal volunteering at least once in the last year.

• 75% have to charitable causes in the last 4 weeks.

• Of which, £24 was the average donation given.

• 27% felt able to influence decision affecting their local area.

• 53% wanted to be more involved in local decision making.

• 76% were satisfied with their local area as a place to live.

• 82% agreed their area was a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together.

• 63% felt they belonged to their immediate neighbourhood.

• 84% felt they belonged to Britain.

• 74% met up in person with family or friends once a week or more.
• 6% said they felt lonely often or always.

Chapters

1. Identity and Social Networks

2. Wellbeing and Loneliness

3. Neighbourhood and Community

4. Civic Engagement and Social Action

5. Volunteering and Charitable Giving

6. Annexes

Notes

• There are likely to be interactions between different demographics reported in this publication. For example, ethnic groups have different age and regional profiles. This report considers each demographic characteristic individually, so differences cited here cannot necessarily be attributed directly to the characteristic being described.
• The 2014/15 and 2015/16 survey had a smaller overall sample size than other years reported in this report so figures for these years may be less reliable.
• Small sample sizes for some demographic characteristics (such as some ethnic minority groups) presented in this report mean we are less able to detect significant differences between groups.
• All results summarised in this report are from the ‘push to web’ methodology. Respondents can choose to complete the survey online or use a paper questionnaire. Not all questions are included in the paper version of the questionnaire.
• 95% confidence intervals have been used throughout the report. For further explanation and for definitions of terms please refer to Annex A
• Differences between groups are only reported on in this publication where they are statistically significant i.e. where we can be confident that the differences seen in our sampled respondents reflect the population. Further information on this approach is provided in "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-life-survey-201920-annexes/annex-a-terms-and-definitions">

The Civil Service conducts a people survey each year. The survey looks at civil servants’ attitudes to and experience of working in government departments.

These are the results of the 2023 People Survey, which was open from 19 September to 23 October.

We have also published a commentary to the data and quality and methodology information document, which covers:

• participating organisations
• how the questionnaires were developed
• employee engagement
• wellbeing indices
• publication including rounding

The Participation Survey started in October 2021 and is the key evidence source on engagement for DCMS. It is a continuous push-to-web household survey of adults aged 16 and over in England.

The Participation Survey provides nationally representative estimates of physical and digital engagement with the arts, heritage, museums & galleries, and libraries, as well as engagement with tourism, major events, live sports and digital.

The Participation Survey is only asked of adults in England. Currently there is no harmonised survey or set of questions within the administrations of the UK. Data on participation in cultural sectors for the devolved administrations is available in the https://www.gov.scot/collections/scottish-household-survey/">Scottish Household Survey, https://gov.wales/national-survey-wales">National Survey for Wales and https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/statistics-and-research/culture-and-heritage-statistics">Northern Ireland Continuous Household Survey.

The pre-release access document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Participation 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 OSR. OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-code/">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 statisticians for this release is Donilia Asgill and Ella Bentin. For enquiries on this release, contact participationsurvey@dcms.gov.uk.

The People and Nature Survey for England gathers information on people’s experiences and views about the natural environment, and its contributions to our health and wellbeing.

Note that due to planned improvements of this dataset, the structure has changed from previous datasets for alignment with publishing on a new platform. Previous datasets for Y1Q1 to Y1Q3 have been updated accordingly. See Survey Methods and Technical Details page for further information.

The publications report a set of weighted national indicators from the survey, which have been generated using data collected from a sample of approx. 25,000 adults (16+).

To receive updates on the survey, including data releases and publications, sign-up via the https://people-and-nature-survey-defra.hub.arcgis.com/">People and Nature User Hub.

The survey runs annually across the whole of the civil service. The survey looks at civil servants’ attitudes to and experience of working in government departments.

The 2024 People Survey was open from 10 September 2024 to 8 October 2024.

See all our people survey results.

The Civil Service conducts a people survey each year. The survey looks at civil servants’ attitudes to and experience of working in government departments.

These are the results of the 2022 People Survey, which was open from 22 September to 31 October.

We have also published a technical guide, which covers:

• participating organisations
• how the questionnaires were developed
• employee engagement
• wellbeing indices
• publication including rounding

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly by emailing us with any comments about how we meet these standards.

The National Travel Survey (NTS) results in 2023 showed:

• people in England made 915 trips on average in 2023, about 18 trips per week

• this was an increase of 6% on 2022 and a decrease of 4% on 2019

• there were increases in trip rates amongst private transport modes and public transport modes in 2023 compared to 2022, apart from London buses and active transport modes which have remained at a similar level

• walking trips remained similar in 2023 with 263 trips per person, this was 5% higher than in 2019

• trip rates for buses outside London saw an increase of 8% in 2023 compared to 2022 but remained below pre-pandemic (2019) levels

• the 5,974 miles people travelled on average in 2023 was 11% higher than in 2022, and a decrease of 8% compared to 2019

• on average people spent 353 hours travelling in 2023, around 58 minutes a day

• on average people spent 22 minutes per cycling trip, 21 minutes per car driver trip and 18 minutes per walking trip, on average in 2023

A technical report detailing the survey methodology and data collection operations is available.

Contact us

The Taking Part Survey has run since 2005 and is the key evidence source for DCMS. It is a continuous face to face household survey of adults aged 16 and over in England and children aged 5 to 15 years old.

The child Taking Part report can be found here.

The Taking Part Survey provides reliable national estimates of engagement with the arts, heritage, museums, libraries, digital and social networking. It carries the National Statistics badge, meaning that it meets the highest standards of statistical quality.

• Released - 16 September 2020
• Period covered - April 2019 to March 2020
• Geographic coverage - National and Regional level data for England.
• Next release date – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face data collection was paused for the survey year from April 2020. Data will therefore not be published in the normal annual report in September 2021.

Summary

The Taking Part Survey provides reliable national estimates of adult engagement with the arts, heritage, museums, libraries, digital and social networking and of barriers to engagement. The latest data cover the period April 2019 to March 2020.

• 1. Arts
• 2. Heritage
• 3. Museums and Galleries
• 4. Libraries
• 5. Internet Usage
• 6. Social Networking
• 7. Gambling and Lotteries
• 8. COVID-19
• 9. Annexes

Data tables for the Archive, Charitable Giving and Volunteering estimates can be found here:

• Archives
• Charitable Giving
• Volunteering

Fieldwork for the Taking Part survey was terminated before its intended end date due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. We do not expect that either the pandemic or reduced fieldwork has affected the accuracy of our estimates. A summary of the analysis of the possible effects of early termination of fieldwork can be found the Taking Part Year 15 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/916246/Taking_Part_Technical_Report_2019_20.pdf">technical report

The previous Taking Part release was published on 19 September 2019, covering the period April 2018 to March 2019.

The pre-release access document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Taking Part 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.

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics (2018), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible statistician for this release is Alistair Rice. For enquiries on this release, contact takingpart@dcms.gov.uk.

Headline measures

Taking Part is a household survey in England that measures engagement with the cultural sectors. The survey data is widely used by policy officials, practitioners, academics and charities. This report presents the latest headline estimates of adult (16+) engagement for the year April 2019 to March 2020.

In 2019/20, the following proportions of adults had engaged with cultural ac

The Civil Service conducts a people survey each year. The survey looks at civil servants’ attitudes to and experience of working in government departments.

These are the results of the 2021 People Survey, which was open from 28 September to 3 November 2021.

We have also published a technical guide, which covers:

• participating organisations
• how the questionnaires were developed
• employee engagement
• wellbeing indices
• publication including rounding

The Participation Survey has run since October 2021 and is the key evidence source on engagement for DCMS. It is a continuous push to web household survey of adults aged 16 and over in England.

The Participation Survey provides reliable estimates of physical and digital engagement with the arts, heritage, museums & galleries, and libraries, as well as engagement with Tourism, Major Events, Digital and Live Sports.

• Released - 20 April 2022
• Period covered - October to December 2021
• Geographic coverage - National and Regional level data for England.
• Next release date – July 2022 (Annual for 2021/22 and Quarterly for Jan-Mar 2022)

The pre-release access document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Participation 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.

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics (2018), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible statistician for this release is Rishi Vaidya. For enquiries on this release, contact participationsurvey@dcms.gov.uk.

The People and Nature Survey for England gathers information on people’s experiences and views about the natural environment, and its contributions to our health and wellbeing. An additional survey was undertaken to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on children’s experience with nature.

The publications report a set of weighted national interim indicators from the survey, which have been generated using data collected from a sample of approx. 1,500 children (8 - 15). A file for use in SPSS is available on request (see User Hub below).

To receive updates on the survey, including data releases and publications, sign-up via the https://people-and-nature-survey-defra.hub.arcgis.com/">People and Nature User Hub

The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) has set up a tracking survey to understand and monitor public attitudes to its main business priorities.

The first wave of data was collected between 21 and 25 March 2012 using face-to-face in-home interviews with a representative sample of 2,121 households in the UK. The value of a tracking survey is in looking at how the attitudes change over time so the full value of the findings will only be apparent when we have a number of waves of data.

Here you will find headline findings from the first wave of the survey, along with the questionnaire and a breakdown of the findings.

The survey will run 4 times a year, with questions on issues where we think attitudes might shift quickly or be affected by seasonal changes repeated quarterly.

See information and data relating to all waves of the survey.

The Community Life Survey is a nationally representative annual survey of adults (16+) in England that aims to track the latest trends and developments across areas that are key to encouraging social action and empowering communities.

This report summarises the findings of the 2021/22 Community Life Survey, which ran from October 2021 to September 2022. It should be noted that fieldwork, particularly during the first quarter of the 2021/22 survey, took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear what effect the COVID-19 pandemic, associated lockdown measures and associated media coverage may have had on relevant public behaviours, attitudes and perceptions. This should be taken into consideration when interpreting results.

In 2016/17, the survey discontinued face-to-face data collection and moved fully to an online mode (with paper mode for those who are not digitally engaged).

Differences between groups are only reported on in this publication where they are statistically significant (i.e. where we can be confident that the differences seen in our sampled respondents reflect the population).

Responsible analyst: Olivia Cossey

Statistical enquiries:

Email: evidence@dcms.gov.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dcmsinsight?lang=en">@DCMSInsight

Headline estimates

Estimates from the 2021/22 Community Life Survey show that among adults (16+) in England:

The table below lists links to ad hoc statistical analyses on the Community Life Survey that have not been included in our standard publications.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690cd9c3f5db1b22dad3e6cc/Community_Life_Survey_-_Estimates_on_Volunteering_trends_in_England.ods">Community Life Survey: Estimates on volunteering trends in England, 2013/14 to 2023/24 (ODS, 25.1 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67ae2b74e270ceae39f9e1c0/Community_Life_Survey_-_reasons_for_pride_in_local_area_2023_24.ods">Community Life Survey: Reasons for pride/lack of pride in local area by age group, 2023/24 (ODS, 15.1 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64771a925f7bb700127fa20c/Community_Life_Survey_-_Influencing_local_decisions.ods">Community Life Survey: Feeling able to influence decisions affecting the local area by citizenship and household income, 2019/20 to 2021/22 (ODS, 10.9 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6436be8c877741000c68d874/Community_Life_Survey_-_Strength_of_community_variables_by_Output_Area_Classifications_2017_18_to_2020_21.ods">Community Life Survey: Strength of community variables by Output Area Classification, 2017/18 to 2020/21 (ODS, 111 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6423fb862fa8480013ec0e2c/Community_Life_Survey_-_Volunteering_in_the_Heritage_Sector.ods">Community Life Survey: Volunteering in the Heritage Sector, 2021/22 (ODS, 10.8 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62a9bd3e8fa8f50390d45147/CLS_ad_hoc_Volunteering_Final_220609_.ods">Community Life Survey: Further estimates on volunteering trends in England (ODS, 62.2 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/618cde40e90e070440c8b97e/CLS_Ad_hoc_-_member_of_public_-_Nov_2021.xlsx">Community Life Survey: Formal volunteering in groups, clubs or organisations, 2019/20 to 2020/21 (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 67.5 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/618cddd28fa8f50379269bef/ONS_ad_hoc_Nov_2021.xlsx">Community Life Survey: Feeling of being able to influence decisions that affect your local area, 2020/2021 (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 70.6 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d010983e5274a3cf94f84ea/Community_Life_Survey_further_estimates_of_levels_of_loneliness_in_London_and_England_2017-18.xlsx">Community Life Survey: Further estimates of levels of loneliness in London and England 2017-18 (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 83.3 KB)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d010905e5274a3cfb11188d/Community_Life_Survey_Frequency_of_chatting_to_neighbours_2017-18.xlsx">Community Life Survey: Frequency of chatting to neighbours 2017-18</a

The UK Business Data Survey is a telephone and online based quantitative and qualitative study of UK businesses. It seeks to understand the role of digital data in UK businesses, international transfers of data and activities undertaken for data protection compliance.

This is the second time this survey has been carried out. The quantitative survey took place from November 2021 to February 2022 and the qualitative interviews were undertaken in February 2022. A number of questions asked of businesses were new to the 2022 survey. Comparisons are made to 2021 results where possible.

Further information

The responsible analyst for this release is Berkeley J Zych. For any queries please contact ukbusinessdatasurvey@dsit.gov.uk

For any queries relating to official statistics please contact statistics@dsit.gov.uk

For media enquiries only please contact the DSIT press office:

The press office phone number and inbox is monitored at all hours.

This page lists ad-hoc statistics released during the period October to December 2020. These are additional analyses not included in any of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s standard publications.

If you would like any further information please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

October 2020 - Taking Part: Lotteries request

This piece of analysis covers:

1. The proportion of adults who had played a National Lottery Game, who also had played any society lotteries in the last 12 months
2. The proportion of adults who had played a Society Lottery Game, who also had played any National Lottery game in the last 12 months.

Here is a link to the lotteries and gambling page for the annual Taking Part survey.

 <p class="gem-c-attachment_metadata"><span class="gem-c-attachment_attribute">MS Excel Spreadsheet</span>, <span class="gem-c-attachment_attribute">70.2 KB</span></p>




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  If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email <a href="mailto:enquiries@dcms.gov.uk" target="_blank" class="govuk-link">enquiries@dcms.gov.uk</a>. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

October 2020 - Community Life Survey: Loneliness request

This piece of analysis covers how often people feel they lack companionship, feel left out and feel isolated. This analysis also provides demographic breakdowns of the loneliness indicators.

Here is a link to the wellbeing and loneliness page for the annual Community Life survey.