Experts from the UK Data Service are encouraging people to fill out this year’s Census because the information will help navigate our way to recovery.
Oliver Duke-Williams, Service Director for the Census at the UK Data Service, said it could be the most important Census since 1921, when the UK emerged from the First World War and the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, or 1951, following the Second World War.
‘The UK Census 2021/2022 is right in the middle of those eras in terms of its importance. It is going to provide hugely interesting data for social science researchers and policy analysts right now, as we look towards the future. Historians will also use the information to study the full story of the pandemic and Brexit.
‘We obviously face a large number of questions about recovering from the pandemic, and how we can rebuild all sorts of sectors that have been massively affected by successive lockdowns. Many of these sectors, of course, have not even been able to reopen at all over that period.
‘So, the Census will tell us something about how the economy has changed due to this and Brexit. It will inform us how people’s occupations have altered too. This will help us to understand what happened over the year of the pandemic and the magnitude of the task we face in both rebuilding our economy, building back better and building back differently.’
One specific example he provides relates to how we travel to work these days.
‘Obviously lots of people have changed the way they work, with so many people now working from home. Many people have also changed jobs and have shied away from using public transport for various reasons, such as not wanting to be on a crowded tube.
‘The Census will be really important to help us understand the true extent to which this has happened and the implications for the provision of public transport, plus other sorts of transport infrastructure. Additionally, it will be essential with helping us to comprehend the impact of all of this on the environment and our wish to become a less carbon focused economy.’
The Census 2021/2022, which consists of slightly different censuses for the main regions of the UK, will be conducted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland this year, and Scotland next year.
Please listen to our podcast with Oliver Duke-Williams on The Experts’ Expert, which covers a wide range of issues relating to the Census and how the data will be used to help improve our society.
More Census news, events and Data Impact blogs from the UK Data Service
Why run a census in the middle of a pandemic?
David Martin, Deputy Director of the UK Data Service, introduces our blog series on the 2021/22 UK census, with a pertinent discussion of ‘why now?’
Aggregate census data and the UK Data Service
As part of our series of posts on the 2021/2022 UK censuses, Rob Dymond-Green explores how the UK Data Service offers access to UK census data from 1971 to 2011, and how the 2021/2022 censuses have developed from earlier versions.
Our future blog posts will include:
- Dave Martin discussing Census geography and pandemic statistics.
- Perspectives on the Census from the Office for National Statistics.
- Rihab Dahab sharing the tale of the Census Microdata from the UK Data Service.
- Oliver Duke-Williams – flow data expertise and the quality survey.
- Matthew Woollard – the historical perspective on the development of the UK Censuses.
Please register to attend our free Census event for researchers on 18 March: Webinar: 2021 Census: What to expect from the UK Data Service.
Visit the UK Data Service Census support pages for more about all our census data.
Any questions around completing Census 2021/2022
The Census 2021/2022 needs to be completed on Sunday 21 March 2021 (but not by people in Scotland until 2022), or as soon as possible after that date. You can complete it online at the government website or contact the government Census team directly if you have any queries or to request a paper version. We encourage everyone to complete their census form to contribute to this important snapshot of the UK.