The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion and
analysis through comments from our team of experts. We’d love to hear from you, so post comments or get in touch with us.

To keep up-to-date with our latest blog posts and reports, subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Posted on 03 April 2020 by Molly Mayer, Researcher

Parents are less rushed today than twenty years ago, but are they finding things any easier?

For any parent reading this while supervising their child doing homework, or trying to make dinner while also doing a load of laundry and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of a particular Pokémon figure, it will come as no surprise that parents are busy. In 2015, 91% of parents with children under sixteen reported feeling rushed.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: Covid-19, Modern Family Index, UK Time Use Survey, childcare, parents, women's equality
Posted on 20 March 2020 by Ceri Davies, Director, Deliberative Research

Going digital with deliberation

In the face of measures to delay the spread of Covid-19, qualitative researchers must consider how to continue their research whilst we cannot meet in person. In this blog, Ceri Davies discusses the lessons we’ve learned from running the UK’s first online deliberative poll using videoconferencing software.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: deliberative polling, deliberative research, digital, methods, videoconference
Posted on 21 February 2020 by Alun Humphrey, Director of Household Surveys

Revealing the differences between high and low salaries might just pay

From this year, new regulations require UK listed companies with more than 250 employees to disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median, lower quartile and upper quartile pay of their UK employees.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: ceo, event, high pay, salary
Posted on 22 January 2020 by Guy Goodwin, Chief Executive

How is life in Britain looking as we enter the 2020s?

Guy Goodwin considers some of the key long-term trends facing politicians and policymakers, ten years on from the 40th and last printed version of the compendium Social Trends.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: Public trust, Social Trends, Society Watch, inequality, life expectancy, social and political attitudes
Posted on 13 January 2020 by Bernard Steen, Senior Researcher

What is driving antibiotic over-prescription in the UK?

Public concern about drug-resistant infections is high, but what is driving the over-prescription of antibiotics? Are cautious GPs writing unnecessary prescriptions, or do they feel under pressure from patients who might be misinformed? The fourth wave of the Wellcome Monitor offers new insights into this pressing issue.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: GPs, NHS, antibiotics, health, healthcare
Posted on 14 November 2019 by Nancy Kelley, Deputy Chief Executive

Higher or lower? The country is divided on changing the voting age

The Labour Party’s attempt to amend the Parliamentary General Election Act of 2019 and extend the franchise just weeks before an election caused a resurgence of interest in whether 16 and 17 year olds should be allowed to vote.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: British Social Attitudes, voting age
Posted on 06 September 2019 by Joseph Cant, Researcher

Can social housing continue to support the homeless?

It has been 100 years since the Addison Act, the landmark bill which saw the large-scale national expansion of public housing just after World War I. A lot has changed over the last century, but the social rented sector continues to be an important tenure option. This blog looks at the role of social housing in context of the homelessness crisis and what might happen if current tenure trends continue.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: English Housing Survey, homelessness, housing, renting
Posted on 15 August 2019 by Miranda Phillips, Research Director

With growing waiting times for GP appointments, are AandE services under pressure?

While most people who go to A&E have an urgent medical problem, NHS data suggests that 15% of A&E use is not medically urgent. The issue of ‘over-use’ of emergency health services is an ongoing concern for both NHS providers and policymakers - and is also shared by the public.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: British Social Attitudes, GPs, healthcare
Posted on 17 July 2019 by Melanie Doyle, Research Director

Private renters and savings: Are private renters ready to buy?

Private renters make up around a fifth of all households in England – around 4.5 million households in total – and this sector is traditionally viewed as a transition into home ownership. But how well do this group’s savings reflect their buying aspirations?
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: English Housing Survey, home ownership, housing, renting
Posted on 11 July 2019 by Nancy Kelley, Deputy Chief Executive

Over the rainbow?

It’s Pride month, our timelines are full of rainbows, and this week Westminster voted to extend same sex marriage rights to Northern Ireland. So are we really getting less tolerant of lesbian and gay relationships?
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: British Social Attitudes, LGBT, diversity, relationships