Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 11 June 2021

This week, over the period 2 to 6 June 2021, based on adults in Great Britain:

• The proportion of adults maintaining social distancing with people outside their household fell to 68% from 74% last week; this is a continued fall from 88% in early April (7 to 11 April 2021) before the easing of lockdown restrictions in England from 12 April 2021.

• Fewer adults reported avoiding physical contact when outside their home in the last seven days (72% this week, 73% last week) than before the easing of lockdown, which was at 85% in the period 7 to 11 April 2021.

• The proportion of adults meeting up indoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the last seven days reached 50% last week and remained unchanged this week following the ease of lockdown restrictions across Great Britain.

• The proportion of adults meeting up outdoors increased to 65% from 53% last week, possibly helped by the sunny weather in addition to the half-term school holidays for some in England and Wales.

• Personal well-being measures of happiness (7.3) increased to above February 2020's pre-pandemic level (7.2) for the first time since May 2020 (7.4); anxiety levels (3.6) also improved slightly from last week (3.8), while levels of life satisfaction (7.0 this week, 7.1 last week) and feeling that things done in life are worthwhile (7.3 this week, 7.4 last week) were at similar levels to last week.

• Around 8 in 10 (80%) adults reported to have received at least one dose of a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (78% last week), which includes around 55% of adults reporting to have received their second dose (50% last week).

This week, we also asked adults about their intentions to go on trips abroad before September 2021, finding:

• Over 1 in 10 (12%) adults said that they planned to go on a trip abroad before September, with 71% saying that a holiday is the purpose of their trip.

• In order to travel abroad, people appeared to be more willing to undergo measures such as wear a face covering (91%) or provide proof of being vaccinated (86%) than having to quarantine when arriving home (25%).

• People appeared to be less willing to pay for or stay in a managed quarantine hotel (2%) so that they could travel abroad, while 4% of adults said that they would not be willing to carry out any of the suggested measures for travel.

Throughout this update:

• "this week" refers to responses collected during the period 2 to 6 June 2021

• "last week" refers to responses collected during the period 26 to 31 May 2021

Compliance with measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19

Compliance with measures to stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high for handwashing when returning home from a public place (86% this week and last week) and using a face covering when outside the home (96% this week and 97% last week).

People appear to be more sociable as rules relax, with the proportion of adults maintaining social distancing with people outside their household reducing to 68% from 74% last week; this is a continued fall from 88% in early April (7 to 11 April 2021) before the easing of lockdown restrictions in England from 12 April 2021.

Over 7 in 10 (72%) adults reported avoiding physical contact when outside their home in the last seven days, a slight decrease from 73% last week and a notable decrease from 85% in the period 7 to 11 April 2021 (Table 1).

Table 1: Main indicators

Notes:

1. "Latest" refers to responses collected during the period 2 to 6 June 2021.

2. Any breaks in the series shown is due to questions not being asked for this period.

3. The axes for each timeline are not comparable and as such should be treated with caution when interpreting the extent of changes over time between each indicator.

Further statistics on compliance with measures to stop the spread of coronavirus, including trends over time, can be found in Tables 1a to 6 of the Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain dataset.

Meeting up indoors and outdoors

The proportion of adults meeting up indoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the last seven days reached 50% last week and remained unchanged this week as restrictions eased across Great Britain from 17 May 2021.

The proportion of adults meeting up outdoors increased to 65% from 53% last week, possibly helped by the sunny weather during the half-term school holiday in England and Wales (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Around half (50%) of adults met up indoors with someone outside their household, childcare or support bubble in the last seven days

Adults in Great Britain, January to June 2021

Notes:

1. Question: "Excluding work or education, in the past seven days, have you met up or socialised with anyone from outside your household, support or childcare bubble?"
2. Base: all adults.
3. Questions asked about meeting indoors and outdoors changed from the period 17 to 21 onwards so interpretation of this time series should be made with caution. For more information please see the datasets associated with this bulletin.

Download the data

Travel to work

The proportion of working adults travelling to work exclusively in the last seven days has generally increased since mid-February (44% in the period 10 to 14 February 2021) but decreased slightly this week (48% compared with 49% last week). It is likely that some people may have not worked, or worked more flexibly from home, over the half-term break in England and Wales, resulting in a slight reduction in adults travelling to work.

We will be publishing more information on the attitudes towards the future of homeworking in this article, published on 14 June 2021.

Over 9 in 10 (96%) adults in Great Britain reported leaving home this week (same as last week).

With more indoor hospitality venues open across Great Britain from 17 May 2021, people were able to plan more activities this week, perhaps helped further by the good weather and the half-term school holidays for some in England and Wales.

Among those who reported leaving home in the last seven days:

• 24% did so to do leisure activities (19% last week and 8% between 7 to 11 April 2021)

• 28% did so to eat or drink indoors at a restaurant, café, bar or pub (20% last week)

• 30% did so to eat or drink outdoors at a restaurant, café, bar or pub (28% last week)

• 17% did so to visit a beauty spot, landmark, beach or heritage site (10% last week)

• 31% did so to visit a park or local green space (25% last week)

• 8% did so to travel within the UK for holidays or short breaks (5% last week)

Figure 3: Amongst adults who reported to leave home in the last seven days, nearly a quarter (24%) did so to do leisure activities

Of adults who reported they had left home in the last seven days for any reason, Great Britain, December 2020 to June 2021

Notes:

1. Question: "In the past seven days, for what reasons have you left your home?"

2. Base: all adults who reported having in the past seven days left their home for any reason.

3. Not all possible response categories are shown on this chart. For information on response options to these questions, please see Table 6 of the dataset associated with this bulletin.

4. Where the time series line is incomplete on these charts, either this question category was not asked in the period or the proportion who reported it was less than 1%.

Download the data

This week, personal well-being measures of happiness (7.3) increased to above February 2020's pre-pandemic level (7.2) for the first time since May 2020 (7.4).

Anxiety levels (3.6) also improved slightly from last week (3.8), while levels of life satisfaction (7.0 this week, 7.1 last week) and feeling that things done in life are worthwhile (7.3 this week, 7.4 last week) decreased slightly.

Figure 4: Happiness levels increased this week to above February's pre-pandemic level

Adults in Great Britain, March 2020 to June 2021

Notes:

1. Questions: "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?", "Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?", "Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?" and "Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?"

2. These questions are answered on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is "not at all" and 10 is "completely".

3. Base: all adults.

Download the data

This week, 96% of adults reported positive vaccine sentiment (same as last week). This included adults who had received at least one dose of a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, adults who said they would be very or fairly likely to have a vaccine if offered and adults who have been offered and are currently waiting to receive a vaccine.

Figure 5 shows how vaccination sentiment by age has changed since early December 2020:

• around 9 in 10 (90%) people aged 16 to 29 years reported positive vaccine sentiment; this proportion has been between 85% and 91% in the last five weeks, higher than the 63% reported at the start of the vaccination programme in December 2020

• over 9 in 10 (95%) people aged 30 to 49 years reported positive vaccine sentiment (94% last week); this proportion was 74% at the start of the vaccination programme in December 2020

Figure 5: Over 9 in 10 (96%) adults have received or would be likely to accept a COVID-19 vaccine if offered

Adults in Great Britain, December 2020 to June 2021

Notes:

1. Questions: "Have you received a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19)?", "Have you been offered a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19)?" and "If a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19) was offered to you, how likely or unlikely would you be to have the vaccine?".

2. Base: all adults.

3. Questions asked about attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccination have changed over the survey periods shown so interpretation of this time series should be made with caution. For more information please see the datasets associated with this bulletin.

4. Categories of "Adults who have been offered and declined the vaccine or would be very or fairly unlikely to have the vaccine if offered", "Neither", "Don't know" and "Prefer not to say" are not shown on this chart.

5. For the period 10 to 14 February, the 99% indicated on the chart for those aged 70 years and above represent a proportion of greater than 99% but less than 100%.

Download the data

The 96% of adults in Great Britain this week who reported positive vaccine sentiment¹ is made up of those who reported that they either:

• had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (80%) which includes over half (55%) of adults having received a second dose

• had been offered a vaccine and were awaiting their first dose (4%)

• had not yet been offered a vaccine but were likely (very or fairly likely) to have one when offered (12%) (Figure 6)

Figure 6: Over half (55%) of all adults reported they had received the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine

Adults in Great Britain, 2 to 6 June 2021

Notes:

1. Questions: "Have you received a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19)?", "Have you been offered a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19)?" and "If a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19) was offered to you, how likely or unlikely would you be to have the vaccine?"
2. Base: all adults.
3. Totals may not sum to 100% because of rounding and because proportions of less than 1% are not included in this chart.

Download the data

Notes for: Attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination

1. Totals for the combined category of "positive vaccine sentiment" or "vaccine hesitancy" may appear to be different than if combining the individual category estimates shown in Figure 4 because of rounding.

Over 1 in 10 (12%) adults said that they planned to go on a trip abroad before September. The younger age groups were more likely to have planned a trip: 16% of 30 to 49 year olds, compared with 8% for 70 years and above. It is worth noting that we collected this information in the week that it was announced that Portugal will move to the amber list from 8th June, meaning that responses were collected both before and after this announcement.

We asked the adults who had planned to go on a trip abroad what measures they would be willing to carry out. We learnt that:

• the majority (91%) would be willing to wear a face covering when travelling to and from their destination

• 86% of adults would be willing to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination to travel

• 74% would be willing to take a test for the coronavirus (COVID-19) before and after travelling

• 73% would be willing to provide details of their accommodation, travel and address

• 62% would be willing to social distance at their destination

Fewer adults said that they would be willing to:

• stay abroad for longer if rules change or if they have a positive test (27%)

• quarantine for 10 days after returning home (25%)

• pay for or stay in a managed quarantine hotel (2%)

• 4% would not be willing to carry out any of the above (Figure 7).

Figure 7: In order to travel abroad, people were more willing to take measures such as wear a face covering or provide proof of being vaccinated than having to quarantine

Adults in Great Britain who had planned a trip abroad, 2 to 6 June 2021

Notes:

1. Question: "Which of the following would you be willing to carry out when going on a trip abroad?”

2. Base: adults who said they planned a trip abroad before September.

Download the data

The most commonly reported reason to travel was for a holiday (71%), followed by visiting family and friends (34%). Just 4% said they had planned travel for work and a further 4% had other reasons to travel.

More information on adults' travel plans abroad can be found in the Red, amber and green travel lists and overseas visits from the UK release.

This release contains data and indicators from a module being undertaken through the Office for National Statistics' (ONS') Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on British society.

Breakdowns by age, sex, region and country, including confidence intervals for the estimates, are contained in the Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain dataset.

Where changes in results from previous weeks are presented in this bulletin, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences.

Positive vaccine sentiment

"Positive vaccine sentiment" refers to adults who:

• have received the vaccine

• have been offered the vaccine and are waiting to be vaccinated

• report being very or fairly likely to have the vaccine if offered

Our survey does not include adults living in care homes or other establishments so will not capture vaccinations in these settings. Because of small sample sizes, the percentage of adults who have declined the vaccine should be treated with caution.

Estimates of attitudes towards vaccination provided since 13 to 17 January 2021 should be used with caution when compared with any weeks prior to this. In the weeks prior to this, adults were asked their likelihood of having a vaccine if offered but were not specifically asked if they had already been offered or received a vaccine.

Sampling and weighting

This week

In the week 26 to 31 May 2021, we sampled 6,036 households. This week, 2 to 6 June 2021, we sampled 6,028 households. These samples were randomly selected from those that had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS).

The responding sample for 26 to 31 May contained 4,152 individuals, representing a 69% response rate.

The responding sample for 2 to 6 June contained 4,153 individuals, representing a 69% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based on May and June 2021 population estimates).

Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information.