Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 18 December 2020

This week, over the period 10 to 13 December, based on adults in Great Britain:

• compliance with most measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high, with 90% reporting always or often handwashing after returning home, 97% using a face covering, and 89% avoiding physical contact when outside their home

This week, we looked at adults' Christmas plans and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination and mass testing. We found:

• just over half (56%) of adults in Great Britain reported they felt it was very easy or easy to understand rules for forming a Christmas bubble and this reported understanding appeared to increase with age; just under half of adults aged between 16 to 29 years (48%), over half (55%) of adults aged 30 to 49 years, around 6 in 10 (58%) adults aged 50 to 69 years and around 6 in 10 (61%) adults aged 70 years and above reported this

• half of adults (50%) reported planning to form a Christmas bubble, with around 4 in 10 (38%) not planning to do so and 1 in 10 (12%) reporting they didn't know; the proportions of adults planning to form a Christmas bubble were similar among men and women and different age groups

• the most frequently reported planned social activity for adults in this year's Christmas period was staying at home with their household, reported by over half (55%) of all adults; just under half (48%) of adults reported doing this during last year's Christmas and New Year period

• a lower proportion of adults reported planning various social activities with their family and friends this Christmas than was reported last year; this included: visiting family and friends and not staying overnight (26% compared with 52% last year), having family and friends visit but not stay overnight (19% compared with 39% last year), staying overnight with family and friends (11% compared with 28% last year), having family and friends stay overnight (10%, compared with 21% last year) or meeting up in restaurants, cafés or bars 4% compared with 44% last year)

• around 8 in 10 (78%) adults reported they would be either very likely or fairly likely to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered and the proportion reporting this increased with age; around 6 in 10 (63%) of those aged between 16 and 29 years, three-quarters (74%) of adults aged 30 to 49 years, over 8 in 10 (84%) adults aged 50 to 69 years and over 9 in 10 (95%) adults aged 70 years and above reported this

• of the 10% of adults who said they would be unlikely (either fairly or very unlikely) to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered, the most commonly reported reasons why not were: feeling worried about the side effects, wanting to wait to see how well the vaccine works and feeling worried about the long-term effects on their health.

• Around 8 in 10 adults (79%) reported they would be very likely or fairly likely to get a test for COVID-19 as part of mass testing even if they had no symptoms; this proportion was around 6 in 10 (63%) of those aged between 16 and 29 years and around three-quarters among older age groups - 72% of adults aged 30 to 49 years, 75% of adults aged 50 to 69 years and 78% of adults aged 70 years and above

Statisticians comment

"This week, we found that around half of adults planned to form a Christmas bubble. However we can see that, even before the updated guidance about socialising over Christmas, people were already making significant changes to the way they normally celebrate Christmas. This included lower proportions of adults planning to stay overnight with others, travel overseas and travel by public transport compared to last year."

Tim Vizard, Principal Research Officer, Office for National Statistics

This weekly bulletin 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.

The latest weekly statistics for Great Britain over the period 10 December to 13 December are examined. This week we examine British adults' plans for the Christmas period (23 to 27 December) for which governments have announced specific rules in England, Wales and Scotland), attitudes towards the recently begun COVID-19 vaccination programme and attitudes towards mass testing.

The bulletin presents a summary of the results; breakdowns by age, sex, underlying health condition, and country, including confidence intervals for the estimates, are contained in the accompanying 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 this difference.

The latest weekly statistics in this release are based on a survey of 6,027 adults aged 16 years and above in Great Britain conducted between 10 and 13 December 2020 (inclusive). Results from this week are based on 3,214 responding adults (53% response rate).

Throughout the bulletin:

• "this week" refers to responses collected during the period 10 December to 13 December 2020

• "last week" refers to responses collected during the period 2 December to 6 December 2020

This is the last edition of this bulletin in 2020. From 8 January 2021 the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will publish a shorter weekly bulletin highlighting the main indicators produced from this survey (see Section 3: Main indicators in Great Britain. In addition to this, we will continue to publish a series of related bulletins looking into a variety of themes covering the social impacts of the coronavirus on adults in Great Britain. For further information on our plans, please contact policy.evidence.analysis@ons.gov.uk.

From Wednesday 2 December, the second national lockdown in England finished and a new tier-based system of local coronavirus restrictions applied across England. Responses for this week (10 to 13 December) and last week (2 to 6 December) presented in this bulletin were collected over a period during which this new tier-based system applied.

During these periods, Scotland was subject to five-tiered local protection levels and national guidance was in place across Wales. For some questions, respondents were asked to consider the past seven days; therefore, some responses may relate to before the period started. For more information see the Glossary.

There are several measures in place to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), such as handwashing, use of face coverings, avoiding physical contact and self-isolating. These indicators are presented at a Great Britain level in Table 1.

Compliance with most measures remained high this week, with 90% (89% last week) reporting always or often handwashing after returning home, 97% (97% last week) using a face covering, and 89% (89% last week) avoiding physical contact when outside their home. 87% (85% last week) of adults reported always or often maintaining social distance when outside their support bubble this week.

There were some differences in indicators relating to leaving home this week; a slightly higher proportion of working adults reported travelling to work (exclusively and in combination with working from home) this week (58%) compared with last week (54%). A lower proportion of adults reported having either stayed at home or having only left for work, exercise, essential shopping or medical needs in the past seven days this week (31%) compared with last week (38%).¹

Table 1: Main indicators

Great Britain, 2 to 13 December 2020

Download the data

Well-being

This week in Great Britain, average personal well-being scores for life satisfaction (6.8) and feeling that things done in life are worthwhile (7.3) remained the same as last week. Happiness (6.9) increased slightly compared with last week, and there was a slight decrease in the anxiety score (4.0).

Figure 1: Personal well-being scores remained relatively stable compared with last week

Great Britain, March to December 2020

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.This question is answered on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is "not at all" and 10 is "completely".
3.Base: all adults.

There has been a relatively steady increase in recent weeks in the proportion of adults in Great Britain who feel it will take six months or less for life to return to normal. At the end of October (21 to 25 October 2020), this figure was around 1 in 10 (9%), before increasing to around 3 in 10 (28%) by last week. This week, around a quarter (23%) of adults felt that life will return to normal in six months or less. (Figure 2).

Figure 2: This week, around a quarter (23%) of adults reported they felt that life will return to normal in six months or less

Great Britain, March to December 2020

Download the data

Notes

1. Question: "How long do you think it will be before your life returns to normal?".
2. Base population for percentage: all adults.

Notes for: Main indicators in Great Britain

1. Estimates in this bulletin are rounded to the nearest whole number. Where individual answer categories for a question have been combined to provide an estimate, this total may not appear to sum to the total of individual categories because of the rounding.

For the Christmas period 23 to 27 December, the governments of the UK have announced changes to social contact restrictions to allow people to be with their friends and family over Christmas. At the time of our survey (10 to 13 December) this allowed the forming of a "Christmas bubble" with up to three other households during this period.

The rules are similar, but not identical, across England, Scotland and Wales. For more information please see the Glossary.

Understanding of Christmas rules

This week, just over half (56%) of adults in Great Britain reported they felt it was very easy or easy to understand rules for forming a Christmas bubble. Around 2 in 10 (22%) adults reported they felt it was very difficult or difficult, and 19% felt it was neither easy nor difficult (Figure 3).

Just under half of adults aged between 16 to 29 years (48%) reported they found it very easy or easy to understand the rules for forming a Christmas bubble. This reported understanding appeared to increase with age; over half (55%) of adults aged 30 to 49 years, around 6 in 10 (58%) adults aged 50 to 69 years and around 6 in 10 (61%) adults aged 70 years and above reported they found it very easy or easy to understand the rules around forming a Christmas bubble.

Similar proportions of men (54%) and women (57%) reported they found it very easy or easy to understand the rules for forming a Christmas bubble.

Support of Christmas rules

Around half (51%) of adults tended to strongly support or tend to support government rules regarding travel or forming a Christmas bubble. A slightly higher proportion of adults aged 70 years and above (57%) reported this compared with other age groups; 51% of adults aged 16 to 29 years, 52% of adults aged 30 to 49 years and 47% of adults aged 50 to 69 years.

A slightly higher proportion of women (54%) than men (49%) reported strongly supporting or tending to support government rules regarding travel or forming a Christmas bubble. 

Christmas plans

Half of adults (50%) reported planning to form a Christmas bubble, with around 4 in 10 (38%) not planning to do so and 1 in 10 (12%) reporting they didn't know. The proportions of adults planning to form a Christmas bubble were similar among men and women and different age groups.

This week, we asked adults about their social and travel plans for the Christmas period this year, and compared these with the plans reported by adults during last year’s Christmas and New Year period (based on a different sample of adults).

The most frequently reported planned social activity for adults in this year's Christmas period was staying at home with their household, reported by over half (55%) of all adults. Just under half (48%) of adults reported doing this during last year's Christmas and New Year period.

For this year's Christmas period, a lower proportion of adults reported planning various social activities with family and friends than were reported by adults in last year's Christmas and New Year period. These included:

• visiting family and friends and not staying overnight (26%, compared with 52% last year)
  

• having family and friends visit but not stay overnight (19%, compared with 39% last year)
  

• staying overnight with family and friends (11% compared with 28% last year)
  

• having family and friends stay overnight (10%, compared with 21% last year) or
  

• meeting up in restaurants, cafés or bars 4% (compared with 44% last year) (Figure 4).

Similarly, adults reported travel plans for this Christmas period are different to what were reported by adults for the Christmas and New Year period last year. These included:

• planning to travel for more than 30 minutes by car to visit friends or family (16% this year compared with 46% last year)
  

• using public transport to travel for more than 30 minutes to visit friends or family (2% this year compared with 13% last year) and
  

• planning to travel overseas during the Christmas period (1% this year compared with 8% last year) (Figure 5).

Among adults who were planning to form a Christmas bubble (either visiting or hosting friends and family), around 6 in 10 reported they were planning on keeping indoor spaces well ventilated, for example, opening windows and doors during and after visits from people outside of their household (61%) or cleaning touch points regularly, such as door handles and surfaces (58%).

Around half reported they planned to avoid sharing a bedroom overnight with people outside of their household (50%) or avoid sharing cutlery or crockery (49%).

Following Christmas rules

Almost two-thirds (64%) of adults reported they felt it would be very easy or easy to follow government rules over the Christmas period. Around 1 in 6 (16%) adults reported they felt it would be very difficult or difficult and 17% felt it was neither easy nor difficult.

Around a quarter (23%) of people aged 16 to 29 years reported they felt it would be very difficult or difficult compared with around 2 in 10 (18%) of those aged 30 to 49 years, around 1 in 6 (14%) of those aged 50 to 69 years and 1 in 10 (10%) of those aged 70 years and above (Figure 6).

Among all adults who felt it would be very difficult or difficult, the most frequent reason reported for this was finding it difficult to choose between friends or family (46%) or to stick to a bubble of only three exclusive households (46%).

Just over a third of these adults reported that they felt it would be difficult as they wanted to see family or friends on dates other than between 23 and 27 December (36%) or that they felt there would be an impact on their well-being (34%) (Figure 7).

Around 6 in 10 (60%) adults aged between 16 and 29 years who felt it would be very difficult or difficult to follow the rules reported this was because they would find it difficult to choose between friends or family. This proportion was smaller among older age groups; around half (52%) of adults aged 30 to 49 years, around 3 in 10 (29%) adults aged 50 to 69 years and around a third (34%) of adults aged 70 years and above reported this.

Following the first coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine being given in the UK on Tuesday 8 December, COVID-19 vaccination is now being provided in hospitals and general practice (GP) surgeries to those most at risk. For links to more information please see the Glossary.

This week, for the first time, we asked adults in Great Britain about their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination.

Around 8 in 10 (78%) adults reported they would be either very likely or fairly likely to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered, with a further 1 in 20 adults (6%) neither likely nor unlikely to report this.

1 in 10 (10%) adults reported they would be either very unlikely or fairly unlikely to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered and around 1 in 20 (5%) reported they don't know (Figure 8).

Around 6 in 10 (63%) of those aged between 16 and 29 years reported being either very likely or fairly likely to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered. This proportion increased with age; three-quarters (74%) of adults aged 30 to 49 years, over 8 in 10 (84%) adults aged 50 to 69 years and over 9 in 10 (95%) adults aged 70 years and above reported they were either very likely or fairly likely to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered.

Similar proportions of men (80%) and women (76%) reported being either very likely or fairly likely to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered.

Of all adults who said they would be unlikely (either fairly or very unlikely) to have the COVID-19 vaccine if offered, the most commonly reported reasons why not were: feeling worried about the side effects (52%), wanting to wait to see how well the vaccine works (52%) and feeling worried about the long-term effects on their health (46%) (Figure 9).

In selected areas, the UK governments are offering tests for the coronavirus (COVID-19) to everyone living or working in the area, whether they have symptoms or not; this is sometimes referred to "mass testing" or "community testing".

This week, around 8 in 10 (79%) adults in Great Britain reported they strongly supported or tended to support mass testing for COVID-19. If mass testing were available in their area, around three-quarters (72%) of adults said they would be very likely or fairly likely to get a test for COVID-19 even if they had no symptoms (Figure 10).

Around 6 in 10 (63%) of those aged between 16 and 29 years reported they would be very likely or fairly likely to get a test for COVID-19 even if they had no symptoms. This proportion was around three-quarters among older age groups; 72% of adults aged 30 to 49 years, 75% of adults aged 50 to 69 years and 78% of adults aged 70 years and above reported this.

Similar proportions of men (71%) and women (73%) reported they would be very likely or fairly likely to get a test for COVID-19 even if they had no symptoms.

Christmas bubble

For the Christmas period 23 to 27 December, the governments of the UK have announced changes to social contact restrictions to allow people to be with their friends and family over Christmas.

The rules allow people to form a "Christmas bubble" of up to three households. At the time of this survey (10 to 13 December), this included allowing people to travel as necessary across tiers and nations within this period in order to meet in homes, places of worship or public outdoor spaces with people in their Christmas bubble. There are three main rules to a Christmas bubble. People can:

• form an exclusive Christmas bubble composed of no more than three households

• only be in one Christmas bubble

• not change their Christmas bubble

The rules are similar, but not identical, across England, Scotland and Wales.

Vaccination for COVID-19

Following the first COVID-19 vaccine being given in the UK on Tuesday 8 December, the COVID-19 vaccination is now being provided in hospitals and general practice (GP) surgeries across the UK to those most at risk. At the moment, this includes people aged 80 years or over who already have an upcoming hospital appointment, people who work in care homes, and health care workers at high risk. National Health Service (NHS) guidance on the COVID-19 vaccine is available.

Working adults

For this survey, a person is said to be a "working adult" if:

• they had a paid job, either as an employee or self-employed

• they did any casual work for payment

• they did any unpaid or voluntary work in the previous week

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is a monthly omnibus survey. In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we have adapted the OPN to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the impact of the coronavirus on day-to-day life in Great Britain. In the latest wave, 6,027 individuals were sampled, with a response rate of 53% (or 3,214 individuals) for the survey conducted from 10 to 13 December 2020.

The survey results are weighted to be a nationally representative sample for Great Britain, and data are collected using an online self-completion questionnaire. Individuals who did not want to or were unable to complete the survey online had the opportunity to take part over the phone.

The data collection period and sample size for this week's Opinions and Lifestyle (OPN) survey are reduced compared with recent weeks of the survey because of postal delays during the fieldwork period. Weighting of data has been conducted to account for the reduced response rate on this week's survey.

Where changes in results from previous weeks or differences between groups are presented in this bulletin, associated confidence intervals, which are included in the accompanying datasets, indicate their significance.

Sampling

A sample of 6,027 households was randomly selected from those that had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS). From each household, one adult was selected at random but with unequal probability. Younger people were given higher selection probability than other people because of under-representation in the sample available for the survey. The survey also includes a boosted sample for England, to allow more detailed analysis at a regional level, which are available in the datasets.

Weighting

The responding sample in the week 10 December to 13 December contained 3,214 individuals (53% response rate). Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population.

Weights were first adjusted for non-response and attrition. Subsequently, the weights were calibrated to satisfy population distributions considering the following factors: sex by age, region, tenure, highest qualification and employment status.

For age, sex and region, population totals based on projections of mid-year population estimates for December 2020 were used. The resulting weighted sample is therefore representative of the Great Britain adult population by a number of socio-demographic factors and geography.

The main strengths of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) include:

• it allows for timely production of data and statistics that can respond quickly to changing needs

• it meets data needs: the questionnaire is developed with customer consultation, and design expertise is applied in the development stages

• robust methods are adopted for the survey's sampling and weighting strategies to limit the impact of bias

• quality assurance procedures are undertaken throughout the analysis stages to minimise the risk of error

The main limitations of the OPN include:

• analysis of estimates in Wales and Scotland are based on low sample sizes, and therefore caution should be used with these estimates

• comparisons between periods and groups must be done with caution as estimates are provided from a sample survey; as such, confidence intervals are included in the datasets to present the sampling variability, which should be taken into account when assessing differences between periods, as true differences may not exist