Table of contents
1. Main points
This week, over the period 14 to 18 July 2021, based on adults in Great Britain:
A similar proportion of adults reported always or often maintaining social distancing (63%) to last week (62% in the period 7 to 11 July); this was a reduction from 85% between 14 and 18 April following step two of the roadmap in England.
A high proportion of adults continued to feel that compliance with measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) were either very important or important; such as wearing a face covering while shopping (90% this week and last week) and socially distancing from others not in their household, childcare or support bubble (89% this week, 88% last week).
Adults meeting up outdoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the past seven days increased to around 6 in 10 (58% this week, 53% last week), having increased from 20% in the week ending 7 March before outdoor activity restrictions were lifted with step one of the roadmap; around half (47%) of adults said they met up indoors (49% last week), having increased from 20% in the week ending 9 May before indoor restrictions were lifted with step three of the roadmap in England.
Almost two-thirds (64%) of working adults travelled to work at some point in the past seven days (60% last week); this includes half (50%) of working adults travelling to work exclusively and not working from home (46% last week); this has increased from mid-February (34% in the period 10 to 14 February 2021).
Anxiety levels slightly decreased (3.8 this week, 4.0 last week) after having appeared to gradually increase since early June 2021 (3.6 in the period 2 to 6 June); other personal well-being measures remained stable, levels of feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile (7.3) and happiness (7.1) were unchanged from last week and life satisfaction increased slightly (7.1 this week, 7.0 last week).
As the plan to ease coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions in England from 19 July 2021 approached, the proportion of adults who felt that life would not return to normal for more than a year appeared to increase (32% this week, 28% last week), while the proportion who felt life would return to normal in six months or less decreased (15% this week, 20% last week).
Positive sentiment towards the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine remained high with 96% (95% last week) of adults reporting they had now either received a vaccine or would be likely to have a vaccine if offered, an increase since the beginning of the vaccination programme (78% between 10 and 13 December 2020).
The latest week's estimates presented in this release are based on data collected before 19 July 2021 when step four of the roadmap to remove most remaining legal restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic was implemented in England.
3. Measuring the data
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 a vaccine
have been offered a vaccine and are waiting to be vaccinated
report being very or fairly likely to have a 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, 14 to 18 July 2021, we sampled 5,832 households. These were randomly selected from those that had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or OPN. The responding sample contained 3,848 individuals, representing a 66% response rate.
Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based on July 2021 population estimates). Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information.
Back to table of contentsContact details for this Statistical bulletin
policy.evidence.analysis@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)300 0671543
2. Social impacts on Great Britain data
Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain
Dataset | Released 23 July 2021
Indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people, households and communities in Great Britain. Includes breakdowns by age, sex and region.
Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: Perceptions of compliance behaviours and planned behaviours when restrictions end
Data on adults' compliance behaviours (hand washing or sanitising, face coverings and social distancing), perception of the importance of these, and other people's compliance behaviours to slow down the spread of coronavirus and adults planned behaviours and attitudes towards the ending of coronavirus restrictions. Data from the OPN, collected between 14 to 18 July 2021.