You asked
I was surprised to find in my letterbox this morning, together with a flyer advising me of the upcoming census, an advert for McDonald’s and Uber Eats.
They were obviously produced and delivered together, as they were printed on the same size and quality of paper.
Please disclose the full circumstances of the arrangement between McDonalds and the ONS, including whose idea it was, how it was negotiated and, of course, the sums of money involved.
I would also like to know which geographical areas were targeted and why.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We can confirm that there are no arrangements between ONS and McDonalds and the leaflets arriving together was entirely coincidental. This was a national campaign across England and Wales to provide every household with a leaflet advising them that the Census was coming and to look out for their Census pack. The paper used for this leaflet was a common paper type used for these types of printed products. It is not possible for us to know which printer produced the McDonalds leaflets, but we can confirm that the ONS leaflets were printed and provided to Royal Mail for delivery, as a unique product.
Whilst we worked with Royal Mail to enforce the importance of these census leaflets, the presentation of the leaflets when delivered through letterboxes is determined by the postman, who is likely to combine into the easiest way they can deliver. ONS has no visibility of which other advertising leaflets are due to be delivered at the same time as the census leaflet.