Between March to April 2020 and September to October 2020 we have socialised more, slept less, and reverted to older patterns, such as women doing 99% more unpaid childcare than men. Our analysis shows the change in average time spent on different activities.
We asked people in Great Britain to record how they spent their time, from 28 March to 26 April 2020 and from 5 September to 11 October 2020. This captured their behaviour while experiencing the restrictions of the first lockdown and further national and local restrictions in September and October.
Most of the analysis, unless stated otherwise, concentrates on activities that were the main focus of people’s day. It is compared with our most recent comparable data from before the pandemic, for 2014/2015. 1
Overall changes
On the whole, people returned to pre-lockdown behaviour in September to October 2020
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Notes:
The activity categories are defined in our previous release, Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020.
Only times that people refer to as their main activity at any given point are shown in this chart.
Some categories are not shown in this figure chart but can be found in the associated datasets.
Our analysis of how people filled their time, which coincided with the first national lockdown on March 23 2020, showed some substantial lifestyle changes. But there are some areas where those transformations have been short-lived.
Aside from overall changes in the amount of time people spent on activities, such as working at and away from home, and travelling and transport, there were differences in the amount of sleep and rest people were getting.
During the national lockdown, which began in March 2020, people spent an average of 9 hours and 11 minutes asleep or resting, an increase of 18 minutes on 2014 to 2015.
By September to October 2020 people had reverted to pre-pandemic habits and spent 8 hours 53 minutes sleeping or resting.
In March to April 2020 the amount of time on any average day that people put into gardening and DIY had increased by 143%, from 16 minutes in 2014 to 2015 to 39 minutes. But by September to October 2020, possibly having completed those longstanding chores, it had dropped to 28 minutes.
Following changes in restrictions, people spent more time with family and friends as socialising activities increased, and people spent more time working, whether at home or our normal place of work.
The amount of time that people have spent working from home has outstripped pre-pandemic levels, increasing both in March to April 2020 and further in September to October 2020 and is the main category not to move back towards those levels last seen in 2014 to 2015.
Entertainment
Social activities such as spending time with friends and family increased in September, whereas other less social activities decreased.
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Notes:
- These are some of the activities that make up the “Entertainment, socialising or other free time” category, which is defined in our previous release, Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020.
- Only times that people refer to as their main activity at any given point are shown in this chart.
In September to October 2020 people spent more time on more sociable activities - a total of 34 minutes a day socialising, spending time with friends, family, neighbours and colleagues. This compares with just 6 minutes on this activity in March to April 2020.
In the stricter conditions of the March lockdown, people recorded more time on pursuits that could be done at home.
During those early months of the pandemic, when cafés, pubs and restaurants and entertainment venues were closed, people were doing things such as watching TV, Blu-ray or DVDs or watching streaming services. By September to October 2020, we were watching or streaming 26 minutes less, a total of 2 hours and 28 minutes.
Returning to a pre-lockdown gender gap in unpaid work
As people returned to work, men spent less time on unpaid household work - 18 minutes less on an average day. Women, on the other hand, continued to cook, clean and perform a similar amount of household work as during lockdown; a total of two hours and 44 minutes.
As a result, the gender gap in unpaid work2 is shifting towards pre-lockdown levels. Women did an hour and 21 minutes (81 minutes) more unpaid work than men.
The trends in paid and unpaid work, including childcare but not travelling, resulted in women continuing to do more work in total.
The amount of time women spent on paid and unpaid work is still more than men in September to October 2020
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Notes:
The activity categories are defined in our previous release, Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020.
Only times that people refer to as their main activity at any given point are shown in this chart.
Some categories are not shown in this chart but can be found in the associated datasets.
Paid and unpaid work
Since April we have been required to change the way we balance home and work life.
As the economy and businesses started to open up and trade again, people began to return to work. There was a 20% increase in time worked on an average day in September to October 2020 since lockdown, for those in employment.
Paid employment
In 2014 to 2015 people in employment were only working from home for an overall average of 22 minutes per day. By March to April 2020 this had increased to an hour and 21 minutes (81 minutes), increasing dramatically by 32% by September to October 2020 to an hour and 47 minutes (107 minutes).
For those in part-time employment, time working away from home increased more noticeably, more than doubling, from an hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) to two hours and 32 minutes (152 minutes). On the other hand, they worked as much at home in the further national and local restrictions as they did during lockdown, at an average of 49 minutes.
Working from home
During the first set of restrictions, people increased their time spent working from home, and this increased further later in the year as well.
There was a stark difference in the income levels of those who spent more time working from home and those who spent more time working outside the home. That difference only increased between March to April 2020 and September to October 2020, as people came off furlough and businesses started to re-open.
Those with highest levels of household income spent more time working from home, whereas those with the lower levels of income spent more time working away from the home.
More information on trends in homeworking can be seen in Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 4 December 2020 and Coronavirus and homeworking in the UK: April 2020.
After lockdown, those on the highest incomes switched to working from home more while those on the lowest incomes worked more outside the home
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Notes:
- Only working at home and away from home that people refer to as their main activity at any given point are shown in this chart.
- The activity categories are defined in our previous release, Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020.
Parents switching away from childcare and housework towards more paid work
Parents spent more time working in September and October 2020, and less time on unpaid childcare and household work
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Notes:
- The activity categories are defined in our previous release, Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020.
- Time that people refer to as their main, secondary or third activity at any given point are shown in this chart.
As schools re-opened, by September to October 2020, parents were doing more paid work on average (up by 54 minutes), while at the same time spent less time on childcare and unpaid housework (down by 51 minutes on average). These times were both when it was their main focus, or while multitasking with other activities.
On an average day, the increase in paid work for parents was almost fully driven by time spent working from home, showing an increase by 90% to 1 hour and 45 minutes on an average day across the week.
Footnotes:
1 - September to October 2020 and March to April 2020 periods refer to the GB population, while 2014 to 2015 period refers to the UK population.
2 - Unpaid work refers to housework and childcare but not gardening/DIY or travel and the provision of transport.
What happened during the national lockdown of 23 March 2020?
People were required to stay at home, except for very limited purposes.
Certain businesses and venues were closed.
All gatherings of more than two people in public were stopped.
Coronavirus timeline up to mid-October 2020:
13 May - The Prime Minister urges people who are unable to work from home to go back to their jobs, while maintaining social distancing.
15 June – Non-essential shops reopen in England
4 July – Social distancing restrictions eased in England: – “one-metre plus” rule as pubs, cinemas and restaurants reopen.
1 September - Children in England Wales and Northern Ireland head back to school during this week.
14 September - Social gatherings of more than six people are made illegal in England as the government seeks to curb the rise in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
26 September – new terms start at universities around the UK.
Methodology
For methodological information relating to this publication, please see our previous release Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020.