Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 9 July 2021

This week, over the period 30 June to 4 July 2021, based on adults in Great Britain:

• The proportion of adults reporting to always or often maintain social distancing fell slightly this week (66%) when compared with last week (68%); this is down from the 85% seen between 14 and 18 April following step two of the roadmap in England.

• A high proportion of adults felt that compliance measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) were either very important or important; such as wearing a face covering while shopping (91%) and socially distancing from others not in their household, childcare or support bubble (87%).

• Adults perception of others was lower than the reported measures for importance; 87% said that they saw either everyone, or almost everyone, wear a protective face covering when shopping and 23% felt that other people always or often socially distanced when meeting others outside their household, childcare or support bubble.

• Just under half (48%) of adults said they met up indoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the past seven days, similar to last week (49%) and an increase from the 20% reported in the week ending 16 May before indoor restrictions were lifted with step 3 of the roadmap restrictions in England.

• Adults meeting up outdoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the past seven days increased slightly this week (58%) compared with last week (56%); this proportion increased from 20% in the week ending 7 March before outdoor activity restrictions were lifted in England with step one of the roadmap.

• Six in ten (60%) working adults travelled to work at some point in the last seven days (63% last week); this includes just under half (47%) of working adults travelling to work exclusively and not worked from home (50% last week), which has increased from mid-February (34% in the period 10 to 14 February 2021).

• Personal well-being measures remained relatively stable this week, with levels of life satisfaction (7.0), feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile (7.3) and anxiety (3.8) all unchanged from last week; happiness levels appear to have slightly increased (7.2 this week, 7.0 last week).

• Positive sentiment towards the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine remained high and unchanged from last week with 96% of adults reporting they had now either received a vaccine or would be likely to have a vaccine if offered, a further increase since the beginning of the vaccination programme (78% between 10 and 13 December 2020).

• Just over 9 in 10 (91%) adults reported to have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (89% last week), which includes over 6 in 10 (65%) adults reporting to have received their second dose (63% last week).

Throughout this update:

• "this week" refers to responses collected during the period 30 June to 4 July 2021
• "last week" refers to responses collected during the period 23 to 27 June 2021

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

Compliance with measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high, for example, reporting using a face covering when outside the home (96% this week, 97% last week and in the period 24 to 28 March 2021), or handwashing when returning home from a public place (84% this week and last week, 89% in the period 24 to 28 March 2021).

The proportion of adults reported to always or often maintain social distancing fell slightly (66% this week, 68% last week) after reducing from 85% between 14 and 18 April when lockdown restrictions began to ease. Those avoiding physical contact when outside their home remained the same as last week (73%) but reduced from 86% over the same period (between 14 and 18 April).

Table 1: Main indicators

Great Britain, up to 4 July 2021

Notes:

1. "Latest" refers to responses collected during the period 30 June to 4 July 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.
4. This week we have reduced the measures in this table to reflect a core set of measures to help slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

With self-reported compliance remaining high (Table 1); this week, we also asked about the importance of face coverings and social distancing and asked for adult’s perception of other people’s behaviour.

Table 2 shows that the majority of adults felt that compliance measures were very important or important, despite their perception of other people’s behaviour being lower for these measures. For example, when meeting others outside of the household, childcare or support bubble, 87% of adults felt it was important or very important to socially distance, while only 23% of adults felt that other people always or often socially distanced.

However, a high proportion of adults (87%) did report seeing the majority of people (everyone, or almost everyone) wearing a face covering when shopping in the past seven days (Table 2). These responses are based on adults perception of other people's behaviours and should be treated with caution.

Please note that these questions were asked before the government’s statement on the 5 July 2021 detailing the possible removal of limits on the 19 July 2021.

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

Just under half (48%) of adults said they met up indoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the past seven days, similar to last week (49%) and an increase from the 20% reported in the week ending 16 May before indoor restrictions were lifted with step 3 of the roadmap restrictions in England. Adults meeting up outdoors with someone not in their household, childcare or support bubble in the past seven days increased slightly this week (58%) compared with last week (56%); this proportion increased from 20% in the week ending 7 March before outdoor activity restrictions were lifted in England with step one of the roadmap (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Just under half (48%) of adults met up indoors with someone outside their household, childcare or support bubble in the past seven days

Adults in Great Britain, January to July 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 March 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

Six in ten (60%) working adults travelled to work (both exclusively and in combination with working from home) in the last seven days (63% last week). Just under half of these adults (47%) were travelling to work exclusively (and did not work from home); an increase from mid-February (34% in the period 10 to 14 February 2021).

Just over a quarter (26%) of adults reported working from home and not travelling to work this week (Figure 2).

More information on the attitudes towards the future of homeworking is available in this article.

Personal well-being measures remained relatively stable this week with levels of life satisfaction (7.0), the feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile (7.3) and anxiety (3.8) unchanged from last week. These measures are yet to recover to their pre-pandemic level in February 2020.

Levels of happiness increased slightly this week (7.2) compared with last week (7.0) and returned to a similar level as in early June, (7.3 in the period 2 to 6 June 2021) reaching above February 2020’s pre-pandemic level for the first time since end of May 2020.

Figure 3: Levels of happiness increase slightly this week while all other well-being measures remain stable

Adults in Great Britain, March 2020 to July 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, nearly 2 in 10 (19%) of adults reported they felt life would return to normal in six months or less, unchanged from last week.

This proportion appears to have gradually decreased in recent weeks having been 27% in the period 12 to 16 May 2021, the week prior to the introduction of step 3 of the roadmap and before it was announced that there will be a 4 week pause to 19 July 2021 on step 4 of the roadmap that will remove all legal limits on social contact in England.

Around 3 in 10 (29% this week, same as last week) adults reported they felt it will take more than a year for life to return to normal (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Nearly 3 in 10 (29%) adults felt it would take over a year for life to return to normal

Adults in Great Britain, March 2020 to July 2021

Notes:

1. Question: "How long do you think it will be before your life returns to normal?".
2. Base: all adults.
3. Response categories of "7 to 12 months", "Not sure" and "Prefer not to say" are not shown on this chart.
4. Proportions of less than 1% are not included on this chart.

Download the data

Further statistics on well-being, loneliness, perceptions of the future and worries, including trends over time, can be found in Table 1b, Table 7 and Table 8 of the Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain dataset.

This week, 96% of adults reported positive vaccine sentiment, unchanged from 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.

From 17 June 2021, all adults aged over 18 are now able to book a COVID-19 vaccine in England. Figure 5 shows how vaccination sentiment among different age groups has changed since early December 2020:

• 9 in 10 (90%) people aged 16 to 29 years reported positive vaccine sentiment this week (93% last week); this proportion was 63% reported at the start of the vaccination programme in December 2020.

• over 9 in 10 (96%) people aged 30 to 49 years reported positive vaccine sentiment (95% last week); this proportion was 74% at the start of the vaccination programme in December 2020.

Figure 5: Over 9 in 10 (96%) of people aged 30 to 49 years have received or would be likely to accept a COVID-19 vaccine if offered

Adults in Great Britain, December 2020 to July 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 periods 10 to 14 February, 12 to 16 May, 26 to 31 May and 2 to 6 June, 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 all 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 (91%) which includes over 6 in 10 (65%) adults having received a second dose

• had been offered a vaccine and were awaiting their first dose (2%)

• had not yet been offered a vaccine but were likely (very or fairly likely) to have one when offered (3%)

Figure 6: Over 6 in 10 (65%) of all adults reported they had received a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine

Adults in Great Britain, 30 June to 4 July 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.

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, 30 June to 4 July 2021, we sampled 5,969 households. These were randomly selected from those that had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or Opinions and Lifestyle Survey. The responding sample contained 3,691 individuals, representing a 62% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based 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.