Dear Chief Executive 

Copy: Census Liaison Managers and Assistant Census Liaison Managers 

Census 2021 – Update for Local Authority Chief Executives 

We’ve reached another significant milestone in Census 2021. It’s the end of the field follow-up operation across England and Wales.  

We’ve had a great response to the census and we’ve exceeded our household response rate targets.  We aimed to achieve a response from 94% of occupied households nationally and at least 80% in every Local Authority.  In fact, our operational management information suggests we have achieved 97%¹ response nationally and over 90% in every Local Authority.  We have also exceeded our target of minimising the variability in response between areas within every Local Authority.

This puts us in a good place as we start the Census Coverage Survey (CCS).  This starts today (4 May), and is a short, separate, interviewer-led survey that follows the main census. This will enable us to get a final view of the response rates we have actually achieved and, in conjunction with the census data, enable us to produce population statistics for every Local Authority that are adjusted for any census under (and over) coverage.   

We will also be going through the non-compliance process when the collection period ends. The electronic questionnaire will close on 17 May and dedicated non-compliance field officers will start to engage with anyone who has refused to take part in the census. Their priority is to encourage as many further returns as possible, by completing paper questionnaires. Beyond that, as completing the census is a legal requirement, more formal proceedings will commence for those who continue to refuse. 

The next stage where we will want to engage local authorities is the quality assurance process for the census population estimates. We will be arranging briefings on this in the coming months and will invite relevant people from your authority. 

Our aim is to release the first results within a year of Census Day. 

I would like to thank you for your support over the last few months; it has been invaluable to us and contributed to the high response rates we have achieved. 

We will continue to provide regular updates to your Census Liaison Manager and/or Assistant Census Liaison Manager.

Yours sincerely 

Pete Benton 

Director of 2021 Census Operations 

¹ Our response rate is based on the number of households where we have a valid return as a percentage of all addresses which are not considered to be vacant. Final response rates will be calculated after the Census Coverage Survey and processing and will change this.