The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion and
analysis through comments from our team of experts. We’d love to hear from you, so post comments or get in touch with us.

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Posted on 21 February 2020 by Alun Humphrey, Director of Household Surveys

Revealing the differences between high and low salaries might just pay

From this year, new regulations require UK listed companies with more than 250 employees to disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median, lower quartile and upper quartile pay of their UK employees.
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Tags: ceo, event, high pay, salary
Posted on 22 January 2020 by Guy Goodwin, Chief Executive

How is life in Britain looking as we enter the 2020s?

Guy Goodwin considers some of the key long-term trends facing politicians and policymakers, ten years on from the 40th and last printed version of the compendium Social Trends.
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Tags: Public trust, Social Trends, Society Watch, inequality, life expectancy, social and political attitudes
Posted on 13 January 2020 by Bernard Steen, Senior Researcher

What is driving antibiotic over-prescription in the UK?

Public concern about drug-resistant infections is high, but what is driving the over-prescription of antibiotics? Are cautious GPs writing unnecessary prescriptions, or do they feel under pressure from patients who might be misinformed? The fourth wave of the Wellcome Monitor offers new insights into this pressing issue.
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Tags: GPs, NHS, antibiotics, health, healthcare
Posted on 14 November 2019 by Nancy Kelley, Deputy Chief Executive

Higher or lower? The country is divided on changing the voting age

The Labour Party’s attempt to amend the Parliamentary General Election Act of 2019 and extend the franchise just weeks before an election caused a resurgence of interest in whether 16 and 17 year olds should be allowed to vote.
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Tags: British Social Attitudes, voting age
Posted on 06 September 2019 by Joseph Cant, Researcher

Can social housing continue to support the homeless?

It has been 100 years since the Addison Act, the landmark bill which saw the large-scale national expansion of public housing just after World War I. A lot has changed over the last century, but the social rented sector continues to be an important tenure option. This blog looks at the role of social housing in context of the homelessness crisis and what might happen if current tenure trends continue.
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Tags: English Housing Survey, homelessness, housing, renting
Posted on 15 August 2019 by Miranda Phillips, Research Director

With growing waiting times for GP appointments, are AandE services under pressure?

While most people who go to A&E have an urgent medical problem, NHS data suggests that 15% of A&E use is not medically urgent. The issue of ‘over-use’ of emergency health services is an ongoing concern for both NHS providers and policymakers - and is also shared by the public.
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Tags: British Social Attitudes, GPs, healthcare
Posted on 17 July 2019 by Melanie Doyle, Research Director

Private renters and savings: Are private renters ready to buy?

Private renters make up around a fifth of all households in England – around 4.5 million households in total – and this sector is traditionally viewed as a transition into home ownership. But how well do this group’s savings reflect their buying aspirations?
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Tags: English Housing Survey, home ownership, housing, renting
Posted on 11 July 2019 by Nancy Kelley, Deputy Chief Executive

Over the rainbow?

It’s Pride month, our timelines are full of rainbows, and this week Westminster voted to extend same sex marriage rights to Northern Ireland. So are we really getting less tolerant of lesbian and gay relationships?
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Tags: British Social Attitudes, LGBT, diversity, relationships
Posted on 05 April 2019 by Svetlana Speight, Research Director

Gender gaps in how parents spend their time: do we see a trend towards more equality?

It is a well-documented fact that men are more likely to be in paid employment and to work full-time, while women take on more responsibilities around childcare and the housework. These unequal divisions of paid and unpaid work can affect job opportunities for women and men and result in long-term effects on earnings. As the UK prepares to examine results of this year’s gender pay gap submissions from private and public sector organisations, are we moving at all towards gender equality in home life?
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Tags: gender equality, gender pay gap, parental time use
Posted on 15 March 2019 by Hannah Morgan, Senior Researcher

Public trust in official statistics

While there may be concerns around the levels of public trust in institutions and experts, both in the UK and worldwide, the British public still trust the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and believe in the independent nature and accuracy of the official statistics they produce. The latest figures also show an increase in public trust, albeit from a much lower base, in how the media and the government use official statistics.
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