NatCen Opinion Panel: results and impact

Your continuing support of the NatCen Panel has helped generate valuable insights into public attitudes and lived experiences across a wide range of issues, contributing to important public debate and informing wider discussion in the media.  

As the UK continues to navigate ongoing economic pressures, rapid technological change, and wider social shifts, your participation in the Panel remains more important than ever. With your help, we’ve been able to build a rich and detailed picture of life in the UK today – from experiences of workplace conflict, furniture poverty, and disability, to views on artificial intelligence, healthcare innovation, and everyday spending decisions such as supermarket loyalty schemes. Read on for some of our latest research highlights. 

Recent insights

Furniture Poverty in the UK: Prevalence and Health Impacts in 2025 

In September 2025, End Furniture Poverty commissioned NatCen to understand how many people in the UK were unable to afford essential household items. The study, which repeats and expands the previous 2022 study, aimed to reassess the prevalence of furniture poverty in the UK and to explore its physical and mental health impacts. The findings show that an estimated 3.4 to 4.8 million UK adults are experiencing furniture poverty, with nearly 1 million living in ‘deep furniture poverty’, defined as lacking three or more essential household items. Among those in furniture poverty, 27% reported a severe impact on their physical health, while 32% reported a severe impact on their mental health. The survey also found that at least 7% of children aged 0 to 17 – around 1 million children – are living in furniture poverty. Certain groups are disproportionally affected, including social renters, people from ethnic minorities, and people with a disability. Full details of the findings are available here.  

How do UK workers experience, respond to, and resolve conflict in the workplace? 

Your responses have enabled us to build a clearer picture of UK workers’ experiences of workplace conflict. In September 2025, NatCen, working with Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), explored the prevalence, nature, and impact of workplace conflict across different employment types and sectors. The research focused on people who had experienced conflict in their main job in the 12 months prior to the survey. The findings showed that 44% of working-age adults reported having experienced workplace conflict – the highest level ever reported. Conflict was most common in the wholesale and retail sector, affecting half of all workers. Overall, conflicts most frequently involved either a colleague (34%) or a line manager (32%). Individuals whose disability significantly affected their daily lives reported substantially higher levels of conflict (68%) compared with the national average (44%). Workplace conflict also had a significant impact on wellbeing and engagement. Over half of respondents reported experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression (57%), while nearly half reported reduced motivation or commitment at work (49%). See more of the findings here. 

How can we better capture the experiences of disabled people?

In November 2024, the NatCen developed and tested new disability survey questions, on behalf of the Welsh Government. These new disability survey questions aligned with the social model of disability, which focuses on societal barriers rather than individual impairments. Two questions were developed and tested in this research, one measuring barriers experienced in different domains of life, and another measuring the different types of barriers experienced.  The research combined workshops with disabled people and data users with extensive testing and a large-scale field trial. Findings showed strong support for moving away from the medical model and new questions on impairments and barriers faced across different areas of life performed well and are recommended for wider use. Read more about the study here. 

Public views on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In November 2024, NatCen explored public perceptions of AI, on behalf of the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Alan Turing Institute, covering experiences of using AI, views on its applications, and opinions on how it should be governed. While most people were familiar with visible technologies like driverless cars (93%) and facial recognition in policing (90%), far fewer were aware of less visible applications, such as loan eligibility assessments and robotic care assistants (both 24%) or welfare assessments (18%). The study also explored attitudes toward Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, finding that 61% had heard of them and 40% had used them. Across several AI applications, people expressed both perceived benefits and concerns, with concerns increasing since 2022/23 for most technologies examined, particularly AI used to assess welfare eligibility (increasing from 44% to 59% in 2024/25). You can read more in the full report.

Attitudes towards supermarket loyalty schemes 

Your responses have also helped us understand how people view loyalty pricing and how it affects shopping behaviour. In research conducted for the Competition and Markets Authority (July 2024), we found that 97% of regular grocery shoppers are members of at least one loyalty scheme, with Tesco Clubcard the most widely used (77%). While 69% felt these schemes offer good savings, 40% were not convinced that loyalty prices reflect genuine discounts. In addition, 43% felt it is unfair that lower prices are only available to loyalty scheme members. For more findings see the study report here. 

Attitudes towards genetic testing and medication

In collaboration with Queen Mary University London (July 2024), we explored public views on using genetic testing to guide medication. Around half of the public believed genetic differences can help predict whether a medicine will be effective (52%) or cause side effects (48%). Around nine in ten (89%) said they would be willing to do a genetic test to get more effective medication and reduce the risk of side effects, and 85% felt the NHS should offer this testing for people who take multiple medications. For more see the full report here. 

Other fascinating insights

We have also collected data in November 2025 about social and political attitudes.  

In general, the fact that Britain’s population is made up of people of many different races, ethnicities and religions…  
Strengthens society – 49%, Weakens society – 28%, Doesn’t make much difference – 23%.

Society is.... 
Better off if people make marriage and having children a priority – 26%, Just as well off if people have priorities other than marriage and children – 73%.

The criminal justice is currently...  
Too tough on criminals – 4%, About right in its treatment of criminals – 20%, Not tough enough on criminals – 75%.  

Government help for the poor does... 
More harm than good – 42%, More good than harm – 58%.  

The UK...  
Stands above all other countries in the world – 3%, Is one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others – 44%, There are other countries that are better than the UK – 52%.  

Further details can be found in our broader report on public attitudes in the UK and the US. 

News coverage of the NatCen Panel  

Here are just a few of the most recent newspaper headlines that have been written about the NatCen Panel.

See the findings   

Here are some recent reports that’ve been written, based on the questions you’ve answered.

  • BSA43 – Public attitudes to social, economic, and political change 

How are we responding to some of the recent challenges faced by policymakers? Are we less supportive of spending on welfare? Are we in favour of assisted dying? Find out what the public thinks on these and more here.   

  • Society Watch 2024 – Gen Z’s attitudes to key policy issues 

Gen Z is expected to make up around a quarter of the UK electorate. NatCen has explored this generation's views on some of the most hotly debated issues today, including law and order, social care, and housing. Find out how younger people’s attitudes compare with those of older generations here.   

  • BSA39 – Public attitudes to the environment

Is concern over the environment increasing? Has climate change become our main area of concern? And are we willing to pay to help protect the environment? Find out what the public thinks on these and more here.

  • Society Watch 2022 - Anxious Britain

How worried are we in 2022? NatCen has tracked levels of worry in ‘life areas’ such as health, relationships and money since early 2018. Find out if levels of worry among the British public, including among men and women, have changed since then here.

  • Coronavirus and Public Attitudes

The COVID-19 pandemic represented one of the greatest social, economic and health crises of our lifetimes. Find out whether this historic event had an impact on the political attitudes and values of Britons here.

  • Wellcome Monitor 2020: COVID-19 Study

For most, the first few weeks of the coronavirus pandemic were a deeply uncertain and chaotic time. Click here to find out more about the public’s experience of this period – including their views on restrictions, prevention measures, keeping safe and which sources of information they could trust here.