An Introduction to the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS-LS) data 1971-2021 for England and Wales and the Support Offered by CeLSIUS at UCL

Nicola Shelton, UCL
Oliver Duke-Williams, UCL University College London
CeLSIUS Team, UCL

The ONS Longitudinal Study, follows a 1% sample of the England & Wales population from decennial census data (1971 – 2021), linked to births, deaths and cancer registration data. Sample members are selected on the basis of four confidential birthdays, with new study members entering the study through birth or immigration with those birth dates and leave through death or emigration. The main strength of the ONS-LS is its large sample size (>1 million), making it the largest nationally representative dataset in the UK, and allowing the analysis of small areas and specific population groups. The ongoing linkage of the 2021 Census data to the Study will extend this follow-up enabling researchers to examine changes that have taken place in the 2011 – 2021 period, which saw Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper introduces the data available in the ONS-LS and summarises some recent examples of research. The support available to researchers interested in using the ONS-LS in their research is also highlighted, as are the arrangements for accessing the data. It will also introduce the ONS-LS’s sister studies, the Scottish Longitudinal Study and the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study, and the opportunities that these studies offer for comparative research.

Keywords: Census data, Longitudinal studies , Linked data sets

See extended abstract.