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News : Census 2021 data in the Integrated Data Service

Census 2021 logo

De-identified Census 2021 data are now available to accredited researchers on the Integrated Data Service (IDS).

The 2021 Census of England and Wales is the largest national survey undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (opens in a new tab) 

Census 2021 data provides information on household demographics that government and local authorities need to develop policies, plan and run public services, and allocate funding.

Census 2021 data being made available on IDS is an exciting step in improving how analytical insight is produced, and enables accredited researchers to rapidly link Census 2021 data to other pre-indexed data sources within the accredited IDS platform.

This announcement shows the progress made since the IDS achieved accreditation for data provision under the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA) (opens in a new tab)  in September 2023. This significant achievement has enabled us to host increased volumes of data, mature the service and more importantly, improve our user experience.

Increasing the volume of data available in the IDS means that accredited users will be able to analyse, and where data has been indexed, link new and existing datasets to enrich their analysis on the major issues facing our society, better informing decisions and policy interventions.

Keeping data secure

As an accredited service, the IDS operates on the well-established "Five Safes" principles (opens in a new tab) :

  • Safe People
  • Safe Projects
  • Safe Settings
  • Safe Outputs
  • Safe Data

These principles mean only trained and accredited researchers can access data for valuable, ethical research which delivers clear public benefit. Only de-identified data can be accessed and all outputs are verified to ensure no individuals can be identified.

What’s next?

The service will continue to work with partnering organisations to ensure that the IDS offers a secure, scalable, efficient, and collaborative analysis platform for its users, enriched with the latest data and cloud technologies.

If any accredited researchers would like to learn more about Census 2021 data on the IDS, please submit your interest.

Get involved

Have you any experiences of or questions on the IDS? We want to hear from you!

Email the team at IDS.Comms@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)  or sign up to the IDS newsletter (opens in a new tab)