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Collection

Community Life Survey

This series brings together all the releases of the Community Life Survey.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (2017 to 2023) and Office for Civil Society
Published:
25 July 2017
Last updated:
10 December 2025
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  1. New released have been added to the annual and quarterly publications

  2. Addition of latest quarterly statistical release for October to December 2024.

  3. Added section for Update to the Community Life Survey which details the combined social survey.

  4. The 2023/24 annual publication and January to March 2024 quarterly release have been added to the collection.

  5. The October to December 2023 statistical release has been uploaded on 8 May 2024.

  6. DCMS is considering options for the structure of our social surveys in the future, ensuring that meeting user needs and achieving value for money remains at the forefront of any survey design. We invite views from all interested stakeholders in your current use of the Participation Survey and Community Life Survey and your priorities for future design. A link to the consultation has been added to this page.

  7. Added Community Life Survey 2021/22.

  8. Added a link to the most recent Community Life Survey 2020/21 web page.

  9. 10 December 2020 Added the Focus on Loneliness 2019-20 report, the headline findings report from the Community Life COVID-19 Re-contact Survey 2020, and the main findings report from the Community Life COVID-19 Re-contact Survey 2020

  10. Publication of a focus report on loneliness.

  11. First published.

Update to the Community Life Survey

The Community Life Survey was a social survey run by DCMS which collected nationally representative estimates of community engagement, volunteering and social cohesion. The Community Life Survey ran from 2012 and fieldwork ended on 30 March 2025.

After a public consultation run in 2024, it was decided that the Community Life Survey would be replaced by the Community and Engagement Survey (CES). The CES has been designed to explore how people across England engage with their community and with culture, media and live sport and allows respondents’ views to be heard on a range of issues affecting their local area. 

For more information, please see the Community and Engagement Survey: guidance page or contact us at cesurvey@dcms.gov.uk.

The Community Life Survey was a key evidence source for understanding more about community engagement, volunteering and social cohesion, sampling adults (aged 16+) throughout England. The Department for Culture, Media & Sport took on responsibility for publishing results from the Community Life survey (CLS) for 2016-17 onwards, after it was commissioned by the Cabinet Office in 2012. Previous data and questionnaires for the CLS from 2012 until 2016 are available at Community Life Survey 2012-13 to 2015-16.

The CLS moved to a self-completion online and paper mixed method approach from 2016-17 onwards, with an end to the previous face-to-face method.

The survey was run by Verian on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

Ad-hoc statistical releases

A list of CLS ad-hoc statistical releases that have not been included in our standard publications is available here.

Community Life Survey: Annual Statistical Releases

Community Life Survey: Quarterly Statistical Releases

Community Life Survey: Focus Reports

Community Life Survey: Special Statistical Releases

Community Life Survey: Additional Methodology Reports

Community Life Survey: User engagement

Contents