Official Statistics

DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Technical overview, Spring 2026, UK

Published 2 July 2026

This note covers technical information about the Public Attitudes Tracker (PAT) survey completed in Spring 2026. More detailed technical information on the survey series, including details of the new data collection methodology adopted in Autumn 2021 and previous methodologies, is available in the annual Technical Report.  

Alongside this Technical Overview, we have also provided:

• Individual topic reports covering results from the survey grouped by theme
• Tables showing the time series for questions asked on multiple occasions since Autumn 2021
• Tables containing crosstabulations for headline questions by gender, age, highest qualification and geography
• The questionnaire that details both online and paper formats

Overview

This report presents a technical overview of the Spring 2026 survey wave conducted by DESNZ. The results from this wave are based on a representative sample of 3,389 adults aged 16 or over in the UK. Data collection ran from 16 March to 21 April 2026.

From Autumn 2021, the PAT survey moved to a ‘push-to-web’ survey method referred to as Address Based Online Surveying (ABOS). The Spring 2026 wave of the PAT is the sixteenth wave of the new time series following this change in methodology. Significant changes affecting both survey sample and mode mean that the results from this wave are not directly comparable with results collected via surveys conducted using the previous methodology.

Between Autumn 2021 and Summer 2023, surveys were conducted every quarter, although there was no data collection in Autumn 2023. From Spring 2024, the survey moved to a triannual design with waves conducted every Spring, Summer and Winter.

Earlier waves have been conducted as follows:

• Autumn 2021 (15 September to 17 October 2021)
• Winter 2021 (24 November to 22 December 2021)
• Spring 2022 (24 February to 24 March 2022)
• Summer 2022 (9 June to 7 July 2022)
• Autumn 2022 (1 September to 3 October 2022)
• Winter 2022 (17 November to 19 December 2022)
• Spring 2023 (9 March to 6 April 2023)
• Summer 2023 (9 June to 10 July 2023)
• Winter 2023 (7 November to 11 December 2023)
• Spring 2024 (18 March to 22 April 2024)
• Summer 2024 (11 July to 15 August 2024)
• Winter 2024 (7 November to 12 December 2024)
• Spring 2025 (17 March to 22 April 2025)
• Summer 2025 (8 July to 13 August 2025)
• Winter 2025 (4 November to 9 December 2025)

Spring 2026 survey

The Spring 2026 questionnaire covered the following topics:

• Net Zero
• Climate change
• Renewable energy
• Great British Energy
• Clean Power 2030
• Fusion energy
• Hydrogen energy
• Small modular reactors
• Nuclear power stations in the local area
• Carbon capture and storage
• Heat pumps and solar panels in the home
• Energy costs and energy saving behaviours
• Flexible energy schemes
• Demographic and classification questions

Changes to the survey in Spring 2026

A list of changes to the Spring 2026 questionnaire in comparison to the previous Spring 2025 questionnaire version is provided below. This includes the deletion of one question and a wording change to an existing question. In addition to the listed changes, some questions may have been moved within the questionnaire to limit order effects when new questions are included, or questions are removed.

Survey question removed:

• LOWCARBKNOW (awareness of low carbon heating systems in general): this was removed from Summer 2025 since the definition previously provided was no longer suitable and did not cover the full range of systems (e.g. heat networks). The survey has continued to ask about awareness of specific types of low carbon system (LCHEATKNOW). As in Spring 2025, heat pumps are tracked in Spring and Summer waves, while a more complete list of low carbon heating system types is tracked in Winter waves.

Adapted question:

• COSTACTIONS (actions taken as a result of cost of energy bills): the question wording was changed to ‘which, if any, of the following actions have you taken in recent months because of the cost of your energy bills?’. The question had previously referred to ‘the increase in the cost of your energy bills’, which originally referred to the period before the energy price increases in 2022 and therefore the question was updated to reflect a more recent timeframe.

Please refer to the Spring 2026 questionnaire for full question wording.

Survey definitions

In the report, where we refer to ‘Awareness’ this encompasses all respondents who said they had heard of a particular concept or technology, including those who said they knew ‘hardly anything but I’ve heard of this’, ‘a little’, ‘a fair amount’ or ‘a lot’. ‘Knowledge’ is confined to those who said that they knew ‘a fair amount’ or ‘a lot’.

Address Based Online Surveying (ABOS) data collection

ABOS is a type of ‘push-to-web’ survey method.         

The basic ABOS design uses a stratified random sample of addresses drawn from the Royal Mail’s postcode address file. An invitation letter is sent to each selected address, containing username(s) and password(s) plus the URL of the survey website. Sampled individuals can log on using this information and complete the survey online. Once the questionnaire is complete, the specific username and password cannot be used again, ensuring data confidentiality from others with access to this information.

One reminder letter is sent to each sampled address where no response has been achieved by a designated cut-off date.

Paper questionnaires ensure coverage of the offline population and are especially effective with sub-populations that respond to online surveys at lower-than-average levels. However, paper questionnaires have measurement limitations that constrain the design of the online questionnaire and add considerably to overall cost. For the DESNZ PAT, paper questionnaires are used in a limited and targeted way, to optimise rather than maximise response.

To ensure the survey was accessible to the offline population, some mailings included paper questionnaire alternatives based on addresses where external data indicated that all residents were aged 65 or over. Paper questionnaires were also available on request.

Spring 2026 sample design

The sampling was designed to yield a respondent sample that was representative with respect to geography, neighbourhood deprivation level, and age group.

Table 1 shows the (initially issued) sample structure with respect to the major strata. Higher sampling fractions were applied to the three least populous International Territorial Level (ITL)^{[footnote 1]} (NE England, Northern Ireland and Wales) so that the expected number of completed questionnaires was at least 200 in each one.

Table 1: Addresses issued by area deprivation and household age structure: Spring 2026

Expected household age structure	Most deprived	2nd	3rd	4th	Least deprived
All <=35	1,523	1,242	940	602	395
Other	5,096	3,624	2,825	2,260	1,698
All >=65	472	549	705	596	546

Spring 2026 Fieldwork

The data collection took place from 16 March to 21 April 2026.

All resident adults aged 16+ at each sampled address were invited to complete the survey, although for practical reasons the number of logins was limited to up to four adults per household, with more available on request. The number of logins was based on the estimated number of adults living in the household, based on external data. In Spring 2026, the mean number of logins per address was 2.8.

• 23,073 invites were sent out initially and 19,855 reminders were sent in the second week of fieldwork
• 217 cases were identified as invalid based on quality assurance checks and were removed from the dataset, representing 6% of initially achieved cases
• The achieved sample size (after data cleaning) was 3,389 individuals, of which 2,785 (82%) were completed online and 604 (18%) on paper
• The household response rate was 11.8% and the estimated individual response rate was 8.4%
• The average (median) time to complete the survey online was 14 minutes and 37 seconds

Spring 2026 Weighting

Weighting was used to compensate for differences in both sampling probability and response probability. The DESNZ PAT weighting matrix includes nine variables (sex, age group, highest educational qualification, working status, ethnic group, internet use, region, housing tenure, and household size). For more detailed information please see the latest published Technical Report. Several of these are intersected with age group to ensure a consistent weighted sample distribution per age group per wave, although most are marginal controls on the sample distribution.

A range of measures are also used during fieldwork to mitigate and monitor the risk of non-response bias. These include targeted data collection approaches (for example, the use of paper questionnaires for groups less likely to respond online), ongoing monitoring of response patterns over the fieldwork period, and comparison of the achieved sample profile against known population benchmarks. While these checks provide an indication of the extent to which the achieved sample reflects the target population, the risk of non-response bias cannot be fully assessed or eliminated, as information on non-respondents is limited.

The statistical efficiency of the individual-level weights was 60%, corresponding to a design effect of around 1.68. This estimate is based on the variability of the survey weights using a standard Kish approximation. The effective sample size is approximately 2,022; this represents the size of a simple random sample that would yield equivalent precision.

As a guide, for estimates around 50%, the maximum 95% confidence interval at the overall level is estimated to be approximately ±2.2 percentage points. Confidence intervals for subgroup estimates will be wider, depending on their effective base sizes. Table 2 shows the maximum confidence intervals for direct estimates for the Spring 2026 sample, assuming a design factor of 1.68.

Table 2: Maximum confidence intervals^{[footnote 2]} for % estimates

	N = 3,389, design effect = 1.68
100% (top level)	+/-2.2% pts
50% (e.g., by sex)	+/-3.1% pts
20% (e.g., by age group)	+/-4.9% pts
10% (e.g., by sex/age group)	+/-6.9% pts
5% (rare subpopulations)	+/-9.8% pts

Further information

Future updates to these statistics

The next release will cover Summer 2026 and is scheduled to be published on 27 October 2026. Note that not all tracker questions are included in each wave.

Revisions policy

The Department’s statistical revisions policy sets out the revisions policy for these statistics, which has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.

Related Statistics

There are various other surveys which seek the general public’s opinion on topics related to those covered by the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker. These include:

Transport and Transport Technology: Public Attitudes Tracker

DfT also publishes an attitudes tracker to monitor trends in UK public attitudes to and awareness of transport technologies.

The English Housing Survey (EHS)

The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. It collects information about people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.

Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes a monthly survey covering topics relating to people’s experience of daily life and events, including questions on climate change.

Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS)

ONS publishes a fortnightly survey about issues impacting UK businesses and the economy. BICS covers a range of topics including a module on climate change.

A wealth of energy statistics, which provide context for the attitude data collected by the PAT are available on the Statistics at DESNZ website.

Uses of these statistics

These statistics were commissioned by DESNZ, and are also used by other government departments, academics, ministers and the general public. Some examples of the uses of previous waves of the PAT include:

• Understanding public awareness of key DESNZ policies such as the concept of Net Zero.
• Monitoring public attitudes to climate change and government policies associated with this and understanding how concern varies between demographic groups.
• Measuring public perceptions of different clean energy sources which relate to the Government’s clean energy superpower mission.

User engagement

Users are encouraged to provide comments and feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and should be sent to: PAT@energysecurity.gov.uk.

The Department’s statement on statistical public engagement and data standards sets out the department’s commitments on public engagement and data standards as outlined by the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Pre-release access to statistics

Some ministers and officials receive access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release. Details of the arrangements for doing this and a list of the ministers and officials that receive pre-release access to these statistics can be found in the Department’s statement of compliance with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.

Contact

• Email: PAT@energysecurity.gov.uk
• Media enquiries: 020 7215 1000; newsdesk@energysecurity.gov.uk

1. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/programmesandprojects/europeancitystatistics ↩

2. These are indicative maximum confidence intervals based on weights alone. ↩