Census campaign 2022: evaluation report - phase 1 (February to March 2022)

12. Conclusions

Findings suggest the campaign had a positive impact on knowledge and action: the target for reported action was exceeded at 57%. This equates to a potential 1.9 million people who have taken an action as a result of seeing the campaign, including completing their census.

The media strategy was successful in reaching all audiences, and there were good levels of multi-media and multi-stage recognition: just under a quarter of the general population sample recognised all three of the campaign stages. Seeing a combination of phases had an impact on levels of reported action and understanding of the census, demonstrating the value in this approach.

Key campaign messages were successfully communicated with large increases pre to post on the knowledge measures and campaign recognisers knowing more than non-recognisers (e.g. legal responsibility and the sources of support available to complete it).

This campaign has run during a challenging period for the public, with the Ukraine war raging, cost of living pressures, Covid-19 still in circulation and general fatigue as the country recovers from the pandemic.^[4] Against this backdrop there have been some negative shifts in attitudes across society to the benefits of the census. Evidence suggests that the campaign helped to counteract some of these negative perceptions, for example agreement that census can influence the things that matter to me.

Learnings

Learnings from this evaluation were used to inform additional activity that ran in April and May, including the following:

• Additional efforts were made among those groups who were less likely to have completed, most notably DE/Low Income, Parents with 0-5s, Minority Ethnic and Younger Independent audiences.
• Additional nudges in various forms were used to persuade those still undecided or intending to complete but hadn't yet got round to it.
• With awareness of legal responsibility at a high level, the focus was changed to messaging around the potential of a fine.
• Barriers identified were borne in mind for additional activity:
  • Lower levels of knowledge among the Minority Ethnic group;
  • Lower levels of trust among the DE/Low Income sample and an ongoing need for support
  • A suspected lack of time among Parents of 0-5s.

Next Steps

Over the coming months, the census programme moves into the next phase of the programme, the Census Coverage Survey (CCS). Following that, a range of statistical methodology and processing work will be undertaken to quality assure census results. The first census outputs are expected to be published one year after the end of the collection phase, likely next Summer 2023.

Evaluation of the extension period marketing activity will also conclude and be published.