Further information
About the survey
Thank you for your interest in the Community and Engagement Survey. We are grateful for your participation, which will help us understand how people engage with their community and local area, from using facilities and taking part in volunteering and civic life, to enjoying arts, heritage, sport, and other activities.
The Community and Engagement Survey 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. The findings will help Government, charities and other public sector organisations understand what supports or hinders people taking part in different types of activities and understand more about communities, to help inform and shape policy and decision making.
The Community and Engagement Survey replaces DCMS’ Participation Survey and Community Life Survey which were run until September 2025 and March 2025 respectively. You can read more about the consultation, responses and outcome on the DCMS social surveys consultation page.
Information for participants
How we chose your address
As it is not possible to ask everyone to take part in the survey, we choose a random list of addresses to represent the entire country. Your address was chosen at random from a list of addresses held by the Royal Mail through their Postcode Address File (PAF) service. The PAF holds only address data and no other contact information. You can read more about PAF on the dedicated website.
Survey relevance
Everyone’s views and experiences are valuable, even if you don’t engage in DCMS sectors or don’t think your views are relevant. Your views are important to us as without them we may not have a representative picture of the communities that people live in.
Survey Content
The survey covers a range of topics. The survey will focus on either engagement in cultural, sporting or major events or on engagement with your community, and you’ll be randomly assigned to one of these topics when you first enter the survey. The survey covers a large number of topic areas and not everyone will be asked the same questions. It is possible that two people from the same household completing the survey online will see some of the same questions and some different.
Participants may see questions on some of the following topic areas:
- Your demographic information
- Social networks
- Strength of relationship with community and local area
- Engagement in civic activities and volunteering
- Availability and opinion of local facilities and amenities
- Arts attendance and participation
- Libraries & archives use
- Heritage engagement
- Museums, galleries & cultural property engagement
- Live sporting attendance
- Gambling (e.g. bets on horse racing and other sporting events)
- Domestic tourism
- Major events (sporting and cultural)
- Broadband and internet use
The demographics section will cover questions about you, such as your age, ethnicity, education, and employment history, as well as other related topics such as wellbeing, loneliness and anti-social behaviour. These questions aim to ensure that everyone's views are captured.
Information for participants is voluntary. You are not required to answer any questions you do not want to answer.
For more information about the Community and Engagement Survey, please visit DCMS' Community and Engagement Survey guidance page.
Completing the survey
How to complete the survey
You can complete the survey online by following the instructions in the letter you have received.
You need to go to the Community and Engagement Survey login page which is hosted by Verian (please note that clicking on this link will navigate you away from cesurvey.dcms.gov.uk). Once there, enter one of the user IDs and associated passwords provided on the invitation letter and complete the survey by the date shown on the front of the letter. The survey should take around 30 minutes to complete. Only people that live in your household are allowed to take part.
If you don’t want to take part
Taking part is voluntary, but we hope that you will as this will give us the best possible picture of the different communities and types of activities people do in their spare time in England.
If you do not wish to take part, you don't need to do anything, although you may still receive up to two reminder letters from us, which you may also ignore.
If you do not wish to receive any further reminder letters, you can either:
- Opt out using this opting-out link
- Call the survey helpline on 0800 158 2952
- Email Verian at cesurvey@veriangroup.com
Please be ready to provide your reference number, address and postcode so we can opt you out of further communication. The reference number is located on the top of the letter you have received. Please note during the opt-out process, it is possible you may receive a further reminder to your address. We apologise if this is the case.
Claiming your voucher
Once you have completed the survey you will be directed to Verian’s voucher website, where you can choose from a range of different shopping vouchers.
If you complete the survey using a paper questionnaire, we will post a voucher to you once we have received the completed questionnaire.
Full details on claiming your voucher and any queries you might have can be found on the incentives tab of this website.
Answering survey questions
Answering the questions is voluntary. The survey includes some questions about you such as your age, ethnicity and employment history. We ask these sorts of questions so we can ensure that everyone's views are captured. However, if you do not wish to answer these sorts of questions then you can select 'prefer not to answer' to move to the next question.
Helping someone fill in the survey
If a friend or a relative needs your help in filling in the questionnaire, you can offer help, but the answers should be about their experience only.
Completing the survey without access to the internet
If you are unable to complete the survey online, you can request a paper version of the questionnaire using this paper survey request link or the contact details below. To do this we will need to verify your reference number, which is located on the top of the letter. When you are asked which option you need, please select 'Request paper questionnaire'.
Due to administrative processes and the speed of postal delivery, the paper version of the survey may take a few weeks to arrive. If you have not received it within 15 working days, please contact the helpline team again.
- Call the survey helpline on 0800 158 2952
- Or email Verian at cesurvey@veriangroup.com
Confidentiality and data protection
Survey confidentiality
The information that is collected will only be used for research and statistical purposes, and no individual person’s answers will be identifiable. Your contact details will be kept separate from your answers and will not be passed on to any organisation outside of Verian or supplier organisations who assist in running the survey unless you have given explicit permission.
Data use
The information will be used to produce and publish statistics on themes such as volunteering, communities and engagement in DCMS sectors. The information helps Government departments create and evaluate policies aimed at building stronger communities, enabling people to play a more active role in their communities and society, and monitoring engagement to cultural, sporting and major events by all. The information will also be used by local decision-makers, voluntary groups, Local Government and Councils to understand and drive improvements in local communities.
Data Protection
Taking part is voluntary and any information you give us will be used only with your consent. Your answers will be processed in compliance with the Data Protection Action 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation.
For more information about how we keep your data safe, please see the survey privacy notice.
Contact us
If you have any problems logging into or completing the survey, would like more information on this study or would like to request a paper questionnaire, please contact our freephone helpline on 0800 158 2952 or email us at cesurvey@veriangroup.com.
If you would like to contact a member of the study team at DCMS to find out more about the purpose of this research, please email cesurvey@dcms.gov.uk.