Geographic Coverage: Wales
Children Receiving Care and Support Census (CRCS)
The Welsh Government’s annual statutory data collection on all children (under 18) who have a care and support plan under the Social Services and Well‑being (Wales) Act 2014. It captures core characteristics (e.g., age, sex, ethnicity), reasons for support, parental factors, and selected health and education outcomes, providing an evidence base to monitor need and outcomes and to inform policy and service planning.
Adults receiving care and support census – Wales
The Adults Receiving Care and Support Census provide a Wales‑wide picture of adults (aged 18+) who receive social care services and have a care and support plan under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. It captures individual-level information about the types of care received, support needs, demographic characteristics, and how services are delivered. The census is designed to support policymaking, resource allocation, service planning, and research in Wales. The ARCS became a mandatory data return in April 2023.
Social care workforce report – Wales
The dataset provides an annual, Wales‑wide, snapshot of the social care workforce covering workforce size and characteristics. This enables policy‑makers, commissioners and sector leaders to make evidence‑informed decisions about recruitment, retention, training and service planning. The collection gathers data from local authorities and commissioned providers and is analysed and published each year.
MRC National Survey of Health & Development (MRC)
The MRC National Survey of Health and Development is the oldest and longest running continually-studied British birth cohort study, having followed a sample of 5,362 men and women born in England, Scotland and Wales since their birth in one week in March, 1946. During their childhood, the main aim of the NSHD was to investigate how the environment at home and at school affected physical and mental development and educational attainment. During adulthood, the main aim was to investigate how childhood health and development and lifetime social circumstances affected their adult health and function and how these change with age. Today, with study members in their seventies, the NSHD offers a unique opportunity to explore the long-term biological and social processes of ageing and how ageing is affected by factors acting across the whole of life.
Cognitive Function and Ageing Study Wales (CFAS Wales)
CFAS Wales is a longitudinal study looking at health and cognitive function in older people living in Wales. The study builds on the design and infrastructure of the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study collaboration (CFAS) exploring biomarkers and other early indications of risk of cognitive decline, such as imaging. It also investigates factors that may delay the onset of dementia, specifically focusing on the role of bilingualism and social networks and allow a more in-depth examination of rural-urban variations, which have been markedly unexplained in previous studies.
British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)
The British Household Panel Survey began in 1991 and was a multi-purpose study whose unique value resided in the fact that it followed the same representative sample of individuals over a period of years. Sampling was by household and every adult member within each sampled household was interviewed. The main objective of the BHPS was to further the understanding of social and economic change at the individual and household level in Britain. It was discontinued in 2007 though some sample members were recruited to become sample members in the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (Understanding Society).
Labour Force Survey (LFS)
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a study of the employment circumstances of the UK population. It is the largest household study in the UK and provides the official measures of employment and unemployment. This provides evidence for policy- and decision-making, and for directing resources to where they are needed most.
Family Resources Survey (FRS)
The FRS is an annual report that provides facts and figures about the incomes and living circumstances of households and families in the UK. It is a continuous household survey which collects information on a representative sample of private households in the United Kingdom. The primary purpose of the FRS is to provide the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with data to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of social welfare policy. FRS annual publications provide statistics and commentary on information such as income from all sources; housing tenure; caring needs and responsibilities; disability; pension participation; and savings and investments.
General Household Survey (GHS)
The aim of the General Household Survey was to provide government departments and organisations with data on a range of topics relating to private households to aid monitoring and policy-making. The General Household Survey was carried out between 1971 and 2007, with two breaks (1997-1998 and 1999-2000) when the survey was redeveloped. The survey was discontinued in 2007.
MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC CFAS)
MRC CFAS began in the late 1980s with the initial aim of investigating dementia and cognitive decline in a representative sample of more than 18,000 people aged over 65 years. The study primarily aimed to find out how common dementia and associated conditions are in England and Wales and also, how many new cases of dementia develop each year. The range of information collected in the interviews has also allowed the study to also investigate depression and physical disability in the older population in addition to looking at healthy active life expectancy. MRC CFAS ran from 1989 – 2011. Having provided estimations of dementia occurrence for the UK, CFAS was increasingly asked to provide evidence on generational change in dementia, cognition and life expectancy by the government and the public, leading to its daughter studies, CFAS II & CFAS Wales.
Stats Wales (StatWales)
Stats Wales is the Welsh Government’s free-to-use online repository for detailed statistical data for Wales. Stats Wales allows users to view and manipulate datasets on-screen, including the ability to produce charts. Data can be downloaded in a variety of formats and can be saved and shared. The system covers nearly 1,000 datasets, including key information on Wales’ population, economy, government spending and performance as well as the environment, education, transport and health.
UK Census (UKCen)
The UK census is undertaken by the Office for National Statistics every 10 years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales. The census asks questions about individuals, their household and home. In doing so, it helps to build a detailed snapshot of the society. Information from the census helps the government and local authorities to plan and fund local services, such as transportation, education and healthcare.
1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)
The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a multidisciplinary national longitudinal birth cohort study. Original aims were to examine the social and biological characteristics of the mother in relation to neonatal morbidity, and to compare the results with the 1958 National Child Development Study. With each successive sweep, the scope of the enquiry has broadened from a strictly medical focus at birth, to encompass physical, educational, social and economic development.
1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS)
The 1958 National Child Development Study is a multidisciplinary national longitudinal birth cohort study following the lives of over 17,000 people born in 1958. The study aims to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole lifespan. Follows histories of health, wealth, education, family and employment from early life with linked biomedical and examination performance data integrated into the study.
Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a national longitudinal birth cohort study following the lives of around 19,000 young people born in the United Kingdom in 2000-01. This multidisciplinary survey aims to capture the influence of early family context on child development and outcomes. Children from minority ethnic backgrounds and children in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland are oversampled to help capture the diversity of backgrounds into which children are born in the beginning of the 21st century.
Understanding Society – UK Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS)
Understanding Society is a largescale longitudinal survey of approximately 40,000 households across the United Kingdom. As a multi-topic household survey, the purpose of Understanding Society is to understand social and economic change in Britain at the household and individual levels by capturing important information about the social and economic circumstances, attitudes and behaviours and health of people living in thousands of households. The Understanding Society study is a successor to the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), with the BHPS sample forming part of Understanding Society from Wave 2 onwards.