New figures show huge uptake for first online census in Horsham

New figures have revealed that 95 per cent of people in Horsham approached to complete the census online first used the digital form.
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This year marked the first time the Office for National Statistics (ONS) offered people the option to complete the important questionnaire using the internet rather than on a paper form.

And the digital version proved overwhelmingly popular – figures show 95 per cent of people approached digitally used the online form and the paper version was not even sent out to households in Horsham.

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The ONS said: “We set a target of achieving at least 75 per cent of responses to Census 2021 online.

This year is the first time the census has been available online. Photo: ONSThis year is the first time the census has been available online. Photo: ONS
This year is the first time the census has been available online. Photo: ONS

“Our results far exceeded this target, with 88.9 per cent of households across England and Wales that responded to the census choosing to do so online.

“The mode of initial contact (whether sent a paper questionnaire or a letter with an access code) strongly influenced whether people responded online or on paper, with 46.4 per cent of households in paper-first areas responding online, compared with 94.2 per cent of households in online-first areas.

“Therefore, it is important, that any interpretation of the online share of responses takes the paper strategy into account. As households that are sent paper questionnaires are more likely to respond on paper regardless of their digital skills, a lower online share of responses in paper-first areas is not necessarily indicative of a lower digital propensity.”

To see census online uptake by local authority see https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1530/multimap/index.html