Census

[Trifle]

I know someone posted yesterday but I cant find the thread but I;ve just received mine in the post today.

For those who havent got theirs it is pages and pages long.

How the frig can knowing about my qualifications, ethnic origin, how many O levels I got have any bearing on what public transport to provide.

Why the fuck do they need to know what I do for a living and why should I 'briefly describe what I do'. How is that going to help them decide what health care to provide.

I mean, why do they need to know how many rooms I have, what heating system it has.

Such a gross invasion of privacy.

Where does it say that by law I have signed up for this shit.

if you're worried you haven't received one yet
DH is a postie, and they've been given 3 days to send them out - Monday to Wednesday this week.

If you haven't received one by the end of the week, you should ring the census helpline and request one.

ivykaty
"i did have a friend at the time who was left out of the census - she never received a form or a call at the door - possibly because she lived on a canal boat. Though boat people haven't been left out before and she was moored at the same place for 6 months. Not a lot you can do if they leave you out."
your friend should have rung them up and asked for one. (she could still ahve been prosecuted for not filling one in)

slarty - you can put 1-4 gcses

his paper-round would be counted as an employment - just fill in the boxes as best you can.

i would wager that they do keep the paper versions - who knows if the computer systems will be compatible in 100 years?
If they aren't, they'd have to keep changing the format every time a new system was introduced.

thanks nickel.

Much easier online- it leaves out any questions you don't have to answer automatically. I had to fill it in for six persons and it took me about twenty minutes/half an hour.

From all the moaning on here I would have thought they were asking you your bra and shoe size.

They ask your name, age, nationality and ethnicity, job/work/education status/how many rooms your house has and what sort of heating it has and how you travel to work. All pretty reasonable stuff related to planning resources I would have thought.

A couple of weeks ago I had to do an environmental survey for work and that was harder - asking you about how many flights you take a year and the engine capacity of your car and how much petrol you buy in a year. I expected the census to be far more detailed than it was.

yes just doing mine on line.
and you can go baack to questions you answer incorrectly

I really don't see the issue with the census. It is a potentially valuable record for generations to come.

I have done a huge amount of research into my family history and the information available from the old census records is invaluable.

Isn't it quite nice to think that your great-great-grandchildren might look you up in 2110 when this census is released to the public?

nickleprinces and who do you telephone - back in 2001 there wasn't an internet connection and the census wasn't in the phone book - not that she had a phone book as she only had a mobile phone?

How do you find a number for something you haven't had and possibly hadn't heard of - ignorance is not ok in the eyes of the law but how do you know to ask for something if you don't know to ask for it or even where to ask for it? She didn't know about it for a long time after - possibly two years later it came to light during a conversation

Surely the ennumirator should have called at her boat and sorted it all out?

according to census website yo ushould have it by the 18th.
and it tells you to "coem back then" if you've not had one

the census helpline phone number is: 0300 0201 101

can't believe how hard it was to find it!
(took me about 5 minutes to find it by google!)

it's on the front of the form, which of course is no use if you haven't had a form....

sorry, ivykaty - in 2001, she could have called directory enquiries from a phone box and got the number - or asked at her council office.

and yes, the ennumerator should have visited her on her boat - that's very bad of them not to do so.

still think it's odd she knew nothing about it

'Isn't it quite nice to think that your great-great-grandchildren might look you up in 2110 when this census is released to the public?'

That is what I think-it is very mean spirited to want to deny them the information. I can't wait for the 1921 one to come out!

The census is not long, its four pages per person, that is not long.

I just googled "census help" and the first link gives a list of FAQs one of which is how to get help. Not really that difficult to find.

nickelprinces - you may often walk into your council office/ring directory enquires to enquire if there is anything you need to know about that you have been missed of from - but mostly people don't go to their council offices on random visits to see whether they have been left off something which they didn't know about

You have to legally fill the form out and do so honestly.

But I am with Trifle, it is overly invasive and some questions breach the Human Rights Act (but they have invented laws to get around this).

I suggest filling it in, but then wiping crap on every page.

ivy fair point.

I think it's really important, it doesn't take too long and doesn't ask anything I'm not happy to answer. It's all stuff you would reasonably expect a government to know about its population.

I'm really at some of the attitudes on here. For all its faults, we live in a country where we all have clean water, free education, free healthcare. Our rubbish is collected. We can stand in the middle of the road & shout "David Cameron is a shitty-arsed amoeba" & no men in uniform will drag you away & attach electrodes to your bits. Do you really think the rebels in Libya look at the UK & think "Ugh - there's no way I'd live there... they have to fill in a census form every 10 years!"

We are INCREDIBLY privileged to live in the kind of society we do. Grow up.

I can't see the fuss-it has been every year since 1851-it is hardly a surprise! (I think it may have even been 1841)

FFS, how is it overly invasive?

I'm still not entirely sure I see the point of the census though.
OK I understand that people may find it useful for family tree purposes in the future, but I don't think that the reasons given why it should be filled in (health and education, planning etc) are valid anymore.
In years gone by it probably was the only way to find out how many people there were, but here we are in the 21st century.
You are on a computer from birth. Just about everyone with a child claims child benefit, anyone with a job pays tax, those without get benefits. You either pay council tax, or get council tax benefit. The powers that be know plenty of details already about you and your home.
Anyone here illegally who neither pays tax or claims benefit is hardly likely to fill out the form anyway, so the figures are never going to be that accurate.

I'm not having a rant about it, or whether the questions are invasive or not, ours is filled in and waiting to go back.
I honestly think that most of the info is already available to the government and the councils already.

Get over yourselves ...how many bedrooms and the like is of no interest to anyone but statistitions(sp?) for the next hundred years then maybe your great grandchildren may want to find out how you lived! The information we give out everyday is more worrying than a bloody census.

exH didn't pay council tax, or get council tax benfit for nearly 2yrs. He lived in shared house(s) where it was included in his rent. There is no official record of him having lived at many of those addresses

"I honestly think that most of the info is already available to the government and the councils already."

Look - even the DWP, HRMC and Local councils can't even manage to competently talk to each other when it comes to people on benefits..........I doubt there's any hope of them being able to get a snap shot of the entire country in one go from those places alone anyhow