Influencing policy

Understanding Society will help decision makers check if their policies are working and flag major trends that could require action from government. Understanding Society highlights short term changes, such as people changing their decisions about whether to buy or rent, and it shows us longer term trends, potentially giving us a sense of whether large number of people will be poor in retirement.

Are Policies Working?

The predecessor study, the British Household Panel Survey, helped identify that the national minimum wage was not leading to wage progression - it had become a floor but was not a springboard. Understanding Society's breadth of investigation helps us see if attempts to promote healthier lifestyles are working. It enables us to track whether people are becoming more involved in their neighbourhood or if they feel disengaged. If decision makers decide to promote enterprise, Understanding Society will tell us if larger numbers of people are establishing small businesses. In the coming years greater attention will be given to whether households are changing their environmental behaviour. Understanding Society will see if there is a gap between peoples concern about the environment and what changes they actually make in their lives.

Trends

The study also maps trends for decision makers and will prompt them to consider if they need to devise new initiatives. Understanding Society shows us how families are coping with caring for elderly relatives and whether the condition of those being cared for is stable or worsening. It provides a powerful instrument for measuring inequalities in the health and wellbeing of people across the community. We already know that Pakistani men are more likely to have a long-term illness than people of Chinese origins and that the poorer someone is the worse their state of health. As a result of the study we will be able to see if these 'health gaps' are maintained or if there are improvements.

Big Scale

The scale of the study sample allows decision makers to look at significant groups of the population, such as older mothers or recent migrants. As our society becomes more diverse we will have a greater need to identify if some groups are likely to make quite different demands on the providers of services compared to others, whether this is job training or schooling.

We will be able to compare the fortunes of people in different regions and see if their outlook and circumstances differ significantly from other places and explore why. Part of the value of the study is that we will look at the whole of a household - how parents influence their children and how brother and sisters interact with each other. In areas like diet and career ambitions it is well known that young people are greatly influenced by their parents and friends.