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The UK Household Longitudinal Study

Capturing life in the UK in the 21st century Understanding Society is the largest longitudinal household panel study of its kind and provides vital evidence on life changes and stability

Essential information for survey participants

Every time you are interviewed, you are contributing to a unique study about life in the UK

Your participants area
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a man hand-in-hand with a child walking into a 'job centre plus'

Which policies can both boost growth and help people on low incomes?

Traditionally, reducing labour market insecurities has been pursued as a separate goal. But five policy areas could boost both productivity and equality

Case study
Girl in school uniform with glass of squash

Autumn Budget 2025 supports ‘most vulnerable’

Living standards think tank used our data to assess government economic policy

news
icons of health data

Registration now open – Biosocial Conference 2026: combining biological and social data

Understanding Society is pleased to announce that registration is now open for its Biosocial Conference 2026.

blog
Image of the front cover of Insights - Barriers to Opportunity

Barriers to opportunity for children and young people

Understanding Society’s Insights report for this year sets out what research using our data tells us about children’s development and young people’s life chances.

Topics

Latest research

The impact of universal credit on mental, physical, and financial well-being: longitudinal evidence from the UK household longitudinal survey survey

  1. Yihong Bai
  2. Chungah Kim
  3. Peiya Cao
  4. Kristine Ienciu
  5. Michel Grignon
  6. Olivia Ramraj
  7. Jasmin Tiwana
  8. Antony Chum

Gendered dynamics of gig economy dependence and life satisfaction: the mediating role of perceived financial insecurity

  1. Zhengxiu Sun
  2. Senhu Wang
  3. Ya Guo
  4. Shuangshuang Song

Unseen strain: how entrepreneurial pursuits undermine spousal well-being

  1. Wei Yu
  2. Seok-Woo Kwon
  3. Kanwal Bokhari
  4. Jia Bao

The psychological strain of becoming self‑employed: a longitudinal investigation of honeymoon‑hangover effects

  1. Jingjing Qu
  2. Jun Liu
  3. Yannis Georgellis
See all research

Understanding Society in the media

Research using data from the Study is frequently featured in the media.

Media mentions

Latest media articles

Which policies can both boost growth and help people on low incomes?

Pushover fathers tell kids ‘wait until Mum gets home’

Is Britain bowling alone?

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