We are keen to hear from you every few years to keep up-to-date with how your lives are changing. Turning 50 is a big milestone, and we’d love to hear about your lives now and what plans you have for the future.

Taking part in the study is a chance to represent your generation, and to help policymakers work out what support and services to make available to people in the future. The study will inform and improve policy in areas such as health, work and pensions. Most people usually enjoy taking part and find it’s a […]

The study is managed by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the UCL Social Research Institute, a department of University College London (UCL). The visits are being conducted by two experienced independent social research organisations: NatCen Social Research, and Kantar Public, who have both conducted previous BCS70 surveys.

The Life in Your Early 50s Survey is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

We would like you to take part in the following: – an interview about your home life, relationships, housing, economic circumstances, and health – a paper questionnaire covering wellbeing, values, physical activity and leisure activities – an online dietary questionnaire. For more information, please take a look at the survey guide.

Our surveys often include questions about your partner, parents, children and other people who you may live with. This is important because family circumstances have a huge impact on people’s lives. We ask for some personal information relating to family members including names. This is so that in later surveys we can refer back to […]

The interview will take around 85 minutes.

Taking part is completely voluntary, but most members of the study find it an enjoyable and interesting experience to reflect on life. You can skip any questions that you would rather not answer.

Yes. It is entirely up to you which parts of the survey you complete. You can do all or some of it, and if there are any questions in any part of the survey that you would prefer not to answer, you can skip these.  After the interview, we may send you reminders about completing […]

All interviewers who work for NatCen Social Research or Kantar Public carry an identity card. Interviewers will have a copy of the letter that was sent to you in advance. You can verify the identity of your interviewer by calling NatCen Social Research, on Freephone 0800 526 397.