Linking your data

Adding other information to the study

During the survey we will ask you whether you are happy to let us securely and confidentially link data from administrative records when processing your survey answers.

If you were invited to participate in the study in summer 2023, you were likely included in the pilot study. This means that the information you provide will be used to help inform the design of the main study and it will most likely not be included in any published datasets or reports. In this pilot survey we will ask you about linking your survey answers to records held by the Department for Education and the NHS. As this is a pilot, the purpose of this is to test these questions; your survey answers may not be linked to these administrative records. Your information will be held securely by NatCen on behalf of the DfE.

What are administrative records?
Who will use the information and how?
How long will we do this for?
What if I change my mind?

What are administrative records?

Government departments and agencies collect information about us and the services we use, such as school and hospitals, to help improve those services. This information is stored in administrative records.

Why we want to link your survey responses to administrative records

Adding information to survey answers from administrative data for both the young person and parents or carers helps the Department for Education and researchers build a more complete picture of young people’s experiences and circumstances.
It helps us understand the most important factors which affect young people’s development as they move through secondary school and beyond. This will help decision makers to develop better policies.
It also adds value to the data collected during the personal interviews and online surveys, without taking up any more of your time.

Keeping your information safe

Your linked survey data will be treated as confidential and only be given to approved researchers. Direct identifiers, such as names and addresses, will have been removed.

Your decision about whether to allow us to add information from records will not affect your services, rights, treatment, or any health insurance. It will not affect your benefits or tax. Your information will not be used for any commercial or profit-based purpose and you will not receive any marketing information.

Your survey data is encrypted and transmitted via secure transfer systems, in line with the latest security rules and procedures.

Why does the study include adding information from young person’s and their parents’ or carers’ education records?

The Department for Education (DfE) already holds details about participation and achievement in school and further education as well as details about the school, college or training centre attended. Where applicable, DfE also hold information about any higher education applications and offer.
Growing up in the 2020s is commissioned by the DfE, and education records for the study young person and their parents or carers will be added to your survey answers as a standard part of the study.
If you do not want this to happen, you can let us know using the contact details provided in the Contact us page.

Why do we want to ask permission to add information from the young person’s and their parents' or carers' health records?

Health is an important factor in young people's education, wellbeing and development. To help us understand this relationship more fully, we will ask permission to add information from NHS records of the young person and their parents or carers.
These records include information about admissions or attendances at hospital, visits to a GP or other health professionals, specific conditions and prescriptions or treatment given.
As these records are held outside DfE by NHS Digital, we need to ask your permission to add information from these records to the study data.
You do not have to agree to this, and if you choose not to, you can still stay in the study.

Why do we want to ask permission to add information from parents' and carers' Employment and tax information?

Understanding how families get on financially is an important part of understanding young people’s experiences.
We will ask permission to link your records held by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to the study. HMRC records include information on employment, Income Tax, Tax Credits, and Child Benefits. The records also hold information on pensions and National Insurance contributions.
As these records are held outside DfE by HMRC we need to ask your permission to add information from these records to the study data.
You do not have to agree to this, and if you choose not to, you can still stay in the study.

Why do we want to ask permission to add information from parents' and carers' Employment programs, benefits and pension schemes records?

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) records hold information about participation in employment programs, benefit receipts, and pension schemes.
Linking these data records to the study would help researchers understand and account for the various situations that our participating families are in.
As these records are held outside DfE by DWP, we need to ask your permission to add information from these records to the study data.
During the survey, we will ask permission to link your DWP records but, again, you do not have to agree to this. If you choose not to, you can still stay in the study.

Why do we want to link parents' and carers' and the young person's survey data with the data collected from the young person’s school and the nominated teacher?

We ask the young person’s permission to contact their chosen teacher before reaching out to that teacher about taking part in the survey.
Linking these data records would help researchers to account for a full picture of the young person’s home and education experiences. This will help us understand how these experiences interact and affect later educational and wellbeing outcomes.

Why does the study include adding geographical and sociodemographic information?

Sociodemographic and geographical location factors are important in understanding the influences on young people’s educational attainment.
Data provided by the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England has highlighted the cumulative negative effect of multiple disadvantages on pupils’ academic attainment.
To help us understand this relationship more fully, we will supplement study data by adding area-level information about levels of crime and deprivation.

Who will use the information and how?

The combined survey and administrative information will remain confidential and will be used for research purposes only.
The information will only be shared with approved researchers for statistics purposes only. Personal data identifying young people, parents or carers, teachers and school staff taking part in the study are never shared with these researchers.
The information will be made available securely by DfE to researchers via the UK Data Service (UKDS), Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service (ONS SRS) or a similar trusted research repository. Access to the data will only be granted to approved researchers after a successful application to DfE. This is to make sure the information is used responsibly.
School staff names and contact details will not be shared with the DfE and we will never pass data on to third parties to be used to evaluate school’s performance or for benchmarking against other schools.
Your data will not be used for marketing or commercial purposes.
All information is treated in the strictest confidence in accordance with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The privacy notice explains how we keep your information safe.
We may link to combinations of the datasets where you have provided consent for each. For example, education, income, tax and benefit records are already connected together by government departments, so we might draw on these pre-matched data bases.

How long will we do this for?

The information we would like to add relates to parents, carers and young people’s past, present and future circumstances. We would like to add this information from administrative records on an ongoing basis for the duration of the study. You can tell us to stop at any time during the study. Once the young person is 16, they will have the opportunity to decide whether they would be happy for us to continue to add this information from these records, or not.

What if I change my mind?

Because this study is trying to understand how young people get on in the long term, we would like to add these health and education records on an ongoing basis. You can tell us to stop doing this at any point without giving us a reason. If you do want us to stop adding information from your records, any data already added will continue to be used unless you ask us to delete it. This information will remain confidential and used for research purposes only.

For questions about adding information from administrative records or to withdraw your permissions, please contact the team at gu2020s@natcen.ac.uk.