Census 2021: Households face £1,000 fine for not filling in forms, warns Martin Lewis
MARTIN Lewis has warned all households could face a £1,000 fine from this Sunday - unless they fill in the Census 2021 survey.
The Census is a questionnaire about your household, covering topics such as who you live with, the type of property you live in and your employment status.
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Each household will receive a letter in the post with a unique code to fill out their survey.
You only need to fill this out once per household, and you can request to do this via an online form or postal survey.
Every household in England and Wales is being encouraged to complete this survey on Census Day, which is March 21, 2021, or as soon as possible after.
No personal data is released or shared by the ONS but people can look at profiles of the country and their local area.
ONS carries out a number of checks before publishing results to protect people's personal information.
Martin wrote in his weekly : "This Sunday is 'Census Day'… fill it in or risk a £1,000 fine.
"It’s in England, Wales and Northern Ireland only, and ignoring the survey altogether could land you in hot water."
“I would urge everyone to ensure that they fill in and submit their census form within the deadline to avoid having to pay a penalty.
“It should only take 10 minutes a person, with another 10 to cover the ‘household’ section.”
How do I complete the Census 2021 survey?
You should receive one letter per household about the census, and you only need to fill it out once for everyone you live with.
If you don't want to or can't complete the form online, you can contact the ONS on 0800 141 2021 in England or 0800 169 2021 in Wales and ask for a paper form.
If you haven't heard from the ONS by March 21, you can contact them via to ask for your unique code.
Households are being asked to complete the census on this date, or as soon as possible after, or they risk being fined £1,000.
These fines are usually a last resort though, and likely wouldn't be enforced until several months after this deadline.
Just four people received the maximum £1,000 fine during the last census in 2011.
You can complete your census before this date if you’re sure your circumstances won’t change.
What questions do I need to fill out?
The majority of the questions in the Census 2021 survey are mandatory, which means you'll need to answer them.
For example, questions that need to be filled in include those about your country of birth, ones about your employment, and ones about your relationship to everyone in your household.
More personal questions, such as about sexual orientation, gender, and religion, don't need to answered.
The form will say which questions you must complete and which don't need to be answered.
There are different sections that need to be filled in. One is about your household collectively, and the other consists of individual parts for each person.
You can choose to fill out the form on behalf of your household.
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