Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26 Summary Report published
The Community and Engagement Survey (CES) is a continuous push to web survey of people aged 16 and over in England, designed to explore how people across England engage with their community and with culture, media and live sport and allows respondents’ views to be heard on a range of issues affecting their local area.
In October 2025, the Community and Engagement Survey replaced DCMS’ Participation Survey and Community Life Survey.
Full data tables will be published later this week, but the full summary report can be found here: Community and Engagement Survey 2025/26: Summary Report - GOV.UK
Headlines include:
Neighbourhood & Community
61% of people aged 16+ reported that people pull together to improve their neighbourhood, a 5 percentage point increase from 2024/25 (56%).
38% of people aged 16+ reported that many of the people in their neighbourhood can be trusted, a 3 percentage point decrease from 2024/25 (40%).
79% of people aged 16+ agree that people from other backgrounds get along, a 2 percentage point decrease from 2024/25 (81%).
11% of people aged 16+ think that over the past two years, their local area has got better to live in, no significant difference from 2024/25 (11%). 31% reported that it had got worse, a 1 percentage point increase from 2024/25 (30%).
Volunteering and charitable giving
35% of people aged 16+ engaged in either formal or informal volunteering at least once a month in the last 12 months, a 2 percentage point increase from 2024/25 (33%).
Arts
84% of people aged 16+ engaged with the arts at least once in the last 12 months, a 6 percentage point decrease from 2024/25 (91%).
83% of people aged 16+ engaged with the arts physically at least once in the last 12 months, a 6 percentage point decrease from 2024/25 (90%).
36% of people aged 16+ engaged with the arts digitally at least once in the last 12 months, a 1 percentage point decrease from 2024/25 (35%).
Libraries
36% of people aged 16+ engaged with libraries at least once in the last 12 months, a 5 percentage point increase from 2024/25 (31%).
31% of people aged 16+ engaged with the libraries physically at least once in the last 12 months, a 5 percentage point increase from 2024/25 (26%).
18% of people aged 16+ engaged with the libraries digitally at least once in the last 12 months, a 2 percentage point increase from 2024/25 (16%).
Museums and galleries
15% of people aged 16+ engaged with museums or galleries digitally at least once in the last 12 months, a 2 percentage point increase from 2024/25 (14%).