Introduction
 Project
 Assessment and Lessons Learned
 Conclusions
 Annex A

Introduction
Conducting a census is a huge and complex task and a key part of the programme of planning and executing the Census is gathering the required information from each household i.e. Data Collection. The business scope of Data Collection for the 2001 Census had to be considerably widened in its content, compared with previous censuses. The 2001 Census had to count a population that was undergoing significant change in societal and technological terms.

The fact that experience had shown it was becoming increasingly difficult to make contact with households, especially but not exclusively in inner cities, was a major influence in shaping data collection plans for 2001. The difficulties in making contact could be attributed to: growing numbers of single person households; changing work patterns; a less compliant society; and certain groups of the population feeling disenfranchised. Inclusiveness was, therefore, more than ever a key driver in the strategy and planning for data collection.

The White Paper on the 2001 Census of Population (Cm 4253) presented in March 1999 contained four broad strategic aims. These were to:

• ensure that the question content is appropriate to meet the demonstrated requirements of users;
• deliver products and services to meet legal obligations and users' needs within stated quality standards and to a prescribed timetable;
• ensure that all aspects of the census data collection operation and the dissemination of results is acceptable to the public and complies with Data Protection law;
• demonstrate that the Census represents value for money.

An early decision was taken to create two separate, but closely linked, projects within the 2001 Census Programme: Data Collection Development and Data Collection Support.

The Data Collection Development project managed the development of the enumeration procedures, the training and instruction of the field force, the design and supply of all census material (including the Census forms) and the provision of support services for the public (Public Enquiry Unit) and the field force (Regional Management). These project tasks are covered in greater detail under their own project assessment.

The Data Collection Support project had responsibility for developing plans for recruiting the Census field force; developing and implementing a census Payroll and developing a Community Liaison initiative to facilitate the enumeration of disadvantaged groups or previously underenumerated groups.

There was also a close link to the Geography project in the context of planning enumerator workloads, the supply of mapping materials, and certain checks that field staff made prior to the Census.

This paper describes how the Data Collection Support project worked to help meet the strategic aims. It describes how the project and associated plans were developed and implemented before the enumeration started, the methods used, the outcome in broad terms and the lessons learned. This can only be a provisional assessment whilst data processing has yet to be completed at this time.

This review covers England & Wales only. However, close co-operation existed between the three Census Offices, that is, for England & Wales (Office for National Statistics), for Scotland (General Register Office for Scotland), and for Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency). Although there were some variations between the Offices, a high degree of commonality was achieved.

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Project Objectives
The objectives for the Data Collection Support project were to support the enumeration of the population of England & Wales by:

• specifying, developing and implementing operational systems and procedures for the recruitment and payment of Census field staff;

• promoting and raising awareness of the 2001 Census through a community liaison initiative which would also ensure that those with practical difficulties and concerns were assisted.

General Methodology
Plans were developed and designed to meet the strategic aims of the Census. The foundation for data collection procedures is governed by the agreed statistical methodology for the Census. A careful analysis of the tasks at each level of the field staff was carried out and modified through testing.

Recruitment Methodology
The recruitment methodology was similar to that used in 1991 but with a reduction of about a third in the number of field staff required. This reduction, primarily at Enumerator level, was due to the change in methodology to postback of completed census forms rather than collection. The reduction was also effected in anticipation of recruitment difficulties.

The table below summarises the numbers required for each grade and the recruitment timetable. The paragraphs following give more detail on the recruitment campaign for each grade.

Table 1: Recruitment Timetable for England & Wales

Census Manager for Wales (CMFW)

This post was introduced for the first time in 2001. The CMFW was responsible for advising and assisting the Census Office and the Welsh Census Area Managers on all Welsh issues in relation to the Census. The CMFW played a key public relations role in Wales, including contact with government and local government organisations and the National Assembly.

The post was advertised in January 2000 through Chief Executives of Unitary Authorities and Health Authorities, Chief Constables and the Chief Statistician at the National Assembly for Wales. It was also advertised through the press in the Western Mail, Liverpool Daily Echo (both bi-lingual adverts) and in Welsh in Y Cymro and Y Golwg.

English and Welsh application forms were issued to the 93 applicants who chose which language version to complete. However, it was mandatory to complete the question on what the applicant would bring to the post, in Welsh, to prove their ability to communicate in Welsh. Twenty-six completed applications were returned. The Welsh versions were translated by the Welsh Language Board.

The interview panel, including a representative from the Welsh Language Board, saw 7 candidates. The successful candidate was in post from 3 April 2000 to 30 June 2001.

Census Area Managers (CAMs)

The CAMs provided the link between the Census Office and the local management of the Census. They were responsible for managing and co-ordinating the Census operation in an area of approximately half a million people (fewer in large cities and rural areas). Their focus was on ensuring complete coverage, establishing links with community groups within their area to help with enumeration of hard to enumerate groups and running the operation on a team basis. CAMs reported to Regional Managers based at the Census Office.

CAM posts were advertised in March 2000 through LA Chief Executives, Health Authority Directors, Government Departments, Chief Constables, Armed Forces and Jobcentres. These contacts were followed by advertising in newspapers including the ethnic press.

The Census Office dealt with all requests for application forms other than those made via Jobcentres. Over 2,600 applications forms were issued and over 1,100 completed forms were returned for the 103 CAM posts.

Applications were allocated to CAM area before being sifted for suitability. Interviews were conducted during May and June 2000. The Census Manager for Wales also attended interviews for Welsh CAMs. CAMs were formally appointed at their first training course in August 2000 and were in post until June 2001.

Census District Managers (CDMs)
CDMs were responsible for managing and co-ordinating the operation of the Census in an area of up to approximately 25,000 people. They led a team of Census Team Leaders (CTLs) and Enumerators ensuring resources were directed effectively to ensure maximum coverage of their areas. CDMs reported to Census Area Managers.

CDM posts were first advertised in August 2000 through LA Chief Executives, Health Authority Directors, National Association of Retired Police Officers, Government Departments and the Employment Service Agency (ESA). In addition posts were advertised on the National Statistics website and were placed with four Internet Service Providers. National newspaper advertising (including Ethnic Media Group papers) commenced in September and at the same time details were provided to Jobcentres. Adverts in the Welsh press were bilingual. To boost recruitment in London an advert was placed in the Evening Standard but this had little success.

CAMs concerned about the poor response were asked to recommend suitable local papers for further advertising.

CAMs were responsible for interviewing and appointing their own team of CDMs and were given instructions, training and documentation to enable them to do this.

By the end of October 2000, the Census Office had issued over 11,600 application forms and over 4,500 completed forms had been returned for the 2,017 CDM posts. CDMs were in post from 30 October 2000 to 15 July 2001.

Census Team Leaders (CTLs) and Enumerators
Census Team Leaders were responsible for supervising a small team of Enumerators, providing support and carrying out quality and coverage checks. They reported to and provided assistance to their CDM. Enumerators were responsible for identifying and delivering Census forms to every household in a designated area (typically around 400 households) and following up any completed forms not returned by post.

A Recruitment Publicity Strategy Group was set up for the recruitment of CTLs and Enumerators. Their first task was to brief Barker Advertising who, together with the Central Office of Information (COI), was given the task of producing draft CTL and Enumerator newspaper and radio advertisements.

CTL and Enumerator recruitment commenced at the beginning of December 2000 with details, including a downloadable application form, being posted on the National Statistics website. Approximately 60,000 'hits' were recorded during the recruitment period. Posts were also advertised, via banner links, with a number of Internet Service Providers plus the central government 'Jobsgopublic' website.

By 7 December 2000, CTL and Enumerator posts had been advertised through LAs, Health Authorities, County Councils, Registration Service, National Association of Retired Police Officers and Government Departments.

The Census Office's Media Initiatives Unit worked with Bell Pottinger, a public relations consultant, to develop a recruitment drive initiative, referred to as the 'Recruitment Blitz'. The 'Recruitment Blitz', taking place between 9 - 19 January 2001, was central to the CTL and Enumerator recruitment strategy and covered 10 London Boroughs and 13 cities in England and Wales. National newspaper advertising took place in the week of the launch. Regional press and radio advertising, backed up by local advertising in particularly difficult areas, commenced the following week.

The Recruitment Helpline opened at the start of January 2001 and was intended to be the main source for CTL and Enumerator application forms. An Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) system was used to take name and address details of applicants. The postcode was used to allocate the applicant to a Census District (CD) and the relevant return address was attached to the application form so that it was returned direct to the CDM.

CDMs were responsible for recruiting their own teams of CTLs and Enumerators and they were provided with instructions, training and documentation to do this. CAMs played a monitoring role identifying the need for additional publicity, which they either undertook themselves, or requested via the Census Office.

CTLs were in post from 19 February 2001 until 1 June 2001. Enumerators were in post from 20 March 2001 until 21 May 2001.

Pay Methodology
After a review of 1991 Census experience and a successful trial in the 1997 Test it was decided that, for the first time in a Census, the provision of Payroll Services should be contracted out. The contract was awarded to Chessington Computer Services Ltd. (CCSL).

The 2001 Payroll System was based on the submission of properly authorised claim forms at specified points during the operation. Table 2 (available as a pdf file) shows how ONS organised the fieldwork by grade of field staff and the payments allowed for each stage.

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The claim forms were processed using scanning and keying from image. Images of completed forms were provided to the Census Offices allowing the paper copies to be destroyed following the operation. Due to the method of processing the claim forms, the design, number and variation of the payroll forms had to take account of the Service Provider's system constraints.

As the Census Office does not have delegated authority for pay matters, the proposed field staff pay rates had to be submitted to, and agreed by, the Cabinet Office of the Office for Public Service (OPS). This agreement established Census Office pay scales as a link for determining census pay rates. Expense rates were similarly linked to Census Office travel and subsistence rates.

The fees for each field staff grade were calculated using an estimate of the hours the job was expected to take and the agreed hourly pay rate. Separate rates were set for London, Metropolitan and National areas.

A piece rate or payment based on hours worked was paid for tasks for which the fee could not be determined in advance, such as payments for follow-up visits to households where forms were not posted back, hours worked by Enumerators specially recruited to enumerate establishments with large numbers of residents and persons sleeping rough Enumerators.

Provision was also made for additional payments where extra tasks were undertaken or where significantly more hours had been worked than had been estimated.

In accordance with the Working Time Directive, CAMs, CDMs and CTLs, i.e. grades employed for over 13 weeks, were entitled to paid leave.

Community Liaison Methodology
The 1991 Census and intervening Tests had highlighted the fact that some sections of the community are becoming increasingly isolated and in fact some population groups were under-enumerated in 1991. Changes in census methodology for 2001, from collection of completed forms to postback, also meant that field staff had less contact with the public than previously. here was therefore an increased need to target minority groups in order to provide them with reassurance about the aims of the Census, to encourage them to participate and to offer help with form completion.

The Community Liaison initiative was set up in 1997 to make contact with community and minority groups in order to address these issues. The key aims of the initiative were to:

• promote and raise awareness of the 2001 Census, underlining its uses and enabling participation of previously under-enumerated groups, by attending or organising meetings, presentations and exhibitions with national, community and minority groups;
• identify ways of providing assistance with form completion, including producing translations and transcriptions, liasing with ethnic and disability groups to establish best practice;
• identify ways of providing practical help to community and minority groups and how the groups, in turn, could provide input to the Census programme;
• provide guidance and support to census field staff.

A wide range of contacts were made with national, local and community groups. These included:

• Local Authorities, Health Authorities and County Councils who were asked to appoint Census Liaison Officers to assist CAMs in obtaining information about their areas so that all sections of the community were included and assisted where necessary;
• LAs were consulted regarding the requirement for language assistance in their areas and this, together with advice from ethnicity and language experts, assisted with the identification of translation requirements for the Information leaflet;
• Commission for Racial Equality and the Central Office for Information Ethnic Advisory Service were consulted on the best strategy for communicating with ethnic groups;
• the Inner Cities Religious Council, whose members are drawn from those faiths with a substantial presence in disadvantaged urban communities, were consulted on the best way forward;
• several organisations representing the disabled including MENCAP, MIND, RADAR, RNIB, RNID, SCOPE were consulted to ensure that the needs of the disabled in communities were met;
• Help the Aged, Age Concern England and Age Concern Cymru were consulted on the strategy for enumerating the elderly community;
• other organisations, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and Women's Royal Voluntary Service, were contacted regarding giving assistance to those having difficulty completing their census form.

The Census Office carried out the liaison at a national level but the work was continued by the CAMs who worked with local community, ethnic and voluntary groups. The CAMs were provided with instructions and specialist training to assist them with this work; this was cascaded down through the field force as part of the training package.

Enumerators issued translations of the Information leaflets and large print documents and dealt with specific requests for help, such as the need for an Interpreter, when they delivered the Census forms. To assist them in this task they were provided with an Effective Communication Guide which summarised key elements of their training and instructions and provided hints and tips to help with contact on the doorstep.

Assessment and Lessons Learned
Recruitment Assessment and Lessons Learned

Overall, the field staff recruitment exercise was successful because it resulted in sufficient people being recruited to enable the Census operation to be undertaken. However, recruitment in London and other city areas proved very difficult and some staff were recruited very late. In some cases field staff had to take on additional workloads because suitable recruits could not be found. There was also higher than expected turnover of field staff at the local managers' and Enumerators' levels: just over 7% at CDM level compared to 3.3% in 1991; 3% at CTL level compared to 1.9% in 1991 and over 4% at Enumerator level compared to 3.7% in 1991.

Recruitment at all levels was hindered by rates of pay that were seen as poor by many. A three tier basic fee (National, Special Metropolitan and London) existed to aid recruitment in difficult areas. The areas treated as Special Metropolitan and London were based on 1991 Census areas of recruitment difficulty and the definitions between these two areas were unclear. Budgetary considerations militated against upward recategorisation of areas, which would have assisted with recruitment in some areas. In future a more flexible system is required to enable review of rates and fees to help resolve recruitment problems in "difficult" areas.

The demands of being Equal Opportunity Employers are such that in future it may be difficult for ONS to justify continuing with one-to-one interviewing of candidates for CDM, CTL and Enumerator posts. This method may appear unprofessional and is open to accusations of nepotism or favouritism, especially as there are no restrictions on the employment of spouses or other close relatives or friends. Similarly many CDMs made a poor job of completing sift and interview assessment forms. This was despite CDMs being instructed on this and told that applicants had the right to know why they had been unsuccessful and therefore the importance of good documentation to help resolve queries or disputes. These issues highlight the need for areas of the recruitment process to be reviewed.

Census Manager for Wales
Recruitment went smoothly. It was essential to have a Welsh speaker involved in the selection process at both sift and interview stage. A bilingual application form rather than separate English and Welsh versions would be more practical and should be considered in future.

Census Area Managers (CAMs)
Apart from London, Manchester, Liverpool and Central Wales there were sufficient applicants to enable competitive recruitment. The shortage in areas other than London was resolved by considering applicants from surrounding areas.

A further advertisement in the Evening Standard resulted in minimal additional interest in London. It required assistance from a combination of SOLACE Ltd, the commercial arm of the Society of LA Chief Executives, and the London Boroughs affected before all the London posts were filled. However, the failure to attract more interest in London CAM posts ultimately meant that recruitment there was a lot less competitive that it might have been.

CAM posts were not advertised in the Welsh press and this omission was a mistake considering the sensitivities surrounding the use of the Welsh language. As with the CMFW recruitment, bilingual application forms would be more practical.

All CAM posts were successfully filled and CAMs were formally appointed at their first training course in August 2000 and were in post until June 2001.

Census District Managers (CDMs)
Due to budgeting constraints there were some issues over the cost of advertising in some of the local papers recommended by the CAMs but the outcome was that further advertising appeared in The Guardian, The Big Issue plus around 26 local publications during the first half of October 2000.

A joint press and radio campaign was required to tackle the very poor response in London. The press advertisements were carried in nearly 70 local London papers. The radio campaign was run simultaneously on 5 London radio stations. In addition meetings were held with London Borough representatives to discuss the recruitment problems and ways in which they could offer assistance.

The original closing date for applications (14 October 2000) had to be extended. In London, the closing date had to be put back to 30 October 2000 which was in fact the date on which CDMs should have started their duties. The areas with the poorest response were Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster & City, Islington & Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Camden, Newham, Barking & Dagenham, Lambeth & Southwark where interviews continued, in some instances, into November 2000.

It was intended that requests for application forms resulting from national press advertisements would be dealt with by the Census Office and that the completed forms would be returned by the applicant direct to the relevant CAM. A significant number of CAMs were unhappy with this arrangement, as it required their address to be supplied to applicants. As a result the procedure had to be changed so that completed application forms were returned to the Census Office for forwarding to the appropriate CAMs. The level of opposition from CAMs and CDMs to the release of their name and address details to potential field staff applicants and the implications of this for Data Protection will need to be addressed for the future.

Welsh and English application forms were available for recruitment in Wales but this presented logistical problems and laid the Office open to a charge that the Welsh language version was relegated in favour of the English version if the forms were not issued properly. Bilingual application forms for recruitment in Wales should be introduced in future.

Sufficient suitable candidates were not found to fill all 2,017 CDM posts and other measures had to be taken to ensure the areas were properly managed. These included some CDMs taking on management of two Census Districts (CDs) or 1½ CDs.

Census Team Leaders (CTLs) and Enumerators
Nearly 74,000 applications were despatched from the Recruitment Helpline for the 6,159 CTL posts and over 172,600 Enumerator application forms were despatched for the 62,500 Enumerator posts. The Helpline struggled to cope with the huge demand and this consequently resulted in slow response to requests.

Many callers became frustrated at dealing with an Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) system and this resulted in many failed/invalid calls. Additionally, the lack of a "live voice" left some callers uncertain whether the system had logged their request so they would 'phone again with a repeat request, further increasing the pressure on the Helpline. Improvements will need to be made to any Recruitment Helpline used in future particularly one operating an IVR system.

The high level of interest registered via the Recruitment Helpline does not reflect the major difficulties with recruiting Enumerators in some parts of the country. Around 260 additional newspaper adverts were placed for Enumerator posts in the most difficult areas, a third of which were for London.

One week prior to the Enumerator start date there were still a number of areas where posts had not been filled and contingency plans had to be put in place to resolve the situation. These included, the involvement of recruitment agencies, contacting ONS Social Survey Interviewers to encourage them to participate, additional advertisements to target students and giving some Enumerators a second workload.

These and other initiatives did result in sufficient Enumerators being recruited although some were in post late which impacted on the first stage of the enumeration, delivery of census forms.

Pay Assessment and Lessons Learned
Payments were made on time to over 80% of the field force, but this significant achievement was overshadowed by the fact that the remaining field staff were not paid on due dates and were late by varying periods. This caused an enormous problem for the Census Office, who responded promptly to the difficulties to ensure that all outstanding pay claims and queries were settled promptly, but more importantly it led to great disappointment, disillusion and, in some cases, hardship for many field staff.

The underlying causes of the problems experienced are still being reviewed, as detailed evaluation on all aspects of Pay is currently ongoing, however, the principal lessons identified so far are noted in the following paragraphs.

The procurement timeframe for the contract to provide Payroll Services was implemented too late which meant that the opportunity to rehearse the full range of Services prior to the 2001 Census was lost. In future the Payroll Services should be procured earlier to ensure that the system is fully tested, potential problems and solutions are identified and robust contingency plans are in place.

Although there were 23 expressions of interest to the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) advert for provision of the Payroll Services, only 10 Service providers responded to the contract notice questionnaire and 7 of these subsequently withdrew at the Statement of Requirements stage. This has highlighted the need for a thorough options study in advance of advertising the Payroll Services to take account of what is available in the market place and to ensure a review of methods and frequency of payments.

The control basis for ensuring only authentic records were input into the payroll system was the geography database, i.e. the Geography Control File. The system checked that the first 6 digits of the Payee number matched a valid Census District (CD) number and also checked that the total number of field staff by grade, by CAM area or CD, did not exceed the number shown on the Geography Control File. Originally the Service Provider was responsible for returning rejected Personnel Records to CDMs for amendment. In order to speed up this process and avoid delays to payment of field staff, the Census Office Pay team took over these duties from the beginning of April 2001. Between this date and November 2001, over 4,830 Enumerator Personnel Records were rejected. The level of detail and cross-checks in place meant that approximately 50% of Enumerator personnel form rejections were as a result of the validation check. When field staff resigned the controls would also not enable replacement staff to be added to the payroll until payments had been made to the resigning member of field staff. Similarly exception reporting was in place to minimise the risk of fraud, prevent incorrect payments to field staff and to ensure that the correct authorisations were obtained. Again this system was over complex with limits in place for each category and checks having to be performed more than once by Census Office staff. In future the validation process for ensuring the authenticity of records and claims needs to be less complex to ensure the system is not overloaded, whilst still ensuring sufficient audit controls.

The nature of staged payments to field staff, field staff with multiple employment together with the knock-on effects of late or delayed payments have an impact on the way tax and NI legislation is enforced. Although discussions were held with Inland Revenue on these matters, the full impact was not realised until the final months of the contract when retrospective action was not feasible. The Large Employer Compliance Office, Inland Revenue acknowledged that better guidance and advice could have been provided. Future discussions should take place prior to setting the pay strategy so that all legislative aspects (including employment legislation, minimum wage etc.) are taken into account when setting the method and frequency of payment.

The interval between receipt of a valid claim form until payment could be as long as 3 weeks partly due to the fact that there was only one pay run a week. A more realistic and acceptable timetable for despatch and payment of claim forms is required in the future.

Field staff were confused by the route that different pay related forms needed to take, for example claim forms were despatched to a sub-contractor, logs and receipts to the Census Office, instructions to stop payments to the Service Provider. Inevitably, forms were directed to the wrong place, which again led to delays. This process needs to be simplified from a field perspective with field staff being issued with one despatch address for all pay documents.

The original intention had been to reduce the administrative burden on census managers and individual field staff by stream lining the documentation required, however, this could not be achieved due to the number and variation of forms required to take account of the Service Provider's system constraints. The field staff regarded the pay system and documentation as overly bureaucratic and this will need to be addressed for the future.

Additional payments were made to a significant number of field staff where more hours had been worked than had been planned. In some instances the additional hours could be explained by the impact of unforeseen events such as Foot & Mouth and major postback delays, but in other instances the tasks simply took longer, in some areas, to complete than had been estimated.

Community Liaison Assessment and Lessons Learned
The scale and diversity of organisations representing groups within the community meant that it was not possible to consult every group separately, however, the Census Office tried to ensure that information was available to all. The Community Census Roadshows held in February and March 2000 visited 12 locations throughout England and Wales. In total 324 volunteers representing Local Authorities, Health Authorities, Age Concern, The Carers Federation, organisations representing the disabled, people with sensory impairment, ethnic community and religious groups attended the Roadshow events. A further 300 supporters expressed an interest but were unable to attend any of the events, these contacts were added to the Census Area Managers contacts database.

Feedback to the initiative was generally very positive and it was seen as a success in that it covered a very wide range of community and minority groups and national charities that represented many different sectors of the population. This included local and health authorities who, through the Census Liaison Officers, provided a wide range of assistance to help ensure that the message of inclusiveness was promoted within the community.

A large number of supporting documents and materials were produced as a result of the consultation exercise and were well received. These included:

• versions of the Information leaflet, which included details of the Census questions and instructions for completing the Census form, produced in:

• 26 languages (see annex A for details);
• large print in both English and Welsh;
• braille in both English and Welsh;
• Census Helpline advisors conversant in 13 languages;
• dedicated Minicom facility for the deaf and hearing impaired available on the Census Helpline;
• audio tapes providing information about the Census and the Census questions;
• videos using British Sign Language and subtitles providing information about the Census and the Census questions;
• videos using British Sign Language and subtitles providing information about the Census and the Census questions;
• British Sign Language interpreters and DeafBlind interpreters provided as required.

There was some strong feeling from within the RNIB that consultation had begun too late and that the arrangements which had been made did not go far enough to ensure that the needs of the visually impaired had been catered for. The RNIB would have liked it to be possible to complete census forms in braille.

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Conclusions
Recruitment Conclusions
Based on previous experience there was an expectation that recruitment would prove difficult, particularly for Enumerators in inner city areas, and this was the case. However, the difficulty was much more widespread than expected at Enumerator level despite a large publicity campaign.

Changes in society, employment law and public perceptions are likely to exacerbate problems associated with the recruitment of field staff (particularly at Enumerator, or equivalent, level). These problems will have to be addressed in the context of the Census field operation in any future census.

Pay Conclusions
There were considerable problems with the payroll system, including delayed payments and a number of overpayments. The underlying causes of this are still under review and further evaluation work is underway. The problems with the operation of the system will need to be addressed for the future.

The pay strategy needs to be in place much earlier so that the design of the Payroll Services can be finalised with a minimum of subsequent change. However, the Service Provider will need to have the flexibility to adjust to late changes and unexpected events such as those experienced in 2001 e.g. postal delays, Foot & Mouth.

The pay system design and accompanying forms were perceived as too bureaucratic and will need to be reviewed whilst bearing in mind government accounting and Inland Revenue rules.

There is a sensitive balance between containing costs within budget and ensuring that the amounts allocated for the payment of field staff is adequate. Procedures need to be agreed early enough to ensure that comprehensive Task Analyses can be produced for each field staff grade and robust estimates of hours required to complete each task can be identified and budgets agreed accordingly.

Community Liaison Conclusions
The Community Liaison initiative was successful and will need to be repeated in the future.

However, the 2001 experience has highlighted the need to initiate contacts much earlier. In particular, the Census Office will need to review its procedures for the enumeration of minority groups, working closely with relevant organisations to adopt a best practice approach and to ensure that no sections of the community are disadvantaged by the Census methodology.

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Annex A
Translations Issued for the 2001 Census in England and Wales by Language and Region (available as a pdf file).

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This page last revised: 13 September 2002