Information for parents and guardians

The YPSS is an online survey for children and young people aged between 10 and 15 years. It has been designed with children in mind, and we have kept it as short as possible. We collect only the information we need to better understand our society.

The questions asked will cover a range of topics, including:

• online activity and security
• perceptions of safety
• personal well-being

Children aged 13 years and over will also be asked about:

• types of content they may have come across online (including sexual, self-harm, eating disorder and hate content)
• receiving and sending sexual messages

Children do not need to have experience of these to take part. It is important that we hear from everyone to get an accurate picture of young people's lives.

The information provided will help schools, charities and the government understand how to improve young people's lives, including protecting them from harm online.

Your child's participation is entirely voluntary, however, we hope that they will take part as their response is really important to our research.

Children who complete the survey will be offered a £10 voucher as a thank you.

The study is being carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is the country's largest producer of statistics. We collect information about the UK's society and economy. This provides evidence for policymakers and decision-makers so that they can direct resources to where they are needed most. Find out more about what we do at the ONS.

If your child has been selected to take part, you will have received an invitation letter about the survey from the ONS through the post. This will also contain a second invitation letter addressed to your child. Please follow the instructions in your letter first before passing your child's letter to them.

Before your child starts, please check that the letter about the survey has been addressed to them. Only the young person who the letter is addressed to can take part. If they are unable to or do not wish to take part, no one else can complete the survey in their place.

They should complete the survey by the deadline given on their letter.

If your child is under 13 years old, we will first require you to give permission for them to take part by completing a short online form.

You will need to enter the access code from your letter to begin.

Start parental permission form

Names and addresses of children and young people aged between 10 and 15 years have been selected at random from the National Pupil Database (NPD), which is kept by the Department for Education (DfE), and the Personal Demographic Service (PDS), which is kept by NHS England. For more information about how your child's data will be used please read our Data protection information.

Where possible, your child should complete the study by themselves in private. This will help them to answer honestly.

If your child has special educational needs or disabilities, it is important that we also hear their views. Please use your own judgement on how much help they may need to complete the survey.

Any information you and your child provide in response to this survey will be legally protected and treated as confidential in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The responses we collect from your child will be combined with other responses to the survey and will only ever be used by us to produce statistics or undertake statistical research. For more information, please read our Data protection information.

If your child takes part in this survey, they may be invited to take part in follow-up surveys from the ONS in the future. Their participation in these surveys is entirely voluntary. 

If you have any general questions about the survey or about taking part, including the loss of your unique access code, please call our Survey Enquiry Line on 0800 085 7376. 

Minicom users should dial 18001 before this number. The opening times are: 

• 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday

• 9am to 1pm Saturday