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Our website has been designed to enable you to access the datasets you require in the most straightforward way possible.
Short tutorial to access data: How to access and download data.
Watch our video guide: Tour of the UK Data Service website.
If you cannot find the answer you are looking for, please contact our Helpdesk using our online help form.
An increasing number of our datasets are available without the need for you to register with the UK Data Service. These are known as ‘open data’.
Other datasets are potentially more sensitive and are subject to different access policies. If the dataset you would like to access is classified as ‘safeguarded’, you will need to register online with the UK Data Service. If the dataset is ‘controlled’, you will have to register and satisfy a number of other requirements. For further information, see the UK Data Service data access policy.
To search our data catalogue, try adding some search terms in the search box.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
If you have forgotten the password associated with your UK Data Archive username, or you would like to change your password, you can reset your password.
If you have forgotten your SecureLab password, you can request a new one by contacting our Technical Support team
If you would like to change your SecureLab password, you can do this yourself at the SecureLab login page, but please contact Technical Support if you are experiencing any difficulties.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
Our help section provides information on the different types of data available through the UK Data Service. This is a good starting point for a wealth of established UK social surveys relating to areas such as population trends, the workplace, health and crime. In this section, you will also find links to cross-national surveys, business data and the census.
If you still can’t find what you are looking for, then you can search our data catalogue by adding some search terms in the search box.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
The UK Data Service provides researchers with raw datasets and does not offer ready-made statistics.
However, we have put together useful links to other data providers in a dedicated set of pages on ‘Other data providers’ within the help section, which may help you find the statistics you are looking for or provide useful information about a particular subject area.
These statistics are generated by providers such as the Office of National Statistics (ONS), other Government departments and well-known institutions.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
SecureLab login issues may occur for a number of reasons, here are the most common:
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
If your account has expired, you simply have to re-register with us. Registrations will remain active on a two-year rolling basis, so as long as you login regularly, or at least once every two years, your account will be active and accessible.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
With the exception of Understanding Society: Waves 1-9, 2009-2018 and Harmonised BHPS: Waves 1-18, 1991-2009: Secure Access (SN 6676), which is available to affiliated researchers accessing from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, Germany, our Secure Access datasets can only be accessed from within the UK.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
Yes – our data collections can be downloaded free of charge, if you intend to use them for non-commercial purposes.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
If your use of the data doesn’t fall under our definition of a non-commercial use, then you would need to pay. The fee levied is an administrative charge and you would not be buying the data.
In these cases, the UK Data Service will need to create a commercial agreement and obtain permission from the data owner(s) before access can be provided.
More information can be found on our How can I use your data for my project page.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
We are unfortunately unable to help you track down family members, as our service primarily supports social and economic research, but we do have some historical population data that may be useful, particularly on our Histpop site. We also provide links to better sources for family history research.
Did this answer your question? If not, please submit a query using our online help form.
If you are based at a UK institution of higher or further education (UK HE/FE), you can register using the username and password provided by your institution.
If your institution is part of the UK Access Management Federation (UKAMF) and is on this list of federation members, you can register using the username and password provided by your institution.
If your institution is not a member of the UKAMF or you are a personal user, you will need to apply for a username from the UK Data Service.
If you are based at a UK institution of higher or further education (UK HE/FE), you will need to contact your library, IT helpdesk or e-resources administrator. Your institutional web pages or intranet may also contain useful information on how to obtain a username and password.
If you are not at a UK institution of HE/FE, or are not associated with any organisation, you can apply for a username.
If you entered an incorrect email address, you can change this using the ‘Edit details’ option in the ‘Details’ section of your account.
From any UK Data Service page:
If you are trying to log in using a username beginning ‘ukd’, you will need to select ‘UK Data Archive’ as your organisation from our login page.
You can only log in to the SecureLab if you are an approved and trained researcher with a current research project and been provided with a username and password for the SecureLab.
Watch our video tutorial, How to log in to UKDS SecureLab, once you have applied and been granted access to controlled data.
First time depositors or users of ReShare must first register with the UK Data Service using federated access management user authentication. Use your UK HE/FE institutional login credentials (institutional username and password), after selecting your institution from the drop-down list.
If your institution is not a member of the UKAMF or you are a personal user, apply for a username from the UK Data Service.
Use this username to log in to ReShare using federated access management user authentication, selecting the UK Data Archive as your institution from our login page.
After registration you can go and login to the ReShare repository.
This can be either when you want to deposit a data collection or want to download a data collection. If you get stuck in a loop from ReShare to the UK Data Service registration page, please close your browser (all tabs), clear your history and cache. Then try to login again. If this doesn’t work, please try a different browser.
Yes. If you are outside the UK, you will need to apply for a username and then register with the UK Data Service. However, some data collections are not available for non UK users, so check the catalogue record ‘Access’ tab for any access restrictions.
Note: If you are not at a UK HE/FE institution, a username issued by the UK Data Service will not entitle you to access certain data, e.g. the International Energy Agency (IEA) datasets.
See Registration guidance in the Help section for details on registering and accessing our data.
If you are using a username and password issued by your organisation, contact your local IT helpdesk, library, or e-resources administrator for help. If you are using a username issued by the UK Data Service, and beginning with ‘ukd’, you can ask for a reminder from the ‘UK Data Archive’ login screen. This screen will be displayed after you have entered ‘UK Data Archive’ as your organisation during the login process. If you have problems requesting these details, contact the helpdesk and we will send you a reminder.
Your registration with the UK Data Service will not expire if you log in regularly. If you don’t log in for two years, your account will be deactivated and you will need to reregister. We will email you a reminder before your account is deactivated.
You need to accept cookies to use the UK Data Service and UK Data Archive. The most common reason for not being able to log in is that cookies are blocked on your PC.
To check whether your computer is set up to accept cookies, or to change the current settings:
Federated access management (e.g. shibboleth) allows users to securely access external services using the same username and password they use to access local services at their own organisation.
In order to use federated access management, an organisation must join the UK Access Management Federation and either implement Identity Provider software, or outsource that provision to a third party (e.g. Eduserv using OpenAthens).
Federated access management user authentication (shibboleth) has been implemented for UK Data Service and UK Data Archive services.
Organisations within the UK federation have the opportunity to assert that, where unique persistent attributes are associated with a user, they will make sure these attribute values are not re-issued to another user for at least 24 months after the last possible use by the previous user.
The UK Data Service and the UK Data Archive provide a one-stop registration service for multiple distributed service providers which requires knowledge of the identity of a user in case there is a breach of its terms and conditions. Also some data collections require an agreement to special conditions before we can allow access. Only users attached to Federation Identity Providers Asserting User Accountability can gain access to any service which relies on the assertion of user accountability.
For access to UK Data Service/UK Data Archive resources, organisations must release the following attributes to https://safari.data-archive.ac.uk//shibboleth-sp:
The UK Access Management Federation login page is known as the ‘Where Are You From (WAYF)’ page. Organisations using the UK Access Management Federation can bypass both the UK Data Service login page and the WAYF page. The following example shows the WAYFless URLs for the University of Sheffield. These can be adapted for other organisations by replacing the reference to ‘idp.shef.ac.uk’ as appropriate for your organisation:
Example of WAYFless access to the UK Data Service via Sheffield University
If you get this message it means the organisation supplying your login credentials is not authorised. Organisations in the UK Access Management Federation have the opportunity to assert that, where unique persistent attributes are associated with a user, they will make sure these attribute values are not re-issued to another user for at least 24 months after the last possible use by the previous user.
This acceptance of ‘user accountability’ is a requirement for access to UK Data Service/UK Data Archive resources. It appears that your organisation does not assert user accountability and is therefore not permitted access.
If your organisation is listed at Federation Identity Providers Asserting User Accountability, contact our helpdesk to request access for your organisation. If your organisation is not listed, contact your library, IT helpdesk or e-resources administrator to ask if they are able to assert user accountability.
For access to UK Data Service/UK Data Archive resources, your organisation must provide you the following credentials, in the correct format:
You can check which attributes are being released for your account by your organisation at the ZETOC website. Select your organisation from the relevant dropdown list and log in using your institutional details.
Check that the ‘TargetedID’ details are ‘released’.
If the required attributes are not being released, contact your IT helpdesk or e-resources administrator for further assistance.
Users from organisations that have recently upgraded may have problems if their institution is not releasing the correct form of the eduPersonTargetedID. To check that the correct attributes are being released use the ZETOC website, as described above.
Single Sign On (SSO) allows you to enter user credentials only once to gain subsequent access to a number of disparate resources. Once logged in you may access any SSO services which you are entitled to without logging in again in any one browser session. A browser session lasts for eight hours or until you close your browser window.
You need to accept cookies to use Single Sign On. The most common reason for not being able to log in is that cookies are blocked on your PC. Check our cookie information to see whether cookies are enabled.
You may see an error message, or a blank screen, when trying to log in, due to the way in which some institutions have set up their federated access management system. Because Nesstar uses frames, and the frame containing the login dialogue comes from a server other than the surrounding site, some web browsers treat this as a third party site and don’t accept cookies. We suggest using Firefox, or, if you use Internet Explorer, to get permission from your IT helpdesk and change IE’s settings as follows:
Tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy -> Advanced -> Override automatic cookie handling -> Always allow session cookies
As mentioned above, the Nesstar product is built using ‘frames’ and due to added security measures at certain institutions, users may receive the following error message when logging in: ‘This content cannot be displayed in a frame’. In this case, registered users need to log in to the UK Data Service website before searching the Nesstar pages.