Domain review
Trust and Wellbeing
Measures legitimacy, cohesion and human wellbeing.
Trust and Wellbeing is currently rated Fragile. The domain score is driven primarily by Anxiety, Trust in national government and Life satisfaction. Data confidence is medium across its component metrics.
Component indicators
Trust and Wellbeing · Metrics
Q1 2026
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (Mean life satisfaction score (0 to 10), UK, quarterly APS), accessed 2026-10-01.
Evidence file
Life satisfaction
Latest reading
Q1 2026
Scoring breakdown
Neutral: the latest reading matches the one before it
Source
UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard
- Update frequency
- Quarterly/Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Office for National Statistics
- Series ID
- Mean life satisfaction score (0 to 10), UK, quarterly APS
- Frequency
- quarterly
- Accessed
- 1 October 2026
Known weakness
Self-reported subjective measure; mean scores compress distributional differences and the 0–10 scale is not interval-calibrated across respondents.
Notes
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (Mean life satisfaction score (0 to 10), UK, quarterly APS), accessed 2026-10-01.
Q1 2026
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (Mean anxiety score (0 to 10), UK, quarterly APS), accessed 2026-10-01.
Evidence file
Anxiety
Latest reading
Q1 2026
Scoring breakdown
Source
UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard
- Update frequency
- Quarterly/Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Office for National Statistics
- Series ID
- Mean anxiety score (0 to 10), UK, quarterly APS
- Frequency
- quarterly
- Accessed
- 1 October 2026
Known weakness
Headline mean anxiety scores mask large variation by age, gender and deprivation; the well-being module question wording creates priming effects that vary with question context.
Notes
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (Mean anxiety score (0 to 10), UK, quarterly APS), accessed 2026-10-01.
Aug 2026
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (OPN chronic loneliness), accessed 2026-10-01.
Evidence file
Chronic loneliness
Latest reading
Aug 2026
Scoring breakdown
Source
Opinions and Lifestyle Survey
- Update frequency
- Periodic
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey)
- Series ID
- OPN chronic loneliness
- Frequency
- periodic
- Accessed
- 1 October 2026
Known weakness
ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey is a small quota sample with periodic fieldwork; the loneliness question is not asked consistently, limiting time-series continuity.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (OPN chronic loneliness), accessed 2026-10-01.
Jun 2026
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (trust in national government), accessed 2026-10-01.
Evidence file
Trust in national government
Latest reading
Jun 2026
Scoring breakdown
Source
Trust in government, UK
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey)
- Series ID
- trust in national government
- Frequency
- periodic
- Accessed
- 1 October 2026
Known weakness
Annual survey data; trust measures are highly sensitive to current political events and recent scandals at the time of fieldwork, reducing reliability as a structural trend indicator.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (Opinions and Lifestyle Survey) (trust in national government), accessed 2026-10-01.
2025/26
Verified official value from DCMS (formal volunteering at least monthly, England), accessed 2026-08-25.
Evidence file
Regular formal volunteering
Latest reading
2025/26
Scoring breakdown
Source
Community and Engagement Survey (formerly Community Life Survey)
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- DCMS
- Series ID
- formal volunteering at least monthly, England
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 25 August 2026
Known weakness
A medium-sized annual survey; volunteering rates are affected by economic conditions that change participation without reflecting structural social change. From 2025/26 the source is the Community and Engagement Survey, which replaced the Community Life Survey in October 2025, so the latest point spans two collection methodologies.
Notes
Verified official value from DCMS (formal volunteering at least monthly, England), accessed 2026-08-25.
YE Mar 2026
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_csew), accessed 2026-08-13.
Evidence file
Feeling safe after dark
Latest reading
YE Mar 2026
Scoring breakdown
Source
Crime Survey for England and Wales
- Update frequency
- Quarterly
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Office for National Statistics
- Series ID
- ons_csew
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 13 August 2026
Known weakness
England & Wales; the CSEW question has multiple breaks (2012/13 sub-sample move, 2016/17 omission, 2020-22 COVID suspension), so it is not a clean trend. ONS discontinued the standalone perceptions article; the figure is corroborated via the CSEW.
Notes
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_csew), accessed 2026-08-13.
2025/26
Verified official value from Department for Culture, Media and Sport (dcms_community_life), accessed 2026-08-25.
Evidence file
Neighbourhood belonging
Latest reading
2025/26
Scoring breakdown
Source
Community and Engagement Survey (formerly Community Life Survey)
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- medium
Provenance
- Provider
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport
- Series ID
- dcms_community_life
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 25 August 2026
Known weakness
England; the Community Life Survey has a 2016-2020 gap in published tables and a 2020/21 collection-mode change. From 2025/26 the source is the Community and Engagement Survey, which replaced it in October 2025, so the latest point spans two collection methodologies.
Notes
Verified official value from Department for Culture, Media and Sport (dcms_community_life), accessed 2026-08-25.
Historical values
Metric trends
Historical values
Life satisfaction
Latest
7.5mean score, 0–10Life satisfaction · mean score, 0–10 · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Anxiety
Latest
3.3mean score, 0–10 (higher = more anxious)Anxiety · mean score, 0–10 (higher = more anxious) · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Chronic loneliness
Latest
6% adults often or always lonelyChronic loneliness · % adults often or always lonely · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Trust in national government
Latest
25.1% reporting trustTrust in national government · % reporting trust · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Regular formal volunteering
Latest
18% adults volunteering at least monthlyRegular formal volunteering · % adults volunteering at least monthly · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Feeling safe after dark
Latest
78% of adults feeling safe walking alone after darkFeeling safe after dark · % of adults feeling safe walking alone after dark · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Neighbourhood belonging
Latest
61% of adults who feel they belong to their neighbourhoodNeighbourhood belonging · % of adults who feel they belong to their neighbourhood · reported values, not stress scores.
Data provenance
Sources for this domain
| Organisation | Dataset | Type | Frequency | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office for National Statistics | UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard | Official | Quarterly/Annual | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Opinions and Lifestyle Survey | Survey | Periodic | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Trust in government, UK | Survey | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Department for Culture, Media and Sport | Community and Engagement Survey (formerly Community Life Survey) | Survey | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Crime Survey for England and Wales | Survey | Quarterly | Source ↗ |
How the Trust and Wellbeing domain is scored
The domain score is the median of the 7 component metric stress scores. Using the median reduces sensitivity to a single anomalous metric.
Each metric stress score is calculated as:
metric_stress = clamp((2/3) × level_score + (1/3) × trend_score, 0, 100)The Trust and Wellbeing domain carries a weight of 6% in the national index. Full methodology: methodology page.
International context · vs OECD
Life satisfaction (0–10, Cantril ladder)
Around the OECD average; the UK ranks ~20th globally.
World Happiness Report 2024 / OECD How's Life? ↗ · 2021–2023 · context only, not part of the score
Sensitivity analysis
What would move this domain?
The Trust and Wellbeing domain score is most sensitive to its two highest-stress indicators. Meaningful improvement in either of the following metrics would be the most direct path to improving the domain score:
- 80
Anxiety
Mean self-reported anxiety score on a 0–10 scale from the ONS well-being module (higher = more anxious), measuring population-level psychological strain.
- 78
Trust in national government
Percentage of adults reporting that they trust the national government, a headline indicator of democratic legitimacy and civic confidence.
Related analysis
Deep dives related to Trust and Wellbeing
UK life satisfaction averages 7.45 out of 10 on the ONS personal wellbeing measures, with worthwhile, happiness and anxiety scores by nation and local authority, and where West Lothian sits.
How connected people feel to where they live, from the new Community and Engagement Survey: belonging at 61 per cent, trust down to 38 per cent, formal volunteering edging up to 18 per cent a month, and where volunteering is strongest and weakest.