Half of public don’t ’fully understand’ current Covid-19 lockdown rules

Just 13% of people in England feel they 'fully understand' the current Covid-19 lockdown rules, with half of adults (51%) in the country saying they understand 'the majority' of them, find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study. This is lower than in Wales (where 15% 'fully understand' and 62% understand 'the majority' of the rules) and in Scotland (where 15% 'fully understand' and 66% understand 'the majority' of the rules) but a slight overall improvement on the understanding of the rules in July, when significant lockdown easing first took place and just 45% of people said they understood the rules in England. The levels of control people feel around aspects of their lives have also shown minor improvement in some areas since July, with three fifths (60%) of respondents feeling in control of future plans, versus half (50%) in July. The same can be seen in feelings of control around employment, with 70% now feeling in control of their employment situation, up from 60% in July. Despite this, people are still feeling out of control of their mental health, with half (50%) of respondents reporting that they either do not feel at all in control of their mental health, or only feel a little in control. There has been a similar lack of improvement in people's sense of financial control, with 2 in 5 respondents (39%) not feeling properly in control financially. It is the UK's largest study into how adults are feeling about the lockdown, government advice and overall wellbeing and mental health with over 70,000 participants who have been followed across the last 30 weeks.