MCS Age 23 Sweep

Sweep details

Sweep status Completed - data available for research use
Dates September 2023 - December 2024
Age 23
Respondents Cohort members
Achieved sample 9,735
Fieldwork agency Ipsos
Survey mode Online and face-to-face
Data access

Main dataset available via the UK Data Service website [SN 9509]. Selected sensitive data available via the UK Data Service website [SN 9510].

Description

The Age 23 Sweep involved a 60-75-minute questionnaire, which was completed either online or face-to-face.

A broad overview of the content of the survey is provided below:

  • Family, relationships, and housing: household composition, partnerships, children and current accommodation.
  • Employment and finances: work, income, wealth (e.g. home ownership) and financial literacy.
  • Education: academic and vocational qualifications, and educational debts.
  • Health and wellbeing: physical health, mental health, health behaviours (exercise, diet, smoking, drinking, drugs), height and weight, body image.
  • Cognition: short-term memory, attention and processing speed.
  • Identity, attitudes and future aspirations: including sexual orientation and gender identity, social networks and support, political and environmental attitudes, and plans for the future.
  • Childhood circumstances and other life events: relationships in childhood, pregnancies, pregnancy outcomes and pregnancy planning.
  • Activities and risky behaviours: leisure activities, social media usage, experience of crime and gambling.
  • Cohabiting partners: topics including education, employment and income.
  • Cohort members’ own children (if applicable): child development and parenting.
  • Seeking permission to link information from routine administrative records (if not previously given) to cohort members’ study data.
  • Seeking permission to link information from children’s health and education records (for cohort members who are parents) to the study data.

The Age 23 Sweep was core-funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

About the Age 23 Sweep

NEWS

Millennium Cohort Study Age 23 data now available

11 February 2026

Data from the Millennium Cohort Study Age 23 Sweep are now available to download from the UK Data Service.

How to access the data

Most of the Age 23 Sweep data are available from the UK Data Service under an end user licence agreement, with selected sensitive data available under secure access arrangements.

Data available under end user licence.

Data available under secure access.

Documentation

  • User guides
  • Questionnaires
  • Technical reports
  • Data notes
  • Additional
User guides

Millennium Cohort Study Sweep 8 (Age 23) User Guide

The comprehensive guide to the data from the Age 23 Sweep of the Millennium Cohort Study, carried out in 2023-24 when participants were aged 23.

Date published: 10/02/2026
PDF: 3,76 MB

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Millennium Cohort Study Longitudinal Files User Guide

This guide provides information about the mcs_longitudinal_family_file which is an important dataset of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). A new longitudinal cohort member file, named mcs_longitudinal_cm_file, has been introduced at individual cohort member level following the MCS data collection at age 23 (sweep 8) and is included in this version.

Version 3 updated: February 2026.

Date published: 02/09/2020
PDF: 198,29 KB

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MCS Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) User Guide

This guide describes the data linkage of health administrative records from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) to survey data for cohort members in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). User guide updated: 2025.

Date published: 07/12/2022
PDF: 387,2 KB

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Handling mode effects in the CLS cohort studies user guide (Nov 2024)

A user guide which provides guidance and recommendations for handling mode effects in CLS’ cohort studies through applied examples, using data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and Next Steps.

Date published: 26/11/2024
PDF: 2,3 MB

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MCS User Guide to the Linked Education Administrative Datasets

This user guide accompanies the datasets linking education data to the records of MCS participants based in England.

Version 3 (November 2024)

Date published: 25/11/2024
PDF: 990,4 KB

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Handling missing data in the CLS cohort studies – User Guide

This user guide aims to describe and illustrate a straightforward approach to missing data handling, while detailing some more general considerations around missing data along the way.

Date published: 03/06/2024
PDF: 1000,62 KB

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Questionnaires

Millennium Cohort Study Sweep 8 (Age 23) Main Questionnaire

MCS cohort members completed this questionnaire for the Age 23 Sweep.

Date published: 02/11/2023
PDF: 2,8 MB

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Millennium Cohort Study Sweep 8 (Age 23) Resident Partner Questionnaire

Partners of MCS cohort members completed this questionnaire for the Age 23 Sweep.

Date published: 27/11/2023
PDF: 650,62 KB

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Millennium Cohort Study Sweep 8 (Age 23) Household Grid And Proxy Questionnaire

MCS cohort members completed this questionnaire for the Age 23 Sweep.

Date published: 10/02/2026
PDF: 771,25 KB

Download
Technical reports

Millennium Cohort Study Sweep 8 (Age 23) Technical Report

Technical report authored by Ipsos which provides all technical details regarding the design and implementation of the MCS Age 23 Sweep.

Date published: 10/02/2026
PDF: 1,95 MB

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Millennium Cohort Study Sweep 8 (Age 23) Technical Report Appendices

Appendices accompanying the Technical Report authored by Ipsos which provides all technical details regarding the design and implementation of the MCS Age 23 Sweep.

Date published: 10/02/2026
PDF: 5,48 MB

Download
Data notes

No material of this type is available.

Additional

MCS8 Qualitative Research Findings

The Child of the New Century (CNC) Study (also known as the Millennium Cohort Study) follows the lives of around 19,000 young people living across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  Two stages of qualitative research were carried out to support the design of engagement approaches.

Date published: 15/09/2023
PDF: 3,45 MB

Download
Contact us

Centre for Longitudinal Studies
UCL Social Research Institute

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London WC1H 0AL

Email: clsdata@ucl.ac.uk

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