Next Steps

Next Steps, previously known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), follows the lives of around 16,000 people in England born in 1989-90.

The study began in 2004 when the cohort members were aged 14, with an original sample of 15,770 people. Cohort members were surveyed annually until 2010, and the next sweep after this was when they were aged 25, in 2015-16.

The most recent sweep, the Age 32 Sweep, took place between 2022 to 2023.

What’s in the study?

Next Steps has collected information about cohort members’ education and employment, economic circumstances, family life, physical and emotional health and wellbeing, social participation and attitudes.

The Next Steps data has also been linked to National Pupil Database (NPD) records, which include the cohort members’ individual scores at Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 and more administrative linkages are planned (for example: Higher Education Statistics Agency, The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, Department for Work and Pensions).

What has the study found?

Next Steps has provided important evidence about the factors that influence young people’s performance at school and their educational transitions, and about the lives of young adults in their twenties. It has had a major impact on education policy, including raising the compulsory participation age in education and training, investing in vocational education and developing guidance for schools on how to stop bullying.

Research based on Next Steps has provided insight into bullying of disabled and sexual minority people and the role of subject choice and aspirations in educational trajectories.

The study has also contributed new evidence on the experiences in the labour market of young adults today, and in particular on the association between shift work and zero-hours contracts and mental health.

Who funds the study?

Next Steps is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The study was previously managed and funded by the Department for Education (2004-12).

Next Steps sweeps

There have been nine main Next Steps sweeps. The first seven sweeps were managed by the Department for Education. Click on a sweep below to learn more about the information collected.

Watch the webinar: Introduction to Next Steps

Latest from Next Steps

News

Only a quarter of millennials who want children are trying for them

4 October 2024

Two fifths of 32-year-olds in England want children – or more children, if they are already parents – but only one in four of them are actively trying to conceive.

News

Next Steps Age 32 data now available

18 September 2024

Data from the Next Steps Age 32 Sweep are now available to download from the UK Data Service.

News

Giving a voice to the whole population

30 July 2024

This blog discusses different ways that population subgroups can be analysed and how sample sizes and statistical power are maintained.

News

A&E waiting times longer for disadvantaged teens

12 July 2024

Young people from more deprived neighbourhoods have to wait up to 15 minutes longer for accident and emergency (A&E) treatment than their more advantaged peers with similar healthcare needs, according to new findings from Next Steps.

New data: Age 32 Sweep

Two mothers pushing children in swing

Data from the Next Steps Age 32 Sweep are now available.

Find out more

COVID-19 survey and data

Data from all three waves of our survey of five national longitudinal cohort studies, including Next Steps, are now available. Find out about the topics covered, response and how to access the data.

Find out more

Cohort profile

Fang-Wei Wu, A., Henderson, M., Brown, M., Adali, T., Silverwood, R. J., Peycheva, D. and Calderwood, L.
Cohort Profile: Next Steps—the longitudinal study of people in England born in 1989–90
International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 53, Issue 6, December 2024
Read the full paper

Special features of this study

Education data

The study was run by the Department for Education until 2013. It was designed to examine key factors affecting educational progress, attainment and transitions following the end of compulsory education.

Cohort members were interviewed every year between ages 14 to 19 (2004-2010), providing detailed and frequent repeat measures on education during this crucial period. The questionnaires covered attitudes to school, aspirations for future work and study and transitions to college, university and work. Resident parents were also interviewed for the first four sweeps.

The questionnaire data was supplemented by linked administrative data from the National Pupil Database including cohort members’ individual scores at Key Stage 2, 3 and 4.

The Age 25 sweep maintained a strong focus on education with questions on qualifications, further study, university applications and experience, and student fees and debt. Permissions to link to a wide range of educational administrative data on further and higher education were also collected, including Individualised Learner Records, Higher Education Statistics Agency, University and Colleges Admissions Service and Student Loans Company.

Study design

Next Steps is a major national cohort study following a representative sample of people born in 1989-90.

A number of notable design features make it distinct from the other cohort studies run by CLS:

  • Cohort members were recruited in adolescence, at age 13/14, rather than at birth.
  • Data was collected annually for the first seven sweeps.
  • Cohort members were recruited through schools.

The geographical scope of the study is England, rather than the United Kingdom or Great Britain.

Genetic data

At age 32, for the first time in Next Steps, data collection involved obtaining saliva samples for genotyping. This information will facilitate the analysis of both genetic and environmental factors on various outcomes, such as health or labour market outcomes, as well as enabling cross cohort comparisons with other British cohorts. Access is governed by the CLS Data Access Committee.

Quality controlled and imputed genetic data are available for 1,568 cohort members, obtained from 1,683 samples from consenting cohort members. Samples were obtained using the Oragene DNA kit and returned to a lab at the University of Bristol for DNA extraction, analysis, and storage.

More information on the genetic data available for research purposes is available on our genetic data and biological samples page.

Administrative data linkage

At age 25, cohort members were asked for their permission to link data from an extensive range of administrative records to their survey information.

Nine different consents were sought from four different domains – health, economic, education, and crime. Some of these data linkages are now in place and we are working towards the others.

Linked data currently available:

Health

  • NHS Hospital Episode Statistics (up until 2017)

Education

  • Data from Individualised Learner Records
  • Data from the National Pupil Database (NPD) for Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 and school level data
  • Student Loans Company information, covering amount taken out in loans and institution attended

Future data linkages:

Health

  • NHS primary care data
  • NHS Hospital Episode Statistics data refresh (with COVID-related ICD-10 codes)

Education

  • Higher Education Statistics Agency information on university participation and attainment
  • Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data, covering higher education applications and offers
  • Student Loans Company information, covering amount taken out in loans and institution attended

Economic

  • Department for Work and Pensions data on benefits and employment programs
  • HM Revenue & Customs data on employment, earnings, tax records, occupational pensions and National Insurance contributions

Cohort members who consented to economic linkages were also asked for their National Insurance number.

Crime

  • Ministry of Justice information held on the Police National Computer, covering arrests, cautions and sentences

Updated: January 2024

Sample design

The target population for the study was young people who were in Year 9 in English state and independent schools and pupil referral units in February 2004.

Cohort members were born between 1 September 1989 and 31 August 1990.

The sample design considered schools the primary sampling unit, with deprived schools being over-sampled by 50 per cent. Of 892 selected schools, 647 state and independent secondary schools as well as pupil referral units participated in the study. Within selected schools, pupils from minority ethnic groups (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African, Black Caribbean, and Mixed) were over-sampled to provide sufficient base sizes for analysis. The school and pupil selection approach ensured that, within a deprivation band and ethnic group, pupils had an equal probability of selection.

The issued sample for the Age 14 sweep was approximately 21,000 young people. A total of 15,770 households were interviewed in that initial sweep, representing 74 per cent of the target sample. For the Age 17 sweep, 352 Black Caribbean and Black African pupils, selected from the original schools sample, were added to the sample taking the total number of cohort members who had taken part in the study up to 16,122.

From ages 15-20, the target sample consisted of cohort members who had participated at the previous sweep. From the Age 25 sweep, the target sample was all cohort members who had ever taken part in the study.

Popular survey documentation

Next Steps Age 32 User Guide

This user guide provides information about the data arising from the Next Steps Age 32 sweep and supports the deposit of the data at the UK Data Archive.

Authors: Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Date published: 12/09/2024
PDF: 2,68 MB

Download

Next Steps Age 25 User Guide

This user guide accompanies the Next Steps Age 25 sweep.

Authors: Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Date published: 01/07/2021
PDF: 551,63 KB

Download

Data access

We’ve published guidance to help users find out what’s in our data.

Most Next Steps data are available through the UK Data Service. Visit the UK Data Service study page for Next Steps [SN 2000030].

Principal Investigator

Morag Henderson Professor of Sociology and Principal Investigator of Next Steps

Phone: 020 7911 5566
Email: morag.henderson@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Henderson’s main area of research is inequalities across the life course. More specifically she examines patterns in educational attainment, bullying and wellbeing.

Morag oversees all aspects of CLS’s work on Next Steps, and leads on the strategic and scientific direction of the study.

Contact us

Centre for Longitudinal Studies
UCL Social Research Institute

20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL

Email: clsdata@ucl.ac.uk

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