UK Parliament home

Open Legislate to release the 1951 census in 2032 instead of 2052

Created by Gill Denny
Closes on

Legislate to allow the release of the 1951 census details in 2032 instead of 2052 due to there being no censuses available in 1931 and 1941. This would mean that many families could find answers to genealogical questions that currently have no answers and no means of finding the answers elsewhere.

The next census that should be available is the 1931 census but has been destroyed. In 1941 there was no census due to war. There is a precedent for releasing personal information early and that is the 1939 register where data is redacted if the named individual is not known to be dead.

Twenty six years is a long wait for family historians to wait for new data on their ancestors to be revealed and many now searching will unfortunately not be alive themselves when the census is published.

Sign this petition

145 signatures

Show on a map

10,000

Petition progress

View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 17 March 2027.