What happens to people who do not complete the census?
Past experience suggests that the vast majority of people will fill in the form. Legal action is a last resort but it is an offence not to complete and return the Census form and if someone is found to have deliberately not taken part in the census then they may be fined up to 1000. Background If a form does not come back from a household an enumerator will return to the house many times to see if there is a problem and meet the householder before we would think about legal action. If anybody needs a bit of help the Census taker can give him or her advice or he or she could give the helpline a call. If somebody posts back their form and it is lost in the post then they will receive a follow-up visit from the Census taker to enquire whether the household needs assistance. In this instance the Census-taker will ask the household to complete another form because the legal requirement is that a completed form is actually received by the Census office from each household.
