First of March 2021
Read all about filling in the census form on-line. Clearly states that if you have no post code to ring the census help line, which I did.
Thankfully it is an 0800 number so I was not charged for the hours I spent holding the line waiting for someone to answer my call. Eventually I spoke to a person who insisted that I provide them with a post code for my address. I explained that I was ringing them because I live on a narrow boat that does not have a post code as it constantly moves from one place to another, the raison d'être for living on a boat.
I was offered the opportunity of completing the census over the phone but I explained that I would be at a different location on 21st March to that one that I was currently occupying.
After much toing and froing and the call operative contacting their supervisor and with the conversation going nowhere I gave up.
But only for an hour or so. I repeated the above procedure another two times, but still with no result.
6th March 2021
I tried many times to get an access code by phone with no success and a great deal of confusion on the part of the people manning the Census help line phones. Then, whilst looking at the Census web site again I spotted the facility for 'Web Chat', that's new! I'll give that a try.
This was the result.
Start of transcript.
8:02 AM - Sandeep Hello Chris , welcome to our Census 2021 live chat service, how can I help you today?
chris giles - 8:03 AM I need a 16 digit access code. I live on a narrow boat, continuously cruising and have no fixed abode, hence no post code.
8:04 AM - Sandeep Ok, Please give me a second whilst I look into this.
8:10 AM - Sandeep Ok Chris, Are you registered with a GP? Or with Royal mail?
chris giles - 8:10 AM I am registered with a GP
8:11 AM - Sandeep In that case all boaters registered with a GP will be contacted directly by the Office of National Statistics
8:12 AM - Sandeep At this stage without a fixed address I am unable to send out an access code
chris giles - 8:13 AM When will I be contacted and by whom. I am currently many miles from my GP's practice and do not expect to be close to them within the next three months
chris giles - 8:14 AM From your web site:-
To request an access code, we need your address
Enter a postcode
UK postcode
I don’t live at a fixed address
If you live somewhere that is mobile, such as a canal boat or motorhome, contact us to request an access code.
This is exactly what I am doing.
8:15 AM - Sandeep I do appreciated that and I have also read that on the census website too which is why I went to confirm with my manager before I misinformed you. The only option I have here today is to take a 'care of' address and then issue you with a code. Do you have an address you can provide for this?
(I tried several, all of which were unacceptable because they were a business address rather than a house address.)
chris giles - 8:25 AM Can I use your address? If not, why not?
8:25 AM - Sandeep Because you don't have any affiliation with myself.
chris giles - 8:26 AM Exactly, I have no affiliation with anyone. How do I get an access code?
8:26 AM - Sandeep There will be census field officers out at marinas and ports to assist with getting residents of narrow boats signed up. And using GP details, ONS will contact people who reside on narrowboats
chris giles - 8:28 AM I am not in a marina, nor in a port. The census officers walking the tow path missed me last time around because I happened to be travelling when they walked past.
8:28 AM - Sandeep I have confirmed with manager and my helpdesk team, the information regarding getting a code is incorrect. I apologise for this.
8:29 AM - Sandeep There will be field officers out til the 21st March. They will also be out after this to follow up people who have not had the opportunity to complete the census.
chris giles - 8:30 AM How do I get a transcript of this web chat?
8:31 AM - Sandeep I am unsure, I am unable to email it to you. Under the freedom of information act you can contact us for this.
End of transcript.
08.03.2021
Thought I would give the web chat a try again, Well Well, it is no longer available! Guess I'll go back to ringing them on their normal help line.
10.03.2021
Up until now I have been ringing the census help line at least three times a day to try to get an access code to complete the census form on-line all to no avail. Today I did not give up.
After many attempts I spoke to someone who assured me that they would get this sorted before the conversation came to an end. I was delighted. She took some details of my situation (i.e. living on a narrow boat with no fixed abode) and the fact that their web site asks people who have no post code to contact them and spent quite some time speaking to her supervisor who explained that I could wait for a towpath census walker to deliver a paper form to me as the on-line census required a post code to generate an access code. i.e. it was not possible to generate a code to complete the form on-line without a post code.
Here we go round and round again (Song by Mariah Carey).
Tried again a little later and eventually succumbed to their insistence that I provide them with a post code so that they could generate an access code on the understanding that I would not be logged at that post code for the purposes of the census. I gave the post code of the public house not 100 yards from where I was moored and gave the first line of the address as the name of the boat I was on.
The access code arrived on my phone an hour or so later. I entered it in the appropriate box on the census web site and it asked me if 'Boatname', Top Flat, The Greyhound Public House' was the correct address. NO.
Not only that, the form only had room for one persons details, I would need another for extra people.
Back to the web site, apparently there are two forms that can be completed, one for an individual and one for a household.
In all the conversations with all the telephone operatives never had it been mentioned that I had a choice of form to complete and each form had a different access code for each address. How mad is that?
Back on the phone, got an access code for a household form - hooray, it might actually work.
21.03.2021
OK here goes, open up the form. Well well well, the first question was
Is this the correct address- Answer NO, I have moved since you gave me that access code.
Hey ho, guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get this sorted out now. I think the only way I am going to be able to make this work is to get a paper form to fill in from the tow path walkers mentioned in a previous conversation.
22.03.2021
First thing this morning I rang up to ask for a paper form to complete the census and
was told that the people walking the tow path would not be starting to get around for several
days yet and that they could not be contacted to ask them to specifically get a form to me.
I asked for an access code to complete on line and was asked, yet again, for a post code.
I explained for the umpteenth time that I was on a boat and do not have a post code.
I gave a 'what three words' address as my location and was asked if that was near the
Tesco distribution depot. I agreed that it was and was told that they would be using
the Tesco distribution depot post code to generate an access code for me but it would
take several days to get to me. I checked that is would be for a household form and was
told that the access code would work for both individual and household forms. As for
waiting several days I was told that I would not be prosecuted for not filling in the
form on time as I had contacted them about the situation.
Major change, they are now accepting ANY post code to generate an access code AND it
will work for any form.
Several days to get to me - that's not on, I'm meant to complete it on the 21st and
I am already a day late.
Back on the phone. Wonder upon wonders. The guy I got this time said 'No Problem'
when I explained I was on a narrow boat, with no post code but I could give him
a 'what three words' location. 'Just let me run up What Three Words and I'll be
right with you' he said.
'You are close to the Triumph Visitor Centre aren't you.'
'Yes' I replied.
'I'll use that to generate an access code and send it to you
right away' he said, and hey presto, my phone dinged to say I had a message with the code.
Now why couldn't they have set this up from the get go?
At last I've filled in my census form and submitted it, making sure I got an email
confirmation that I have done so. I don't want the ONS pestering me to complete the
census form with the other three access codes that I have been issued and maybe another
that might arrive in a day or so.
23.03.2021
Just received an access code to complete the census, which I did on line yesterday.
Hopefully this will be my last post on this subject, unless I am asked to use the four access codes that I have been issued with in my attempts to comply with the law.
06.04.2021
A friend called by while out with her dog this afternoon. She has just come from Market Bosworth marina where she was talking to a Census Officer (CO) who was handing out census forms to boaters. She told the CO that I wanted a form to fill in. She was told that as my boat name was not on the list of boats to deliver to I would not get one.
Ooops, Victor Meldrew mode kicked in.
I rang the census help line, pressed '4' for those who live on a boat or in a caravan and got put through to a telephone person who asked for my name and post code! Went through the hole rigmarole again and the best that they could offer me was a code to fill in a form online or to complete the census over the phone. By this time I am campaigning for those who are not computer literate and who are partially deaf, so refused the code to fill in online and refused point blank to fill in the form online. I NEVER fill in forms unless I can read them through from beginning to end before I start. I like to know what I am letting myself in for, which is why I downloaded the census form on day one in preparation to filling it in on line.
Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I asked the telephone operative to pass on the message that the ONS had not thought this through and that they should be able to organise a delivery of a census form to anywhere along the towpath at a few hours notice as I will be ringing up tomorrow when I moor up to ask them to deliver a form to me there, and the following day and the day after and the day after that until they find a way of getting the form to me wherever I happen to be that day. After all I did stay moored up in the same location for six days waiting for them.
