News

A new era for a wide range of longitudinal health and wellbeing research 

UK LLC Communications Team

1st Jul 2025

Today, UK LLC announces new approvals from NHS providers and UK Government departments meaning linked longitudinal data held in the UK LLC Trusted Research Environment (TRE) can now be used for a wide range of research in the public good.  

Previously research was focussed on COVID-19 projects, and while researchers may now apply for general purpose research, legal restrictions remain on the COVID-19 datasets (GP data, COVID testing and vaccination data) which mean these can still only be used for COVID relevant research projects. 

UK LLC is now encouraging applications from both longitudinal researchers and analysts who use large datasets and are interested in the depth of detail present in linked Longitudinal Population Study (LPS) datasets. Applications are made via the UK LLC Application System and it is currently free to access for early adopters. 

With over 400,000 participant records in the TRE, datasets can be viewed via UK LLC Explore, and UK LLC Guidebook providing comprehensive data documentation and a TRE user guide – from application guidance through to data access.  

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Enabling research to get to the heart of complex health and socio-economic factors and ingrained inequalities 

As part of this transformative development, UK-based researchers will be able to apply to access LPS data linked with both health and non-health administrative and place-based data. The non-health administrative data includes data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), and place-based data includes air and noise pollution, and green space availability regionally overlayed where study participants reside. The HMRC and DWP data are currently being linked and will be available later in 2025. 

Each UK LLC partner LPS retains the decision-making process on whether or not their participants’ data is linked to other types of data. Decisions to link will be varied, as it depends on the permissions agreed between each LPS and their participants. 

UK LLC is co-funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Since 2021, the collective strength of these important data collected, in some cases, over decades, has been helping to understand and address some of the UK’s most pressing questions through linked associations between health, social, behavioural, and economic research. 

Andy Boyd, UK LLC Director says, “This is a major milestone for UK LLC which many in the team, in the NHS and Office for National Statistics and government departments have been working on for several years. I am proud that UK LLC can support the UK’s wonderful longitudinal studies by providing these unique linkages and to help them open up new scientific possibilities. We could not have done this without the help from our partner studies and the team at SeRP UK at Swansea University’s Population Data Science who have worked tirelessly to make this happen. 

UK LLC exists to serve the research community. This endorsement from our key partner government departments across the UK and associated regulators sends a clear message of support for the UK LLC model. 

We are looking forward to welcoming many more research users to join our existing community who are already drawing on UK LLC for high quality, pooled and linked longitudinal data alongside our in-house experts and partner studies.” 

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More long-term studies seek to join UK LLC 

The UK LLC TRE holds data from more than 20 of the UK’s most established long-term research studies, with many more in the process of gaining the necessary approvals to join and enjoy the benefits of becoming a UK LLC partner.  

Nish Chaturvedi, Professor in Clinical Epidemiology and Director of the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at University College London has been instrumental in establishing UK LLC as part of the National Core Studies during the pandemic. Nish says, “UK LLC being open to applications for general purpose research signifies the culmination of the intense focus and dedication of the original longitudinal population studies. Over the last 4 years they have been committed to working with UK LLC to make it the vital resource it has become for the research community. As a member of the UK LLC Executive Group, it is incredibly rewarding to be part of this initiative.”  

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Public views sought on landmark move  

The UK LLC Public Advisory Group helped developed key messages in support of UK LLC partner LPS’ communications that participant data will now be linked to non-health administrative data (where permissions apply). They were involved in the development of a wide variety of multimedia resources. Involving the public aims to ensure that individual and societal benefits are at the forefront of its work.  

George Ploubidis, Professor of Population Health and Statistics at the UCL Social Research Institute and Director of 1958NCDS and 1970BCS at the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies highlights the benefits of UK LLC as a route to supporting economic, social, and behavioural research, “Being able to understand how our society changes over time is critical if we want to learn how to tackle inequalities and find ways to create positive change. Having UK LLC as a resource supporting the social sciences offers exciting opportunities. This is the rich, granular, and comprehensive data, needed to inform the Governments’ new strategic research missions and tackle pressing questions for the benefit of society.” 

Professor Cathie Sudlow, Director of the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh, Director of the UKRI Adolescent Health Study and new member of the UK LLC Executive Group says, “The UK has a wealth of rich and diverse data from longitudinal studies. UK LLC provides an efficient and effective way of enhancing these studies by linking them to comprehensive data from across the health, education, disability and wider administrative sectors of the UK’s four nations. UK LLC forms an important part of the UK’s research infrastructure. Linking data at the unprecedented breadth and scale of the UK LLC offers up tremendous scientific opportunity. The availability of these data for a wide range of public good research will enable researchers to get to the heart of complex health and socio-economic factors and ingrained inequalities, driving forward the UK’s ability to respond to some of society’s greatest challenges.” 

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UK LLC Partner Longitudinal Population Studies: Those in bold are part of the first group of partner LPS that will have data available for a wide range of general purpose research. UK LLC aims for almost all partner LPS to be available for general purpose research by the end of 2025.

Airwave Health Monitoring Study, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), Born in Bradford (BIB), English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) Norfolk Study, Extended Cohort for E-health, Environment and DNA (EXCEED), The Fenland Study, Generation Scotland, Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression Study (GLAD; part of the NIHR BioResource), The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS), Next Steps, Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) (non-linked data only), MRC National Survey of Health and Development Cohort/1946 Birth Cohort (NSHD/1946BC), National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) BioResource COVID-19 Psychiatry and Neurological Genetics (COPING) Study, Southall and Brent Revisited (SABRE) (non-linked data only), TRACK-COVID Study, TwinsUK, Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), Understanding Society – the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS).

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Further information can be found here: 

Explore our datasets – https://explore.ukllc.ac.uk/  
Read our Guidebook – https://guidebook.ukllc.ac.uk/docs/welcome.html  
Apply – https://apply.ukllc.ac.uk/  
Contact: info@ukllc.ac.uk  
Website: https://ukllc.ac.uk/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ukllc/