Announcements
ECHILD accepting data access applications from eligible PhD students
ECHILD continues to accept data access applications from substantive employees of UK universities and research institutions. From July 2026, eligibility has been expanded to include PhD students who are Accredited Researchers, provided they are supervised by a fully accredited substantive employee who takes responsibility for the project. More information.
ECHILD data refresh underway
ECHILD is currently being refreshed to incorporate the latest available health, education and social care data, extending coverage to the latest availability. Education (NPD) data will be updated up to and including 2024/25 while health data up to December 2025. We anticipate that researchers will be able to access the refreshed dataset from Autumn 2026 although timelines remain subject to the successful completion of quality checks. Contact the team for more information on [email protected]
Data access.
How can I apply to use ECHILD?
ECHILD data are being made available to accredited researchers for research that benefits the provision of healthcare and education in England.
Please note:
Linkage between ECHILD and additional datasets is not currently permitted.
Access is FREE: Funding from ADR UK allows us to provide access to accredited researchers without fees.
ECHILD projects should fall under one of our five Research Areas.
Applications to access ECHILD may be submitted by fully accredited substantive employees of UK universities/institutions. PhD students are also eligible to apply, provided they are Fully Accredited Researchers and are under the supervision of a fully accredited substantive employee who assumes responsibility for the project.
Follow these steps to apply for access:
Pre-requisites and preparation:
a) Obtain Full Accredited Researcher status.
b) Familiarise yourself with our Data Resources, including the ECHILD User Guide, Data Catalogue, Code Repository, and training material.
c) Ensure that your institution has Assured Organisational Connectivity certified by the ONS Secure Research Service, or alternatively, check you can access the SafePod Network.
d) Contact the ECHILD team at UCL to discuss feasibility: [email protected].
e) Complete the UKSA Ethics self-assessment (recommended but not compulsory).
Complete a project Application Form and a Data Request Form, and send to [email protected].
The ECHILD Data Access Committee, which includes members of the public, will review your application form.
The ECHILD Data Access Committee will provide feedback, typically within 2 weeks of receiving a completed application form.
Revisions to the application form should be returned to the ECHILD Data Access Committee.
Once your application has been approved by UCL, submit your application to the ONS PASS system for project accreditation.
Receive project accreditation from the ONS. Currently, applications take an average of 8 weeks to be processed.
You (your institution) will need to sign a non-negotiable Data Access Agreement (the sublicense) with UCL.
Secure data access is in place via the ONS Secure Research Service.
Your data access journey: From application to approval
Explore your Data Access Journey Map. Follow each step of the application process from start to secure data access.
ECHILD Research Areas
ECHILD has been approved for research that has a clear public benefit relating to the provision of healthcare and education. This falls under five themes.
The linkage of additional datasets to ECHILD Database is not currently permitted.
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e.g. do disabled children attending schools or living in areas that provide a good level of support in school or social care services for disability have decreased rates of unplanned hospital contacts compared with less supportive schools/areas?
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e.g. about variation in Special Educational Needs support and outcomes for children with chronic health conditions or disability
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e.g. investigating whether associations between chronic health conditions and lower school attainment are explained by school absence. This evidence would be important for policies to reduce school absences for children with chronic conditions.
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e.g. what are the health outcomes of children post age 16 who have contact with social care services or have special educational needs?
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e.g. what the most effective methods for working with linked health and education data are. The complexity of ECHILD increases in proportion to the number of datasets and individuals it contains. Therefore, novel approaches need to be investigated to unlock the full potential of the linked data.
Data Access FAQs
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Applications to access ECHILD data may be submitted by fully accredited substantive employees of UK universities/institutions. PhD students are also eligible to apply, provided they are Fully Accredited Researchers and are under the supervision of a fully accredited substantive employee who assumes responsibility for the project. Data is accessed via the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS). Project proposals will go through the ONS Approval Process (PASS). MSc students are not currently allowed to access ECHILD data.
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Yes. When you sign the Data Access Agreement, you will be informed of all the guidelines and processes that you must follow to keep your work within the governance agreements.
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Your application will have to follow rules of data minimisation and data retention. This means that you will only be given access to the data modules and the years of data that are necessary to answer your research question(s). Any application that requests access to all the data contained within the ECHILD database will not be approved.
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If you have a team, all your names need to be listed in the Data Access Agreement and all researchers need to be ONS Accredited Researchers. The named team of researchers will have access to the data share created for your project.
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Accessing ECHILD is free to accredited researchers thanks to funding from ADR UK.
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Not at the moment. Artificial HES data are available here. You will have access to our Data Catalogue and User Guide to help you navigate the database (both available on our Data Resources page).
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Data resources can be found on the data resources section of our website. Further documentation and technical information is available on our GitHub pages. Our Discussion Forum is a space designed for researchers and analysts to share insights and collaborate on topics related to ECHILD data, education and child health. We run ECHILD training courses: contact [email protected] for more information. An on-demand ECHILD training course is now available on INSTATS. Contact us to join our mailing list, and check our News and Events page for updates.
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We don’t require HRA Ethics, but we encourage you to complete the UKSA Ethics self-assessment tool.