“Creative Non-compliance”: Complying with the “Spirit of the Law” Not the “Letter of the Law” under the Covid-19 Lockdown Restrictions

Figures & data

Figure 1. An illustration of the sampling, focus group and interview components of the qualitative research package.

Table 1. Demographic descriptives for the focus group and interview samples.

	Focus Groups number (% of sample)	Interviews number (% of sample)		Focus Groups number (% of sample)	Interviews number (% of sample)
Gender			Ethnicity
Male	35 (45%)	22 (47%)	White British	49 (64%)	32 (68%)
Female	42 (55%)	25 (53%)	White Irish	2 (3%)	2 (4%)
			Other White	4 (5%)	1 (2%)
Age			Indian	4 (5%)	4 (9%)
Age 18 to 25	24 (31%)	12 (26%)	White and Black African	2 (3%)	1 (2%)
Age 26 to 35	7 (9%)	6 (13%)	White and Asian	2 (3%)	2 (4%)
Age 36 to 45	15 (19%)	7 (15%)	Other Mixed	2 (3%)	0 (0%)
Age 46 to 55	12 (16%)	9 (19%)	White and Black Caribbean	1 (1%)	0 (0%)
Age 56 to 65	12 (16%)	8 (17%)	Pakistani	3 (4%)	2 (4%)
Age 66 to 75	5 (6%)	3 (6%)	Bangladeshi	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Age 75 and above	2 (3%)	2 (4%)	Other Asian	2 (3%)	0 (0%)
			Black Caribbean	1 (1%)	1 (2%)
Disability			Black African	1 (1%)	0 (0%)
My day-to-day activities are limited a lot	6 (8%)	5 (11%)	Chinese	4 (5%)	2 (4%)
No. My day-to-day activities not limited	57 (74%)	35 (74%)
My day-to-day activities limited a little	14 (18%)	7 (15%)
Employment status			Relationship status
Self-Employed	5 (6%)	2 (4%)	Single	18 (24%)	10 (22%)
Working: 30 hours a week or more	19 (25%)	14 (30%)	In a relationship, but not married or in a civil partnership	23 (30%)	12 (26%)
Working: less than 30 hours a week	7 (9%)	5 (11%)	Married	26 (34%)	19 (41%)
Furloughed or temporarily redundant	7 (9%)	5 (11%)	Separated, but still legally married	1 (1%)	0 (0%)
Not working because of long term sickness or disability	1 (1%)	0 (0%)	Divorced	6 (8%)	4 (9%)
Not registered unemployed but seeking work	1 (1%)	1 (2%)	Widowed	2 (3%)	1 (2%)
Registered unemployed	3 (4%)	1 (2%)	In a registered same-sex civil partnership	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Not seeking work	3 (4%)	1 (2%)	Prefer not to say	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Retired (including retired early)	10 (13%)	8 (17%)
Full-time student	19 (25%)	8 (17%)
None of the above	2 (3%)	2 (4%)

Table 2. Other descriptives for the focus group and interview samples

	Focus Groups	Interviews			Focus Groups	Interviews
Property ownership status				Outside space at their property
Owns outright	27 (35%)	17 (36%)		A private garden	58 (75%)	34 (72%)
Owns with a mortgage or loan	27 (35%)	18 (38%)		A balcony or terrace	1 (1%)	1 (2%)
Part owns and part rents (shared ownership)	1 (1%)	1 (2%)		A courtyard or other private outside space	7 (9%)	4 (9%)
Rents (with or without housing benefit)	22 (29%)	11 (23%)		No outdoor space	11 (14%)	8 (17%)
Lives here rent free	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic
I have experienced symptoms of Covid-19					6 (8%)	1 (2%)
I – and/or a member of household – am in a “at risk” group and received Government advice to self-isolate for 12 weeks					9 (12%)	7 (15%)
I – and/or a member of my household – works in the NHS or in health and social care					5 (6%)	3 (6%)
I – and/or a member of my household – is a key worker outside of the health and social care sector (e.g those working in utilities, food chains or public services) and am still going to work					14 (18%)	9 (19%)
I – and/or a member of my household – have been furloughed by my employer as a result of the pandemic					9 (12%)	4 (9%)
I – and/or a member of my household – have been made redundant or otherwise lost paid work as a result of the pandemic					3 (4%)	2 (4%)