The decennial 2021 censuses of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland took place on 21 March 2021, and the census of Scotland took place on 20 March 2022. The censuses were administered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in England and Wales, by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) in Northern Ireland, and by the National Records of Scotland in Scotland. These were the first British censuses for which most of the data was gathered online, and two of them went ahead despite the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because the information obtained will assist government and public understanding of the pandemic's impact. Enumeration in Scotland was postponed, and took place in 2022, the plans for it having been delayed because of the pandemic.