This is how Peterborough Telegraph readers say the lockdown has affected their lives - and their biggest concerns

Our lockdown survey, published across this title and 150 others across the UK last week, offers an insight into how the coronavirus crisis and lockdown has impacted people in Peterborough and their concerns for the future.

In total we asked readers 25 questions on their attitude towards the lockdown. Of these questions three focused on how the lockdown has affected mental health, relationships and concerns for the future - and today we can reveal how PT readers answered.

The majority of PT readers who completed our survey said they felt personally most concerned about the health and wellbeing of family/ friends with 49.03% putting that as their top concern. That was followed by 21.59% concerned about their own health, 8.70% most concerned about the impact on children’s education, 8.25% on household finances and 7.80% about the security of employment/ work.

By comparison, on a national level, 53% answered that they were most concerned about the ‘health and wellbeing of family/ friends’, 17% said their ‘own health and wellbeing’, 8.6% ‘security of employment/ work’, 8.5% ‘impact on your children’s education’ and 6.7% ‘your own/ household finances’.

Of the PT readers who took part in the survey, 12.44% said they had suffered severe mental health effects due to lockdown, 42.43% said they had been slightly affected, 21.44% were ‘not much affected’ and 22.49% were ‘not at all’ affected.

Nationally, 40% answered that their mental health was ‘slightly affected’, 12% ‘severely affected’, 23% ‘not much affected’ and 22% ‘not at all affected’.

When asked about the effects the lockdown has had on their relationship with a live-in partner or spouse, the majority of PT readers (44.08%) who took part in the survey responded that it had not changed the relationship.

10.34% said it had brought them ‘much closer together’, 9.45% saidit had brough them ‘slight;y’ closer together. Meanwhile 4.80% said it had pulled them apart slightly, 1.05% said it had pulled them apart ‘a lot’ (28.19% said they did not live with a partner and 2.10% answered ‘don’t know’).

The national average of answers on this subject was: 43% ‘it has not changed the relationship’, 12% ‘it has brought us slightly closer together’, 10.5% ‘it has brought us much closer together’, 4.9% ‘it has pulled us apart slightly’, 1.6% ‘it has pulled us apart a lot’ while 25.7% answered that they do not live with a partner or spouse.

During the course of this week we will be publishing more results of what local people had to say in our lockdown survey.