NHS 2025 school vaping survey due autumn 2026: what adult readers should watch for

The NHS 2025 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey has not been published yet. NHS England says fieldwork for the 2025 survey ran from September 2025 to February 2026, with the report scheduled for autumn 2026 (NHS England Digital).

For adult readers, retailers and operators, the useful work starts before the headline figures arrive. The right question is not simply whether one number has gone up or down. It is whether the 2025 report uses comparable methods, how it defines each category, which age group is being described, and whether NHS England treats any change as statistically meaningful.

That matters because youth vaping statistics are easy to misuse. They should inform evidence-literate reading, age-restricted retail training and compliance audits. They should not be turned into promotional copy, fear-led claims or marketing aimed at people who should not be targeted by vaping advertising.

The survey sits within NHS England's Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England series. NHS England Digital describes it as a survey carried out by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England, with the 2025 fieldwork scheduled from September 2025 to February 2026 and publication expected in autumn 2026 (NHS England Digital).

The survey is about pupils in England, not adult consumers. NHS England's survey page describes participants as pupils aged 11 to 16, with eligible schools covering years 7 to 11, while the 2023 methodology notes important exclusions in the sampling frame, including special schools and very small schools (NHS England Digital methodology appendix).

That is why the framing needs care. This article is for adults reading public data, not for under-18s. The survey can tell adult readers something about reported patterns in a sampled school-age population. It cannot, on its own, support broad claims about every young person, every product route, every shop, or every change in behaviour.

The most responsible approach is to wait for the official autumn 2026 release, then read the tables, definitions and data quality notes together. A single percentage in isolation will not be enough.

Until the 2025 report is published, the 2023 NHS England release remains the latest full baseline for this series. The 2023 report was published on 17 October 2024 and later edited on 13 February 2025 (NHS England Digital 2023 report).

The 2023 vaping chapter is useful because it defines the categories that many readers will see quoted. NHS England defines current e-cigarette users as pupils who reported regular use, usually at least once a week, plus occasional users who used sometimes but less than once a week. Pupils who had only tried vaping once or twice were not counted as current users under that definition (NHS England Digital 2023 Part 4).

Using that definition, the 2023 report said 9% of pupils were current e-cigarette users and 25% had ever tried vaping (NHS England Digital 2023 Part 4). Those figures need the age context beside them. In the 2023 vaping chapter, current e-cigarette use rose from 1% among 11-year-olds to 10% among 14-year-olds and 19% among 15-year-olds. Flattening that into a single youth-vaping line loses useful detail.

The 2023 report also introduced an important method change. NHS England says the 2023 survey was administered online for the first time, replacing the previous paper-based approach (NHS England Digital 2023 report). That does not mean comparisons are impossible, but it does mean readers should be cautious until they have read the methodology and data quality statements.

The sample also matters. The 2023 methodology appendix says the main sampled publication included 13,192 pupils after exclusions from 185 sampled schools, alongside a separate volunteer-school dataset (NHS England Digital methodology appendix). Those are not details to skip. If a claim mixes sampled results and volunteer-school results without explaining the difference, adult readers should treat it cautiously.

The same caution applies to source-of-product statistics. In 2023, pupils who were regular e-cigarette users could select more than one source. That means percentages in that section are not always mutually exclusive, and they should not be used as if every response belongs in one tidy box (NHS England Digital 2023 Part 4).

When the 2025 report appears, the first read should be slow and methodological. Headline coverage may move quickly, but the official report will be where the useful context sits.

For adult readers, this is the difference between evidence and noise. A percentage can be accurate but still misleading if the definition is missing. A change can look dramatic but still be uncertain if the confidence intervals overlap or the report does not describe it as significant.

Retailers should be especially careful. The purpose of reading this report is not to find a marketing angle. It is to understand the public evidence base and check whether staff training, age-verification processes and compliance records need fresh attention.

Youth vaping data should not become promotional material. That is the practical compliance point for any adult retailer reading the 2025 report.

The CAP Code section on electronic cigarettes says marketing communications for e-cigarettes must be socially responsible, must not encourage non-smokers or non-nicotine-users to use e-cigarettes, must not be directed at under-18s, and must not be likely to appeal particularly to under-18s (CAP Code section 22). It also restricts medicinal claims unless the product has the relevant authorisation (CAP Code section 22).

That gives retailers a simple boundary. A school survey can be used as a prompt for internal training and compliance review. It should not be used to dramatise a shop window, target younger audiences, imply that non-nicotine-users should start vaping, or suggest medical benefits.

Adult-facing marketing audits should ask whether any public copy could be read as youth-facing, fear-led or unsupported. Our UK Vape Marketing Audit Checklist for 2026 is a useful next read for that broader review.

Age-sale framing needs the same primary-source discipline. The Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 provide the legal anchor for age-restricted sale and proxy-purchasing rules around nicotine inhaling products (legislation.gov.uk). For a plain-English overview of the adult-only boundary, see What Is The Legal Age To Vape?, but cite the legislation itself when making legal claims.

Retailers following UK rule changes may also want wider context from UK Vape Laws 2026: What Changes Now the Tobacco and Vapes Act Is Law?. The key point here is narrower: do not use under-18 survey data as a promotional hook.

Before quoting or sharing a claim from the 2025 survey, run it through this basic check.

This checklist is deliberately plain. It is meant to slow down interpretation before a statistic turns into a claim. The more serious the claim, the more important it is to trace it back to the official table, not a screenshot, summary post or second-hand paraphrase.

There are also some useful red flags. Be wary of any article or retailer copy that says youth vaping has changed without stating the survey year. Be wary of any claim that quotes a single percentage without the definition. Be wary of any comparison that ignores the 2023 online-method change. Be especially wary of any promotional message that appears to use school-age data as a sales argument.

The 2025 NHS survey will matter when it lands in autumn 2026, but the headline number will not be the whole story. The responsible reading will start with the methodology, definitions, age bands and confidence intervals.

For adult readers, that means waiting for the official report rather than filling the gap with speculation. If a 2025 figure is higher, lower or unchanged, the next question should be whether NHS England describes that comparison as statistically supported and methodologically comparable.

For retailers and operators, the report should be treated as a compliance and training prompt. It may help shape age-verification refreshers, internal audits and staff awareness, but it should not be converted into advertising claims. CAP Code section 22 remains the primary marketing boundary for e-cigarette communications (CAP Code section 22), and age-restricted sale should be anchored to primary legal sources such as the 2015 regulations on legislation.gov.uk (legislation.gov.uk).

The careful answer, for now, is simple: the survey is due, not published. Bookmark the official NHS England Digital survey page, read the 2025 release in full when it appears, and treat any youth data as evidence for adult compliance decisions, not as a marketing opportunity.