ONS ‘paints a daunting picture’ on official data in letter to Treasury Committee

• Treasury Committee
• Read the letter

The letter, sent by the National Statistician Sir Ian Diamond, appears to rule out the possibility that the transition to the new Transformed LFS will happen next year.  Sir Ian cites an ambition to transition to the Transformed LFS in 2026 with the possibility of delays until 2027. 

Sir Ian also confirms the position of the ONS that ‘we can no longer rely on surveys’, indicating there will need to be a permanent change in how the agency seeks to collect labour force data. 

Within the organisation, the letter describes ‘a difficult and challenging experience for many, which has affected wellbeing and confidence at all levels’. 

There is also a recognition that the stats body would welcome a national conversation on making it compulsory for people to respond to the LFS. 

When discussing resourcing, the letter states that the need for ‘significant cost-saving measures to remain affordable’ was one of the issues which ‘curtailed our ability to use the totality of organisational funding and dedicate the resources we would have ideally wanted to our social surveys operation’. 

Despite this, the ONS has increased the resources it allocates to improving the LFS and its other social surveys in the last year. The number of permanent face-to-face field interviewers has risen by 15% in the last year, from 477 to 544. They have also built up an agency workforce of 130 temporary field staff in the same period. 

Their latest figures shared with the Committee show some increase in response rates to the Labour Force Survey, from 17.4% in Jul-Sep 2023 to 24.6% in Jul-Sep 2024. 

Chair comment

Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP, said: 

“This letter paints a daunting picture. The fact that we could be waiting another two full years until we see such a crucial dataset reach the proper standard is a major blow. These delays will make some of the most consequential decisions taken by the Treasury and Bank of England challenging at best and misinformed at worst.” 

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