The statistics body based in Newport has announced progress after facing difficulties.
The organisation released its second quarterly update on the Economic Statistics Plan alongside the Survey Improvement and Enhancement Plan.
Both schemes launched in mid-2025 with the aim of strengthening the quality and longevity of Britain’s core economic information.
According to the update, work is underway to remedy significant errors from previous periods and to increase engagement with household and business surveys, as well as moving further operations onto updated platforms.
Major mistakes fell from four the previous quarter to just one most recently.
However, challenges persist.
Approximately 70 percent of targets set for 2025/26 have been met, equating to 65 out of 93. Outstanding work stems from issues integrating systems, time needed to obtain required resources, the difficulty of executing rapid transformation, and competing demands such as preparations for Census 2031.
The organisation is implementing a phased strategy to manage improvement work while protecting momentum on critical transformations already in progress.
Developments created over recent years are now materialising in published data.
Response rates to business and household surveys have risen alongside improvements in data quality. Engagement with the Labour Force Survey has rebounded, nearing levels seen before the COVID pandemic, and inflation figures now provide a clearer picture.
A key development involves incorporating supermarket till data into inflation calculations, covering roughly half of UK food retail from February 2026 onwards.
This represents about four years of effort and constitutes a significant shift. Recorded prices will more closely mirror what shoppers encounter at the checkout and display reduced volatility.
In the quarterly update, the organisation detailed future changes, including the move from the LFS to the TLFS, now timetabled for 2027 rather than November 2026, due to the need for additional information following recent questionnaire modifications.
Positive momentum is building as demonstrable enhancements become visible.