We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Campion Award for Excellence in Official Statistics, awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in partnership with the UK Statistics Authority and Civil Service World.
The award celebrates good practice in UK official statistics, recognising outstanding innovations, developments, and overcoming of challenges faced by government statisticians striving to produce both “business as usual” statistics and forward-thinking innovations to improve the quality of evidence used by government and wider society.
Winner:
Integration of Administrative data into the Family Resources Survey and related outputs - Family Resources Survey Team, Family Resources Survey Transformation Team, Households Below Average Income Team, and Pensioners’ Incomes Team, Department for Work and Pensions
This ambitious project from multiple teams across DWP uses administrative data to help resolve a significant gap in the Family Resources Survey, among other outputs. The work uses innovative statistical methods to address a long‑standing issue of benefit under‑reporting in income statistics, which will lead to better official statistics on poverty and incomes. This is an important contribution that will strengthen the evidence base used by policymakers across government, as well as by researchers and academics, to inform analysis and public debate.
Highly commended:
Refugee Integration Outcomes (RIO) Longitudinal Data Linkage Project – Kevin McCafferty and Caroline Peate, Office for National Statistics and Home Office
This collaborative project between the ONS and Home Office links refugee data with administrative data from across government to create an anonymised analytical dataset that enables longitudinal tracking of outcomes for a typically hard-to-study population. Insights derived from the dataset have provided unique evidence on the economic, housing, and language outcomes for refugees in England and Wales for the first time.
Highly commended:
Publication of first Input-Output tables for Wales – Input-Output Table Team for the Welsh Government
The Welsh Government’s first Input-Output Tables (IOTs) provide a detailed picture of the Welsh economy, showing how sectors interact, enabling better analysis of economic interventions. This work applies innovative methods to develop the IOTs, mapping 55 industries using diverse sources, overcoming challenges with UK-centric systems. The IOTs have already influenced analysis by the Welsh Government and represent a major advance in Wales’s economic data infrastructure and evidence-informed policymaking.
Dev Virdee, Chair of the Campion Award committee, said:
“I want to extend my sincere congratulations to the winners and highly commended teams. It is important that we recognise and celebrate such innovations to official statistics which enable better decisions by the government and other users, and have a substantial, long-lasting, and positive impact on real people in the UK.”
Penny Young, Interim Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, said:
“This year’s winner and highly commended entries each reflect the power of taking innovative approaches to addressing old problems. They all demonstrate the value of closing data gaps and pushing the boundaries of what official statistics can tell us.
“In the face of challenging circumstances, it is essential that we celebrate the success and dedication shown by those working throughout the statistical system. I therefore congratulate the winners and commended entries, who exemplify the best values of our civil servants and true excellence in their work.”