Our plans for 2026/27 to 2028/29

ONS business planning

This year, the ONS Executive Committee (ExCo) adopted a new approach to business planning which focused on prioritisation, affordability, and delivery confidence. This reflects a recognition that previous plans at times overcommitted relative to available capacity, which impacted implementation and reduced delivery confidence. The new approach responds directly to staff feedback, and the Devereux review, calling for clearer prioritisation to enable the consistent delivery of high-quality statistical work. Business areas initially submitted high-level plans, which were then reviewed collaboratively through Director-level workshops to agree organisational priorities. These priorities are informing the development of milestones across a three-year horizon, rather than a single year.

As part of this exercise, a new mechanism – the Waiting Room – was introduced to strengthen decision-making on, and aid transparent sequencing of, change activities. Its purpose is to ensure that we only progress significant change activity when it can be fully resourced and has met an agreed set of delivery criteria helping to manage the overall volume of complex change undertaken at any one time. This will help rebalance our portfolio to protect delivery of the work that matters most.

Change activities entering the Waiting Room will either progress through further discovery and development within our change delivery pipeline or be formally paused. Change activities can only exit the Waiting Room and go onto the change delivery pipeline when they meet the agreed conditions for success, following assessment by the new Performance and Change Committee and endorsement by ExCo, ensuring that delivery only begins when it is affordable and feasible.

When change activities progress from the change delivery pipeline they will enter the change delivery portfolio, which includes our highest priority and most complex change programmes. This new approach will increase delivery confidence of our biggest programmes and will ensure sufficient funding, enabling resources and conditions for successful delivery are in place including strategic clarity, a validated roadmap, proven feasibility, available skills and resources, and mature governance. Portfolio programmes will undergo rapid assurance by delivery experts to establish greater delivery predictability for our most important change work in Q1 2026/27, with outcomes shared with ExCo to support any necessary interventions.

Our strategic outcomes, objectives and priority activities

We have developed the strategic outcomes and objectives to ensure strong coherence and consistent focus in our decision-making across the business. This is even more important in a context of constrained resource and high demand. Our strategic outcomes and objectives are delivered via a set of priority activities, and associated milestones and form the basis of our planning approach. Performance against the business plan is monitored via key performance indicators and milestones aligned to each strategic outcome.

Plans will be firmed up progressively, with additional activities, milestones and deliverables added only as initiatives move through the Waiting Room and into the agreed change portfolio, ensuring that commitments are underpinned by robust assurance, delivery readiness, clear ownership and confirmed capacity and resources.

Strategic outcomes

Our three strategic outcomes articulate what success looks like.

Success is when we have:

Outcome 1: Improved the quality and trustworthiness of the statistics we publish. This outcome will be achieved through a combination of all three strategic objectives listed below.

Outcome 2: Provided society and decision makers with timely and relevant data and statistics. This outcome is about delivering timely data and statistics that meet user expectations and will once again require delivery against all three strategic objectives – covering regular statistical production cycles and essential data services supported by capabilities developed through objective 3.

Outcome 3: Developed an efficient, resilient and adaptable organisation with the right capabilities for the future. This outcome is about our infrastructure and workforce. This will be fed mostly by strategic objective 3, informed by users and feedback from delivery of objectives 2 and 3.

Strategic objectives

Our three strategic objectives have been designed to enable meaningful impact and contribute to achieving our strategic outcomes. We will:

Strategic Objective 1: Deliver and continuously improve an agreed portfolio of critical statistics

We are refocusing our statistical portfolio to prioritise quality, impact and essential improvement work by narrowing the range of outputs and introducing a transparent tiering model informed by user needs and expected impact. This approach ensures that resources are directed towards the statistics that most strongly shape critical economic and societal decisions, with priorities reviewed and updated as context and demand evolve. By systematically tiering which outputs matter most, sequencing improvement activity, and being open about prioritisation decisions, this work directly supports Strategic Objective 1, enabling ONS to deliver and continuously improve an agreed portfolio of critical statistics that are trustworthy, high quality, and aligned with the needs of users and decision‑makers.

We regularly review our portfolio of outputs through a new governance approach, with a focus on using our annual business planning process to commission outputs for the year ahead, in line with our strategic priorities. Following our prioritisation announcement in February 2026, we are continuing to engage users on a number of areas. We will continue to be transparent about how and why we prioritise and we welcome feedback as we iterate our model.

Updates on user consultation and prioritisation are set out in the relevant sections of this plan. No further changes are planned for Travel and Tourism statistics, which are confirmed within Tier 2 of the agreed portfolio under the tiering model, reflecting their contribution to Tier 1 outputs, including UK Trade and the UK Balance of Payments.

User needs

We will continue to be proactive in ensuring our prioritisation is informed by a good understanding of user needs through the ONS’s range of feedback and engagement channels. By drawing on user needs identified through the recent Census Topic Consultation, alongside wider stakeholder and data user insights, we will further embed user perspectives into our processes. This will enable us to deliver outputs that better support meaningful, user‑centred decisions for the public good.

Economic Statistics Improvements

Looking ahead, we will integrate the Economic Statistics Plan and the Survey Improvement and Enhancement Plan, managing the end-to-end production and improvement of our critical economic statistics through an ONS sub-portfolio (the economic statistics portfolio). This portfolio will provide a balanced framework within which we will deliver both major transformations – such as the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) – as well as smaller scale continuous improvements. Milestones will be rationalised and strengthened, with progress tracked through a clearer and more coherent set of Key Performance Indicators covering quality, survey response and user confidence. This includes separating the reporting of population statistics milestones from the updates on economic statistics whilst recognising the crucial links between them. Prioritisation of change initiatives within the economic statistics portfolio will be guided by the tiering model and managed alongside other ONS changes via the Waiting Room approach. Progress made to improve the quality of our surveys and economic statistics will continue to be published on a quarterly basis – those listed below may be subject to change depending on portfolio decisions.

Over the course of this plan, capacity will be deliberately concentrated on a small number of high impact priorities within the economic statistics portfolio. These include: producing our agreed portfolio of economic statistics sustainably, setting up our people for success; addressing quality issues with our economic statistics, drawing on our new tiering framework which prioritises improvements to statistics underpinning critical decisions; transitioning to the TLFS; delivery of the Statistical Business Register; and establishing a credible path to implementing core International Macroeconomic Statistical Standards (IMSS). For the latter, this includes an initial focus on the most material changes impacting GDP and the current account, alongside implementation of some of the key classifications that define data in the frameworks such as the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). Running the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and TLFS in parallel, alongside preparation for Census 2031, will necessarily limit the scope for taking on additional improvement activity. By being explicit about trade-offs and sequencing, we aim to increase delivery confidence, protect business-as-usual outputs, and create a sustainable foundation for continued improvements in statistical quality over the rest of the decade.

Across the next three years, delivery will focus on protecting the quality of the UK’s most critical economic statistics while laying the foundations for sustained, long-term improvement. Our approach reflects the scale and interdependence of the change required, the need for realistic sequencing, and the capacity constraints we face, particularly in relation to major programmes such as the TLFS. We are therefore prioritising delivery confidence, quality and resilience alongside carefully managed transformation.

In 2026/27, the focus will be on further improving the quality of our economic statistics and strengthening our improvement work to enhance delivery predictability. We will continue to deliver our suite of critical economic statistics while embedding a systematic programme of end-to-end quality reviews aligned to the statistical production process. An important staging post this year will be the completion of the first evidence-led TLFS readiness assessment in July 2026, working closely with users to inform next steps. The Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) will remain a priority, reflecting its central role in inflation, national accounts and income statistics. Alongside this, we will embed the new Data Governance Framework and implement clearer prioritisation through the tiering model and Waiting Room approach.

In 2027/28, we will seek to deliver value from our most complex and high impact improvement projects, establish the path to implementing IMSS and explore whether we can broaden our improvement efforts. Subject to evidence and user engagement, further TLFS data collection and assessment will inform decisions on transition timing, with 2027 being the most likely date for when we transition from the LFS to TLFS for our headline labour market statistics. We will deliver a minimum viable Statistical Business Register and begin phased adoption across surveys, reducing reliance on legacy systems and strengthening the foundations for new international standards, supported by research on GDP balancing and seasonal adjustment.  Depending on our success both progressing our complex improvement work and realising productivity gains by improving our regular processes, we may be able to broaden our improvement activity.

By 2028/29, the focus will be on securing the path to implementing IMSS, strengthening productivity and sustainability. The survey system, including TLFS as a key source of labour market statistics, will operate on a more resilient end-to-end footing, with reduced legacy risk, expanded use of robust administrative and linked data, and a fully embedded approach to quality management, prioritisation and assurance.  The end to the double-running of two labour market surveys will release substantial resource and free up bandwidth to address remaining quality issues, including those with broader social surveys. Broader improvements to statistical processes will reduce risks and deliver efficiencies on business-as-usual production, allowing for momentum in improvement work to maintained.

Across the period, delivery will be actively managed through strengthened governance, disciplined sequencing and regular reviews, ensuring that ambition is matched with realism, quality is protected, and improvements are sustainable over the long term.

Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS)

The Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) is a core component of our end‑to‑end improvement programme and the long‑term solution to the significant quality, cost and sustainability challenges facing the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Following sharp declines in response rates and the suspension of some LFS estimates in 2023, we have invested around £40m in recovery activity. While this stabilised delivery, it did not address the underlying structural issues associated with face‑to‑face collection methods, rising costs and ageing technology. Transformation is therefore unavoidable, and TLFS is one of the four key priority change activities on the ONS change delivery portfolio.

TLFS introduces a scalable, online‑first survey design with a larger sample, reduced respondent burden, modernised processing systems and improved technical resilience. Its purpose is to provide trusted, high‑quality and sustainable labour market and wider socioeconomic statistics that better meet user needs and restore public and stakeholder confidence. Delivery is closely aligned to the tiering model and readiness‑based Waiting Room approach, ensuring that transition decisions are evidence‑led and aligned to wider economic statistics priorities.

Over the year ahead, the TLFS programme will be analysing the data from the recent TLFS design improvements, integrating Northern Ireland data, maturing methods and strengthening the evidence needed to inform transition decisions. A key milestone will be the first evidence‑led TLFS readiness assessment in July 2026, developed in close collaboration with users. The July readiness assessment will inform final design decisions, future publication plans and the timing of the next readiness review, which will be no later than January 2027, by which time the latest design changes will have fed through the data and been assessed. Decisions will continue to be taken in an evidence‑led way, with users kept informed through regular updates as confidence in the data builds.

Based on current evidence and scenario planning, 2027 remains the most likely point at which TLFS could become the main headline measure for labour market statistics, subject to agreed quality criteria and user confidence being met.

Social Surveys Recovery and Sustainability

Over the coming year, our primary priority is to continue improving survey quality. Building on the recovery of the Labour Force Survey (LFS), we will focus on strengthening the quality of our household financial surveys, including through sample boosts to the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) and the Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS). A critical enabler of this will be ensuring sufficient field interviewer resource to meet survey targets.

Alongside this, we will strengthen the long‑term sustainability of the social survey system. This includes upgrading legacy technology; improving management information; developing a new Social Survey Strategy; exploring the potential role of mandatory survey completion in increasing survey participation (as recommended by Professor Denise Lievesley’s independent review of the UK Statistics Authority); and working with communications colleagues to encourage greater public engagement, particularly among younger people.

We released a prototype survey sample and response tracker to allow users to track the performance of our surveys over time. The initial release provides information on the LFS and the Opinions survey, with more surveys to be added over time.

Prices

The delivery of high-quality statistics on prices is a core part of our national statistics remit, and a priority output for us. Our statistics on inflation and prices include consumer price inflation, producer price inflation, house price inflation and private rents statistics.  Inflation statistics impact on everyone in some way as they affect interest rates, tax allowances, benefits, pensions, savings rates, maintenance contracts and many other payments.

Our plans for 2026/27 include:

Continued publication of high-quality monthly:

• Consumer price inflation statistics, including meeting our statutory obligations to continue to produce Retail Prices Index (RPI).
• Producer price inflation statistics and quarterly services producer price inflation statistics.
• House prices and private rent monthly statistics, including implementing requirements from the OSR’s review of the Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR).

Quarterly Household Costs Indices (HCIs) statistics are also being produced, alongside plans to seek formal accreditation.

Continuing to  improve  consumer price statistics methods, including implementing new international statistical standards and exploring options for seasonal adjustment. Maintaining the sample sizes on surveys for producing Producer Prices Indices (PPI), Export Prices Indices (EPI), Import Prices Indices (IPI) and Services Producer Prices Indices (SPPI).

Continued work to review and improve deflators, including trade in services, construction, environment and data as an asset.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The delivery of top-quality statistics on GDP, National and extended accounts is a key part of our national statistics remit, and a priority output for us. GDP estimates are the main measure of UK economic growth based on the value of goods and services produced during a given period. GDP estimates are produced monthly, quarterly and annually to ensure the timely release of data throughout the year.

Our plans for 2026/27 include:

• Publishing regular GDP, National Accounts, Balance of Payments and related outputs, including UK Trade and the Annual Blue Book and the Pink Book.
• Improving the quality of GDP estimates, and related outputs, through the improvement of survey data, the use of improved financial data and implementing changes as part of our responses to independent OSR reviews.
• Transforming our Annual Business Survey, moving it off legacy software and systems, as well as updating the methods and preparing for a more integrated data collection approach for our annual structural surveys, enabling better measurement of the modern economy and setting the foundations for us to reduce the number of business surveys conducted by the ONS.
• Continuing work to move off our legacy systems, including transforming our International Trade in Services results system and environmental economy business surveys.
• Continuing to produce both UK Environmental and Natural Capital Accounts, following international standards, along with measures of the green economy.
• Improving and enhancing the use of Value Added Tax (VAT) records for economic measurement, including as a real time indicator.
• Responding to rapid changes in economic measurement, including understanding and ensuring the impact of Artificial Intelligence is captured and reflected in our economic data.
• Continuing to progress key elements of GDP, Net Domestic Product (NDP) and current account impacting changes as part of the implementation of IMSS, such as data as an asset and natural resource depletion.

Public Sector

Public Sector Finance (PSF) statistics on taxation, public sector spending and the balance sheet are jointly produced with HM Treasury every month. These are vital to public administration as they allow for the monitoring of the Government’s performance against its fiscal targets. These statistics are regularly updated with improved methods and the latest data, which reflects the ever-changing shape of the public sector. We also produce non-market statistics which feed into GDP and economic sector classifications.

Our plans in 2026/27 include:

• Continuing to develop and update our statistics and signal key forthcoming changes, including those resulting from our economic statistics classifications process, which are highlighted every month in our classifications and developments article.
• Publishing our looking ahead article, which explains plans for statistical developments for PSF in the coming years.
• Continuing the process of redeveloping the systems used to produce these statistics.
• Collaborating with data suppliers and users to improve the quality of our statistics, including for tax receipts, for local government expenditure, and for Public Sector Net Financial Liabilities.

Labour Market

The delivery of quality labour market statistics is another key part of our national statistics remit, and a priority output for us. Our suite of labour market statistics includes estimates of employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and other employment-related statistics for the UK including hours worked, earnings, vacancies and workplace disputes. While we are driving improvements across the breadth of our surveys, the priority for 2026/27 is to progress transition to the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), the plans for which are explained in the specific section above.

Our plans for 2026/27 include:

• Publishing regular labour market statistics including the monthly release and the annual outputs. During the year we will implement an update to the weights for the Labour Force Survey and move to full electronic data collection for the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).
• Continuing our user engagement through the technical and stakeholder groups and regular updates on quality and developments.
• Supporting the process to transition to the Transformed Labour Force Survey through providing in-depth analysis and assuring the systems underlying the TLFS production.
• Ongoing work to move off legacy software and systems, continuing the work started on the ASHE and developing a new system for Average Weekly Earnings.
• Developing a “proof of concept” for Labour Market Accounts.
• Publishing initial results from our work matching administrative data to labour market survey data.

Statistical Business Register

The Statistical Business Register (SBR) project will replace the legacy Interdepartmental Business Register (IDBR) with a modern, secure, and comprehensive SBR that improves data quality, broadens coverage through new administrative data sources, and supports more effective and relevant sampling for our business surveys. It will provide a like-for-like core service while improving user experience, enabling automation opportunities, and supporting strategic objectives such as legacy technology reduction and supporting recovery and enhancement of economic statistics. The SBR is one of the four key priority change activities on the ONS change delivery portfolio.

The project scope includes building and populating the register, integrating data pipelines, onboarding users, and setting out a roadmap for future capability.  An independent review has led to a reset of the project through a 10-week planning phase, resulting in delivery of the SBR through a multi-phase approach, with rigorous quality assurance, formal change control, and structured governance through the Business Surveys Transformation Programme Board (BSTP), with key milestones running through to full operational adoption planned by the end of the SR25 period.

Population, Census and Social Statistics

Throughout the period, we will continue to focus on producing high quality population and social statistics, informed by the needs of our users. We will also use the Census 2031 as an opportunity to review how we ensure we have a coherent system where data collection and administrative data can combine to provide the best population and social statistics we can offer. We will:

• Embed a model of continuous improvement, focussing on modular improvements to our core outputs, for example mid-year population estimates.
• Build on the work already done to make greater use of administrative data to augment the quality of our core outputs.
• Deliver the preparations for Census 2031, including the successful delivery of a test in 2027.
• Increase the coherence of published statistics across key themes, adopting a more user-centred approach, and utilising the increased capability of the ONS website to make our statistics easier to find, understand and explore.

Population (including estimates, projections births, deaths and migration)

We will focus on improving the quality and coherence of mid‑year population estimates for England and Wales through a programme of ongoing, evidence‑led refinement to the data and methods underpinning the cohort‑component approach. This will involve systematically testing and learning from new administrative data sources, alongside incremental methodological enhancements to better capture population change as patterns evolve. Within this continuous improvement approach, key priorities include strengthening estimates of internal migration and further developing the subnational disaggregation of long‑term international migration estimates.

We will continue to consult users on the future of specific publications, aiming to streamline our releases through pausing or combining outputs as appropriate.

Improvements to mortality statistics, focusing on further estimation of death occurrences to complement death registrations, will enhance the timeliness and reliability of mortality inputs and will be incorporated as part of routine methodological review and quality assurance. We will continue to publish Healthy Life Expectancy statistics, looking at how we can use alternative data sources to improve the robustness and sustainability of the estimates. In parallel, we will seek structured user feedback on the content and timing of national population projections and use this insight, alongside technical evaluation, to inform iterative improvements. We will also continue the staged redevelopment of subnational population projections for England, ensuring that changes are evidence‑based, transparent and aligned with wider population statistics development.

Population and social statistics system‑wide topic leads, supported by Topic Expert networks will support coherent development across census and non‑census population statistics. This leadership will ensure that decisions on outputs, methods and future development are informed by a comprehensive understanding of existing surveys, administrative data, coherence issues and user needs.

Census 2031

The commissioning of a 2031 Census in England and Wales sets the framework for the delivery of population and migration statistics for the coming decade, continuing a history of censuses that has been at the heart of population statistics for over two centuries.

Delivering the census is the biggest statistical exercise the ONS undertakes. Census data support decision-making for public services, planning and local investment, provide essential information for equalities monitoring and are vital contributors to economic statistics and policymaking. The census is also unique in the part it plays in public life: it reaches out to the whole of England and Wales to take part and the whole population is included in the statistics, down to small communities and areas. Census 2031 is one of the four key priority change activities on the ONS change delivery portfolio.

We have published our strategy for a modern, inclusive census of England and Wales, trusted by the public and valued in decision-making to shape all our futures Over the coming years we will continue our census preparations, working towards five high-level goals:

1. Outputs that are high-quality, trusted and meet user needs
2. Secure, accurate and inclusive data collection across the whole population
3. Coherent, comparable UK census statistics
4. Delivered on time, within budget, and with resilience
5. Early benefits and lasting legacy

User needs are central to our strategy, and the Topic Consultation, which ran from 28 October 2025 to 4 February 2026, is part of wide-ranging engagement that will inform the ONS’s recommendations for the content of the 2031 Census for England and Wales. Analysis will identify topics with the greatest societal benefit and assess whether the census is the most suitable method for meeting each data need, while considering acceptable limits of questionnaire length and respondent burden. The Topic Consultation has also collected evidence to inform other relevant ONS work, including the development of administrative statistics and a review of Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonised Standards. We will publish a full report on the consultation analysis later in 2026.

Census 2031 statistical outputs aim to be high-quality, trustworthy, and designed around prioritised user needs identified through consultation and ongoing engagement. Over the next three years we will work closely with users to shape the optimal suite of census outputs, ensuring they are accessible. We will establish clear plans for delivering outputs to a pre-published timetable, with a coherent range of products to support different users. This will include developing supporting information to help users understand how statistics are produced, their quality, and how they can be used appropriately in different contexts. Outputs will be designed to be coherent with other census-based estimates, including through preparation for the rebasing and reconciliation of mid-year population estimates, contributing to comparable and coherent UK statistics.

To help prepare our data collection operation for Census 2031, the ONS will hold a large-scale data collection test across England and Wales in 2027. The Census Test will be asking 220,000 households in England and Wales to respond to a questionnaire. Like a scientific experiment, we will be taking different approaches in different places to help us understand which are the most effective methods. Most people will receive an invitation to complete the questionnaire online, with alternative routes for completion where needed, including paper forms. We also plan to test data collection approaches in 50 care homes, and with students living in halls of residence.

For the first time the three UK Censuses will be delivered on a common platform, and it is consequently more important than ever that we continue to work closely with our counterparts in the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and National Records Scotland (NRS) to co-ordinate the censuses being delivered in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Inter Administration Committee (IAC) and the UK Coherence Committee (UKCC) will provide a governance framework which provides the opportunity for Senior Responsible Owners, Chief Statisticians and subject matter experts to share knowledge and address problems collectively. This element of the work will have the ancillary benefit of supporting the work of the National Statistician’s Office (NSO) (strategic objective 2, below) in promoting UK-wide coherence and consistency across the GSS.

Crime

Production and delivery of high-quality core statistics on crime is part of the ONS commitment in support of the Government’s ambition to reduce serious harm and increase public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system. ONS data and statistics on crime provide the key metrics to monitor the Government’s aim to halve ‘Violence Against Women and Girls’ within a decade. Alongside this, ONS crime statistics provide the key data requirements to assess the success of the ambitions set out in the Police Performance Framework, as part of the “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” white paper.

We continue to work with our key stakeholders and funders to ensure that our core crime outputs can be delivered within the available resources and our plans for 2026/27 include:

• Continued production of timely, relevant statistics and insight on crime, and those affected by it, through the publication of quarterly trends on crime victimisation and police recorded crime.
• Focused articles on specific crime related topics, including Domestic Abuse, Sexual Offending and Homicide.

In support of the continued development and improvement of crime statistics, we have an ambitious work programme to secure the future of the Crime Survey for England and Wales. We will be updating our estimates for sexual assault using the new questions added to the survey in October. We will also be updating the combined estimate of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking which, due to changes we implemented in the survey, will now be calculated using standard statistical methods.

Subnational statistics

We will continue to evolve the ONS Local and Explore Local Statistics services, meeting the needs of new users such as newly forming Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Census 2031. Analysis and development work will focus on meeting priority user needs and data gaps that can support local priorities, for example the development and evaluation of Local Growth Plans and Spatial Development Strategies, and the needs of stakeholders in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Working with ONS Geospatial teams, we will build our understanding of the impact of Local Government Reorganisation on GSS statistics and develop recommendations that support the continued availability of local statistics.

Strategic Objective 2: Deliver agreed essential services of a National Statistics Office that support the use of our data and statistics

This strategic objective focuses on delivering the essential services of a National Statistics Office that will maintain national statistical capacity that is fit for purpose and apprises critical issues and topics, including the integration of innovative data sources and technologies in the production of statistics [UN Handbook on Management and Organization of National Statistical Systems]. Therefore, through the activities of both the ONS and the National Statistician’s Office we will lead and enable effective access to, use of, and confidence in UK data and statistics across the GSS. This includes operating and developing the Secure Research Service (SRS) to provide safe, trusted access to sensitive data for accredited users; strengthening international engagement to meet global obligations; developing and sharing best practice and standards and supporting consistency across the GSS. Together, these services ensure that statistics are used consistently, securely and collaboratively across the system, maximising their value for policy‑making, research and the public good.

National Statistician’s Office (NSO)

The NSO will continue to provide dedicated capacity to the leadership of the GSS offering guidance, expert advice and methodological and analytical innovation and development, and capability-building within the profession via a new statistical leadership programme. The NSO will strengthen the delivery and continuous improvement of ONS statistics, designing, testing and embedding new approaches to live production. It will provide a cross-system capability to develop high quality linked data assets and tackle complex analytical and statistical challenges. The NSO will also support UK influence within the global statistical system through a focused programme of international engagement, including international standards development, leadership in methods and innovation and sustaining key strategic partnerships.

Strategic Objective 3: Build the essential capability (culture/people/data/tech) improvements required by the ONS today and in the future.

This strategic objective seeks to strengthen the essential capabilities the ONS needs to operate effectively now and remain resilient for the future. This includes building a confident, inclusive culture; developing and retaining the right skills and leadership; modernising data assets and methods; and investing in secure, scalable technology. Together, these improvements enable the ONS to adapt to changing user needs, adopt innovative approaches, and sustainably deliver high‑quality statistics and services over the long term.

Content and website transformation

The content and website transformation programme is a multi-year effort to modernise our website, our primary public channel for accessing statistics, and wider dissemination services. The programme aims to address long-standing findability, usability and technology issues highlighted by stakeholders and the 2024 Lievesley Review. This programme is one of the four key priority change activities on the ONS change delivery portfolio.

The programme focuses on delivering a coherent, user-centred website where information is easy to find, understand, explore and use. It includes the launch of a new content management system, improved content standards and data capabilities such as an enhanced application programming interface (API), giving users the ability to programmatically download our datasets. These changes are also essential for reducing strategic and technology risks while enabling future automation and efficiency gains.

Over the next three years, the programme will modernise our website and supporting data infrastructure by replacing legacy systems, migrating content and datasets, and improving navigation and user experience. It will strengthen data, search and API capabilities to support access to structured, machine-readable datasets, improving efficiency and enabling more effective data exploration. Further development will enhance interoperability, visualisation and automation to support Census 2031 and future statistical needs. Together, these improvements will ensure the website provides high quality, accessible statistics and supports the organisation’s strategic priorities. The first phase will complete in March 2027 with new statistical releases and our corporate pages published in our new content management system alongside clearer, streamlined information, focusing on what audiences need most.

Technology and Legacy Reduction

Legacy systems can present risks to quality, resilience and efficiency. Addressing these risks requires a prioritised and feasible approach that focuses first on the systems causing the greatest issues, while ensuring that change does not undermine delivery of core statistics or other high-priority programmes.

Over the next three years, we will take a targeted, risk-based approach to reducing reliance on the most problematic legacy platforms, consolidating statistical production pipelines and addressing ageing technologies. Work is underway to assess which systems require urgent action and which should be addressed through a sequenced plan over the spending review period or beyond. This approach will strengthen resilience, reduce operational burden and enable greater automation, while protecting delivery confidence and statistical quality.

When the new Director General for Digital, Data and Technology joins, he will lead a review of our overall technology approach, including our legacy reduction strategy, prioritisation and delivery model. This review will ensure that our plans are aligned with the organisation’s wider strategic ambitions, reflect best practice across government and provide a clear, sustainable roadmap for modernisation. The findings of this review will inform the next phase of delivery, including any refinements to sequencing, investment priorities and governance.

Over the next three years, we will scale the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in line with the Government’s AI Strategy and wider public sector reform agenda. AI-enabled tools will be embedded across end-to-end statistical processes to improve productivity, timeliness and data quality, while reducing manual effort and operational risk. We will prioritise applications that deliver clear public value, including automation of data processing and enhanced analytical insight, supported by strong governance, ethical assurance and transparency in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. This approach will support the Government’s ambition to use AI to drive efficiency, innovation and better decision-making across the public sector.

Security

Recent cyber incidents across industry and government have highlighted the significant disruption that such events can cause to essential services. Strengthening resilience to these risks is now a clear cross‑government priority.

As the UK’s national statistical institute, the ONS holds sensitive population and economic data and delivers statistics that underpin public debate, policy making and market confidence. Our ability to continue operating during periods of disruption, and to recover quickly when incidents occur, is therefore fundamental to maintaining public trust in the ONS and in the wider statistical system.

Over the coming year, we will take a deliberate and pragmatic approach to strengthening organisational resilience, recognising that disruption is a realistic risk. Our focus will be on maintaining the delivery of critical outputs, protecting data, and ensuring rapid and effective recovery under pressure. This includes enhancing operational continuity arrangements, improving data resilience, and strengthening coordinated crisis management and response arrangements across the organisation.

The effective and secure use of data, including both primary data collection and the expanded use of administrative data sources is fundamental to delivering business plan outcomes. This approach brings with it clear expectations – from both the public and regulators – that privacy and data protection are embedded by design in how services are developed and delivered, with robust safeguards in place to ensure data are handled securely, transparently, and appropriately.

People

Delivering our priorities depends on having the right workforce capability, capacity, leadership and culture in place. Following a period of sustained pressure on our people, we have made significant progress in strengthening our approach to culture and resourcing and in restoring confidence that people‑related risks are being actively managed across the organisation.

Building on this progress, we will deliver a comprehensive People Plan that will build the culture, capability and leadership needed to deliver high‑quality statistics now and in the future. The long‑term People Plan will be structured around six priority pillars, reflecting where sustained improvement will have the greatest impact on delivery and employee experience:

1. Employee experience, creating a more collaborative, inclusive and trusted working culture.
2. Capability, closing the gaps between skills we have now and skills we need in the future, with an initial focus on digital, analytical and quality assurance skills, growing in time to include enabling skills such as leadership and talent management.
3. Pay and reward, supporting retention and motivation within the constraints of the wider civil service framework.
4. Optimising performance, fostering a credible and consistent performance culture that supports clarity, accountability and prioritisation.
5. Recruitment and resourcing, improving how we attract, onboard and deploy talent in line with organisational priorities.
6. Leadership and management, strengthening line management capability, leadership behaviours and consistency at all levels.

Together, these elements of our new, forward‑looking approach will support a more resilient, engaged and skilled workforce, enabling the ONS to sustain improvement, adapt to change and deliver confidently against its strategic priorities over the 2026–2029 period.

Efficiencies

The ONS met the 2% efficiency target set by HM Treasury for 2025/26. Looking ahead, we must continue to improve efficiency and productivity to maintain affordability and sustainability. Efficiency gains will come through automation of routine processes, standardised code and platforms, rationalised surveys and systems, improved workforce planning and better alignment of capital and resource budgets. These changes will release capacity for higher‑value work, reduce operational risk and ensure greater value for the taxpayer.

Through the business planning exercise, we have identified sources of future efficiencies and savings and are developing a new ONS Efficiencies and Savings Plan. This will be finalised and agreed through internal governance in Quarter 2 2026/27 and will show how we will achieve our remaining targets agreed with HM Treasury through our Spending Review 25 (SR25) submission. This will be monitored through the Government Efficiency Framework.