Dear Adele,

Thank you for your letter of 5 March outlining the context around the ongoing transformation of the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and its implications for the forthcoming Northern Ireland poverty and income inequality statistics. As noted in our regulatory work programme, we are planning to perform a compliance review of DWP’s statistics based on its transformed FRS.

Considering the scale and phased nature of the FRS transformation programme, and the sensitivities you highlight for the Northern Ireland series, I agree to your request to temporarily suspend the accreditation of the Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality Report 2024–25 and the Northern Ireland Family Resources Survey Report 2024–25.

I note that you are planning to designate these as official statistics in development while you continue to assess the impact of the changes to the statistics and to estimates of poverty in Northern Ireland. We have published guidance on producing official statistics in development to help producers understand when and how to use this label.

We support your intention to guide users carefully through this period of change, including clear communication of uncertainties and plans for future revisions.

Thank you again for engaging with us and my team will be happy to have further discussions about the most appropriate timing for a review of these statistics in the future once you are assured that they fully comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR