Dear Rachel,
Assessment of Deaths in the Care Sector statistics
Thank you for your letter regarding statistics about deaths in the care sector previously published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). As you explain, the Office for Statistics Regulation carried out an assessment of these statistics in 2022 which set out the requirements for these statistics to be accredited.
In your letter you set out the challenges in producing accurate population estimates of care home residents and resource constraints for carrying out the required development work to improve these and how this has led to ONS taking the decision to cease publication of statistics about deaths in the care sector.
We understand that difficult decisions often need to be made to manage available resources and acknowledge that the stopping the publication of these statistics is an appropriate course of action in this instance. Given the statistics are no longer published, I approve your request to close our assessment.
It is good that you have published information about this decision on the ONS website and that you have pointed users to other sources of related information on this topic. I also welcome your commitment to applying the high-level principles identified in our assessment to other mortality statistics produced by ONS.
Yours sincerely
Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR
Related
Rachel Skentelbery to Ed Humpherson: Assessment of Deaths in the Care Sector statistics (October 2025)