Dear Stephanie,
Thank you for your letter of 9th March outlining the context around the methodological developments to the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and their implications for your forthcoming report on Relative Income Poverty for Wales.
Given the scale and phased nature of the transformation programme, and the sensitivities you highlight for the Welsh estimates, I agree to your request to temporarily suspend the accreditation from the March 2026 Relative income poverty release for Wales. As noted in our regulatory work programme, we are planning to undertake a compliance review of DWP’s statistics based on the transformed FRS.
I note your intention to label these as official statistics in development while you continue to assess the implications of the new methods, associated uncertainties and the potential for future revisions. We have published guidance on producing Official Statistics in Development to support producers in communicating changes clearly and transparently.
Thank you again for engaging with us. My team will be happy to discuss the most appropriate timing for a future review of these statistics once the transformation programme has progressed and you are assured that the outputs fully comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Yours sincerely
Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR