Rob Kent-Smith to Alex Lambert and Liz McKeown Family Spending statistics

Dear Alex and Liz

Compliance review of Family Spending statistics from the Living Costs and Food survey – Progress Update

Thank you for your letter updating me on progress against the recommendations from the review of the Family Spending statistics from the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF). I note the progress that has been made across all three recommendations and that further work is planned. Improvements to signposting and metadata documentation, alongside the ongoing engagement with users to better understand their needs around variable continuity and comparability, will be helpful to enable full use of the data. The commitment to planning for and communicating forthcoming changes associated with future survey developments should help users navigate and adapt to developments in the data source.

I am encouraged by the practical steps being taken to improve timeliness. The earlier publication of the FYE 2025 release, together with investment in additional resources, system improvements, reproducible analytical pipelines and wider survey modernisation activity, demonstrates a clear commitment to responding to user needs and addressing the issues highlighted during our review. While publication remains outside the one-year target, the progress outlined in your letter suggests that these actions are beginning to have a positive effect.

I note that work is underway to strengthen quality reporting and provide users with further information on survey quality, representativeness and other important quality considerations. The planned update to the quality information in autumn 2026 will be an important opportunity to show how this work is progressing and how it is supporting users’ understanding of the data.

More broadly, the update indicates that the improvements identified in the review are being taken forward alongside longer-term developments for the LCF and wider household finance statistics. Continued transparency about progress, challenges and future plans will continue to support user confidence and help ensure that these important statistics remain useful, relevant and responsive to user needs.

Thank you again for your update and for your team’s constructive and positive engagement throughout the review process. I look forward to hearing more about progress by the end of December 2026.

Yours sincerely

Rob Kent-Smith

Deputy Head of the Office for Statistics Regulation