Overview
Casework is generated when someone raises a concern with us, or when we identify a concern ourselves, regarding the production and use of statistics. This report draws together a summary of our casework from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 (2023/24). It focuses on the main issues and themes in the 231 pieces of correspondence (that we refer to as cases) that we investigated. The report also outlines our casework activities during the 2024 UK General Election.
Casework provides an insight into issues that matter to the public and those with an interest in statistics and data. Our casework interventions are therefore a key part of how we help ensure that data and statistics serve the public good.
In this report, we highlight three key themes from this year’s casework, as well as an overview of our casework response to the General Election.
OSR’s role during the 2024 UK General Election
- OSR set up an election response team, who considered 70 cases related to the election and over 100 campaign claims.
- We published our judgements on five occasions, across topic areas including party spending claims, disability, child poverty and polling statistics.
- The election lessons learned exercise made three recommendations to inform OSR’s approach to future elections and casework more broadly.
Securing greater impact through partnerships
- Members of the public remain the main contributor to casework cases, accounting for 55% of cases in 2023/24.
- In 2023/24, we have seen an increase in cases raised by the media where a journalist has been unable to source data to verify a claim being made.
- We continue to work closely with independent fact-checking organisations, such as Full Fact, and other regulators whose visions are aligned with ours and who support the good use of evidence in public debate.
Taking a broad view of our remit to promote transparency across all data
- As awareness of OSR increases, so has the range of organisations and types of data featured in the cases raised with us in 2023/24.
- We have also seen an increase in cases raised with OSR around the production or use of data by organisations outside government. In cases where we have judged that it is appropriate and we could add value, we have been willing to intervene in an advisory capacity.
Improving our casework service
- Our median number of days to close a case for 2023/24 has decreased by nearly 50% to 14 days when compared with 27 days in 2022/23.
- In 2024/25 we will focus on enhancing the complainant experience of our casework service.