Year In Brief

In November 2025, we published our strategy: How we will strengthen trust and confidence in statistics: 2026–2029. The strategy recognised that:

The next three years represent a watershed time for the UK statistical system. Demand for timely, trustworthy and high-quality statistics has never been greater, while public confidence in official figures, and in public institutions more generally, faces clear threats.

Statistics should serve everyone, helping enhance knowledge about every section of society and the economy, and people’s place within them. However, they must do so in today’s challenging environment, where fears about misinformation prosper. Moreover, after a challenging period, the UK’s biggest producer of statistics, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), is focusing on implementing a recovery plan in the face of ongoing issues with the quality of some of its economic statistics.

In this climate, the need for a credible and rigorous Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) is not just significant – it is essential.

2025/2026 has been a pivotal year setting us up to face this challenge. We have put in place key building blocks that will serve the statistical system well in the next few years, including the launch of the new Code of Practice for Statistics version 3.0, which represents a significant opportunity to support confidence in public statistics. The new Code is clearer, more direct, more user-focused and more supportive of analysts.

Credible and Rigorous Regulator

We published 22 compliance reviews, including 8 in-depth assessments, awarding new and continued accreditations where standards were met and suspending or cancelling accreditation where they were not. We improved the clarity and transparency of our regulatory work with new reporting formats that communicate our judgements more directly and unambiguously. We published guidance for producers and launched a self-evaluation tool to help teams apply the refreshed Code of Practice. We also began developing a new prioritisation approach to manage regulatory risk and target our resources more effectively.

System Catalyst

We supported improvement across the statistical system by launching Code of Practice for Statistics 3.0 and publishing guidance to help producers apply it in practice. Through our State of the Statistical System report and major systemic reviews, including our review of ONS economic statistics and our work on UK-wide comparability, we identified key risks, highlighted progress and set out priorities for change. We also promoted excellence and shared good practice across the system through extensive engagement and our annual award for statistical excellence.

Public Use of Statistics

We championed the appropriate use of statistics in public debate by embedding intelligent transparency within the refreshed Code and promoting the new Standards for the Public Use of Statistics, Data and Wider Analysis. Through our casework, election guidance and public interventions, we challenged misuse and supported more transparent communication of statistics across government and public life. Our research on trust in official statistics also strengthened the evidence base for how confidence in statistics can be built and maintained.

Enhance Our Own TQV

We invested in strengthening our own trustworthiness, quality and value so that we continue to model the standards we expect of others. This included publishing our new strategy, strengthening oversight and risk management, expanding our team and capability, and improving learning, induction and leadership development. We also increased our focus on digital engagement and evaluation, including setting out a clearer framework for assessing our impact and supporting continuous improvement.

In 2025/26, we have set foundations for our 2026-2029 strategy, that will serve the statistical system over the strategy period. Our work has aimed to strengthen accountability, improvement and transparency across the statistical system. Our regulatory judgements, refreshed Code, systemic reviews and public interventions have helped improve practice and supported better use of statistics in public debate. Together, this has reinforced OSR’s role in strengthening trust and confidence in statistics for the public good.