In the immediate aftermath of the introduction of movement restrictions, ONS introduced new surveys to monitor the impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the UK’s economy and society. Here Grant Fitzner reflects on the findings of the survey of impacts on UK businesses and looks at what it might mean for the UK economy in the near future.
Read more on The road to business recovery
In the months ahead ONS will continue to provide new information to inform the UK’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. New analysis of the transmission rate will be included along with further insight on the social and economic impacts. In this post Liz McKeown and Grant Fitzner, who are leading the analytical response, reflect on our progress so far, and describe our plans going forward.
Read more on Informing the pandemic response: What’s next from the ONS?
Soon after the pandemic began, Jonathan Athow wrote here about challenges the ONS would face in measuring its effect on the UK economy. Since then the first official data has revealed the scale of the immediate impact. As more data comes on stream, here he updates on the continuing work to ensure the ONS is able to paint the most accurate picture possible of these dramatic recent changes.
Read more on ‘No part of the economy remains untouched’: update on how the ONS is measuring the impact of COVID-19
To aid the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the ONS has been introducing many new surveys and started using wider sources of data. Meanwhile important transformational work in other areas, including consumer price statistics has continued. Together the planned improvements form the most significant change to inflation statistics in a generation and will greatly improve the detail and representativity of the ONS measures.
Read more on Store and online data will bring a generational change to ONS price statistics
The mission of the ONS is to ensure public understanding and decision-making is informed by timely and high-quality analysis and statistics. During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ONS has responded to the need for rapid information that has been used by decision-makers. As we approach another bank holiday weekend, Deputy National Statistician Iain Bell reflects on how the ONS has informed the response to the pandemic so far.
Read more on Delivering insight on the COVID-19 pandemic: How the ONS has informed the response so far