ONS

Making progress on improving UK economic statistics

James Benford is Director-General for Surveys and Economic and Social Statistics at the Office for National Statistics.
Categories: Economy, Labour Market, ONS, Surveys

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today published its second progress update on its Economic Statistics Plan (ESP) and Survey Improvement and Enhancement Plan (SIEP). The two plans were launched in June 2025 to improve the quality and long-term sustainability of the UK’s core economic statistics. James Benford reflects on a period of continuing tangible improvements, the challenges we have encountered and how we are responding across the breadth of work. 

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Supermarket Sweep: Measuring inflation with billion of bleeps

Categories: Data, Economy, Office for National Statistics, ONS

The latest episode of the Statistically Speaking podcast reveals how the ONS is now measuring UK consumer price inflation with data gathered from supermarket checkouts. Our guests explain why it’s a step change in the production of this vital economic indicator that broadens our understanding of the real cost of the living.

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How the ONS is streamlining its approach to national well-being

Categories: Office for National Statistics, ONS, Wellbeing
A group of people looking happy, they have their arms around each other and are in a park type setting with sunlight behind them

This month UN secretary general António Guterres called on the international community to “go beyond gross domestic product as a measure of human progress and wellbeing.” In fact for some years now, the ONS has been going far beyond traditional measures of the economy – including GDP – by introducing statistics which seek to measure national well-being. Today we are introducing a new, streamlined framework for reporting these metrics. Here Richard Heys sets out this new approach. 

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