Direct Debits data reveal fresh economic insights

Categories: Business, Data Science Campus, Economy, Office for National Statistics, ONS
Image of graphs and money, indicating financial markets

For the first time the ONS has published new data on UK Direct Debits. This new, fast and anonymised data source provides insight on consumer payments to most of the UK’s largest companies. Dragos Cozma describes how the ONS has developed this new data source with our partners at Vocalink and Pay.UK and what it tells us about the UK economy.  

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How the ONS estimates UK debt to GDP figures

Categories: ONS

One of the ONS’s most watched figures is the level of public sector debt. Complied jointly with HM Treasury, this number is often compared with the overall size of the UK economy (GDP) and presented as a “debt to GDP ratio” to give it proper context. As this figure has recently been hovering around the 100% level, it has received more attention than normal. Jessica Barnaby explains why our initial estimates can sometimes get revised.

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The challenges of measuring crimes against children post-pandemic 

Categories: Crime, Office for Statistics Regulation, Population

Understanding children’s experiences of crime and factors that make children more at risk of victimisation is crucial to enabling evidence-informed decision making and policies that support and protect young people. Today, for the first time since before the pandemic, we have been able to produce estimates on crimes against children. However, as Sophie Sanders explains, it has not been without challenge. 

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