In a progress report on reforms at the organisation, ONS said that its recent changes had led to new insights into the economy, including improvements to the relevance of statistics on the role of AI.

Correction rates had continued to fall, ONS added, with no ‘higher-impact corrections’ having occurred since January 2026, while the organisation’s Employee Engagement Index rose.

The change programme followed an independent review, published by Sir Robert Devereux KCB last year, into the ONS’s performance and culture that made criticisms of the organisation’s work culture, focus on core work and allocation of funding.

ONS had responded to the review by accepting that key economic statistics had not met users’ expectations, and set out plans to address the issues raised.

In the latest update, ONS said it was modernising systems across earnings, prices, public sector finances, trade and business surveys, alongside preparation to implement updated International Macroeconomic Statistical Standards.

The organisation added it that reducing reliance on legacy systems “remains a multi-year challenge and activity” and that efforts were focused on systems and services most critical to statistical quality and operational resilience.

The need to manage cost pressures has resulted in scaling back recruitment plans for the coming six months, ONS said, and the organisation is launching new productivity and savings initiatives, including wider deployment of AI applications, in response.

In terms of recent improvements, the Transformed Labour Force Survey saw higher response rates and fewer partial returns following changes made in April.

The Statistical Business Register “remains on track to deliver its first transition state by the end of 2026”, which will move between a fifth and a quarter of current Inter-Departmental Business Register users onto the new service.

Additions to the new service, according to ONS, should improve the ability to query data on the register, reduce reliance on legacy systems and help display statistics and samples using standardised industry codes.

Targets were reached for the social surveys field workforce, with 880 interviewers on the books. The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings also had its largest sample to date since it moved to a digital-by-default model.

ONS said it was working with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) towards re-accreditation of its Producer Price Indices and UK trade statistics workstreams.  

Over the next few months, priority areas of improvement included assessing the impact of recent improvements to the Transformed Labour Force Survey, the release of the Blue Book and Pink Book covering methodological improvements to economic activity statistics, and developing a new digital and data strategy.

Writing in a blog on the ONS website, James Benford, director general, surveys and economic statistics at ONS, said: “Recent feedback from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and OSR has recognised the progress being made, emphasising the importance of transparency, quality and sustained delivery.

“The OSR has welcomed the clearer and more disciplined approach to managing surveys and economic statistics and has moved from quarterly to annual progress assessments.”