Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 19, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleThe UK's Office for National Statistics delays July retail sales data release by two weeks for quality assurance, amid criticism from the Bank of England.
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday it was delaying Friday's scheduled release of July retail sales data by two weeks, the latest in a string of setbacks for the national statistics agency.
The figures are now due to be published on September 5 "to allow for further quality assurance", the ONS said.
The ONS has faced criticism from the Bank of England for failing to publish reliable data on the labour market. It suspended its producer price figures in March when it also delayed the release of trade balance data.
In June, it said it had overstated the April reading of Britain's main inflation gauge.
A government review later that month found problems with the ONS' leadership culture and that it had put too little priority on funding the collection of core economic statistics.
In response to the report, the ONS said it would accept a recommendation to split temporarily its top role into two operational and statistical jobs, and to refocus some resources.
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar and David Milliken)
The Office for National Statistics delayed the release to allow for further quality assurance.
The retail sales data is now scheduled to be published on September 5.
The ONS has faced criticism from the Bank of England for failing to publish reliable data on the labour market.
A government review found problems with the ONS' leadership culture and that it had prioritized funding collection of core economic statistics too little.
The ONS agreed to split its top role into two positions and refocus some resources in response to the review's recommendations.
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