Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on January 16, 2026
Last updated: January 16, 2026
Jan 16 (Reuters) - Britain's Office for National Statistics said on Friday it will decide in the summer when to launch its overhauled survey of the UK labour market - a key source of data on employment, unemployment and inactivity that the Bank of England uses to assess the state of the jobs market.
The ONS is aiming for a November launch of its "Transformed Labour Force Survey", designed to counter falling survey response rates since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it wants the TLFS to offer bigger sample sizes, shorter questionnaires and less bias towards particular types of respondents.
An ONS spokesperson said a version of the TLFS was already being used and additional improvements were due to be implemented in the coming months, allowing for faster completion of the process.
"We will make a readiness assessment in the summer, working closely with key users, before making a final decision on the timetable for moving to the TLFS," the spokesperson said.
The ONS has previously said the launch of the TLFS might be delayed until 2027 if it is not ready by November.
Bloomberg News earlier cited people familiar with the matter as saying the ONS was preparing contingency plans to delay the launch by up to six months until May 2027.
(Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru; additional reporting by William Schomberg in London; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Tom Hogue and Hugh Lawson)
A labour market survey collects data on employment, unemployment, and workforce participation to analyze economic conditions and trends in the job market.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics, providing essential data on various aspects of the economy and society.
The Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) is an initiative by the ONS aimed at improving data collection methods to enhance the accuracy and reliability of labour market statistics.
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