Consultation outcome

Consultation on changes to HMRC statistics publications

Updated 30 March 2023

1. Executive summary

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is committed to producing high value and good quality statistical publications that meet the needs of our users, while using our limited resource in the most effective ways. This consultation encourages our users to provide their views on changes we are considering to our suite of statistical publications. This includes potential new information being included where sufficient user interest is established. We need to understand how you use these statistics so that we can prioritise publications which are important to our users. We look forward to receiving your comments.

2. Background

In 2021, HMRC ran a consultation indicating our intention to reduce the volume of statistical publications produced in order to focus on the quality of those statistics. This formed part of our work to respond to the review of HMRC statistics, Strengthening the quality of HMRC’s official statistics published by the Office for Statistics Regulation on 30 April 2020. Following careful consideration of consultation responses, we published our consultation response, and have implemented the changes in our subsequent publications.

HMRC recognises that it is important to engage with our statistical publication users regularly and to consider whether our publications remain of high value to them. Hence, we are again embarking on a similar exercise to propose changes to our large range of statistical publications.

The aims of the plans are to ensure that HMRC:

• continues to produce useful and relevant statistics for use by our stakeholders, adding to our existing statistics where appropriate
• adapts statistics publications to reduce what we produce for those which are no longer widely used, or are duplicated elsewhere, or could be produced less frequently

This will bring about benefits that improve the coherence and relevance of our statistics including:

• making the user experience of our statistics better by reducing some of the general and statistical content that is of little value to users
• doing more to understand our data sources and publishing relevant materials for users
• streamlining production and quality assurance processes
• modernising our statistical outputs to make the best use of the latest software and tools available
• presenting statistics more comprehensively, by consolidating separate bulletins together, for example on Child Benefit

We propose to make changes to about one-third of our statistics publications and would like to receive comments on our plans from users of these statistics. The plans are set out in this note for each of the publications affected, grouped according to the type of change proposed.

Additionally, we would welcome feedback from users on any of our statistical publications, even if not listed in this consultation, as this can help future considerations as part of the continuous investment into our statistical publications.

If you want to comment on or make suggestions on the proposals or the programme more generally, please contact statisticsenquiries@hmrc.gov.uk, making sure to reference the publications to which you are referring where appropriate. We will review all feedback we receive and publish a consultation response, setting out confirmed plans, in spring 2023.

3. Proposals

3.1 Discontinue or reduce frequency of publication

Income Tax, NICs, tax credits and Child Benefit statistics for non-UK nationals

We propose to discontinue the annual Income Tax, NICs, tax credits and child benefit statistics for non-UK nationals release. This statistics publication is expected to be of limited value to users, due to the decrease in data coverage as tax credits claimants move across to Universal Credit, and the lack of timeliness with the latest release covering the tax year 2019 to 2020.

Insurance Premium Tax

We propose reducing the Insurance Premium Tax bulletin from every 6 months to an annual publication. This will allow resource to be prioritised to improving the content and value of the publication. Provisionally this will be achieved by dropping the February publication. Keeping the summer date will allow for prompter publication of full financial year statistics.

3.2 Changing the publication date for publications

Monthly property transactions

We propose shifting the publication date of Monthly property transactions to the end of the month. This will allow the inclusion of additional data and reduce the reliance on estimation.

Currently a portion of the most recent month’s transactions are estimated based on historic trends, as the 14 day window for submission of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) returns (and similarly for the devolved Land Transaction Tax and Land and Buildings Transaction Tax) means that not all are recorded when the cut of data is taken for the publication. This necessitates statistical estimation of the expected additional returns. This estimation is then removed in the following month when the subsequent returns are processed.

A later publication date reduces this dependency and thus will improve the accuracy of the most recent month’s data.

We would welcome feedback on the balance of benefits between improved precision and early availability of the statistics. There is no proposal to change the frequency of the publication, which will remain monthly.

Government revenue from UK oil and gas production

We propose to publish the statistics on government revenues from UK oil and gas production by September each year from 2023 onwards, to enable us to include North Sea Transition Authority statistics on remaining decommissioning costs. The frequency of this publication will remain unchanged.

3.3 Reduction in coverage of publications

Income Tax liabilities statistics

We propose to discontinue publication of table 2.7 in the Income Tax liabilities statistics publication. This table is not based on the same source data (the Survey of Personal Incomes) as the rest of the publication and has historically been presented to show the impact of various tax credits on different income levels. The tax credits are now legacy benefits, with the support rolled into Universal Credit. The number of tax credits claimants has steadily been reducing and is now in the minority of benefit claimants. Therefore, the table becomes redundant as tax credits claims reduce to zero and the table in its current form no longer represents the majority of real family incomes and their tax burdens after tax credits. Legacy versions of this table remain available in the National Archives.

Private pension statistics

In the Private pension statistics we propose to stop producing table 1. The information on retirement annuity contracts would be discontinued, and the rest of the information is already available in table 2.2. Historical information is available at the National Archives.

We also propose to stop using data from the APSS107 form in producing tables 2.1 and 2.2. Data from the APSS106 form offers more complete and accurate data on members of and contributions to relief at source pension schemes. As a consequence we will stop producing the breakdowns of contributions to personal pension schemes and members of personal pension schemes which are employer-sponsored and non-employer-sponsored, and for stakeholders and non-stakeholders.

Annual savings statistics

In the Annual savings statistics publication, we propose to stop producing the local authority and constituency breakdowns of the number of Help to Save accounts opened.

Creative industries statistics

Within the Creative industries statistics publication, we propose to discontinue publication of statistics based on British Film Institute data (tables 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 and 5.1), unless users find these statistics to be of particular value.

We would also welcome users’ views on whether statistics based on receipts or based on accruals are of more value. Statistics on an accruals basis allocate the tax relief amounts to the financial year when the company’s accounting period ended. Statistics on a receipts basis allocate the amounts to the financial year in which the claim was paid. Depending on user responses, we intend to discontinue publishing either receipts or accruals statistics.

Research and Development Tax Credits

We propose to discontinue the supplementary tables within the Research and Development Tax Credits publication, which provide detailed geographical and sectoral statistics. If users find some of the tables of particular value, we could consider including them in the main tables of the publication.

Child and Working Tax Credits error and fraud statistics

In the Child and Working Tax Credits error and fraud statistics we will limit the breakdowns in figure 3 and tables 6 and 7 to the Income and Work and Hours risk groups, and remove further breakdowns from section 2, and figures 4 to 7. This is due to a reduction in the sample size in line with the tax credits population decreasing as customers continue to move to Universal Credit.

Overseas trade in goods statistics release

We are considering whether the commentary for the UK overseas trade in goods statistics could be shortened to improve its readability for a wider range of readers. We would welcome user feedback on whether a shorter commentary would be acceptable.

We would welcome user views on whether a similar change to other statistical releases relating to trade would be acceptable too. This includes the UK regional trade in goods statistics, and UK trade in goods by business characteristics.

3.4 Expanding the coverage of publications

Corporation Tax receipts, liabilities and Bank Levy

Within the Corporation Tax receipts and liabilities publication, we are considering changing the detailed sectoral breakdown of receipts (based on an HMRC trade classification) to be in line with the detailed sectoral breakdown of liabilities (based on Standard Industrial Classification codes) and would welcome users’ views on this proposal.

Payrolled employments in the UK by region, industry and nationality

We are proposing to make multiple changes to the Payrolled employments in the UK by region, industry and nationality statistics following user feedback from the ‘Analysis in Government’ seminar, where this publication was discussed. This could include adding further breakdowns such as:

• age
• individual nationalities, for both EU and non-EU groups (subject to disclosure considerations)
• for those recently arrived (for example within the last 5 years)

We would welcome user feedback on the above breakdowns plus the possibility of publishing every six months instead of annually.

3.5 Consolidation and improvements to publications

HMRC is considering improving some publications by for example discontinuing some elements of the publication alongside expanding other elements of that publication. This will enable resource to be used in the best way to deliver value to users. These proposals are set out below.

Child Benefit statistics

We currently publish two statistical publications relating to Child Benefit: Annual Child Benefit Statistics and the Child Benefit Small Area Data. We are proposing multiple changes to ensure what we publish on Child Benefit best meets the needs of our users and would welcome user feedback on the following plans.

We propose to merge the existing two publications into a single consolidated publication on Child Benefit, which will be published in April 2023. Within this consolidated publication we propose to:

• provide a greater emphasis on the total number of child benefit claimants in the headline figures and charts, followed by a breakdown of those in payment and those who have opted out due to High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC)
• make the take up rate section timelier and advance it by one year to be consistent with the rest of the publication
• expand the take up rate section and publish take up rates by individual age and region
• include more information related to HICBC, namely the numbers of opt-outs, tax-charge payers and the annual yield from this charge

We are also investigating the use of data in an interactive online platform, similar to the Department for Education’s solution, Explore education statistics. In short, this would allow users to filter and analyse the data across releases in a user-friendly way to produce and share breakdowns of interest to them. We welcome user feedback on whether such a feature would be of value.

Child and Working Tax Credits statistics

We propose making changes to the geography elements of our Child and Working Tax Credits publications, with the aim of creating a better user experience. We would like to stop publishing tables and charts for these and instead for each release where we publish geography-level tables, publish one data file that includes all the geography information. This would be a machine-readable file containing all the associated data across multiple years, making data manipulation and linkage easier for users.

We are also investigating the use of data in an interactive online platform, similar to the Department for Education’s solution, Explore education statistics. In short, this would allow users to filter and analyse the data across releases in a user-friendly way to produce and share breakdowns of interest to them. We welcome user feedback on whether such a feature would be of value.

Finalised awards

We propose to merge the two Child and Working Tax Credits publications, Child and Working Tax Credits (finalised awards) and Child and Working Tax Credits (small area statistics), into one consolidated publication. We will publish to Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) level in the finalised awards publication, rather than it being a separate release, and it will be reported on the same basis as the other geography breakdowns, rather than as at 31 August of the previous year.

In the consolidated new version of the Child and Working Tax Credits (finalised awards), which will continue to be annual, we propose continuing publishing the time series tables 1.1 and 1.2 in a spreadsheet. For all remaining existing published tables, we would welcome user views on which tables or which parts of current published information are of most value. Based on user responses, we propose releasing machine-readable data containing the information that is of value to users instead of the current spreadsheets. We will still publish at LSOA level as part of the geography data file.

Provisional awards

We also propose making similar changes to the provisional awards publication Child and Working Tax Credits (provisional). We propose continuing publishing as spreadsheets the time series tables 1.1 and 1.2. For all remaining existing published tables, we would welcome user views on which tables or which parts of current published information are of most value. Based on user responses, we propose releasing machine-readable data containing the information that is of value to users instead of the current spreadsheets.

We would also welcome user feedback regarding the current frequency of publication of the provisional awards publication Child and Working Tax Credits (provisional). We are considering publishing the headline section of the statistics more frequently as tax credits are winding down, with the migration of claimants to Universal Credit, meaning the picture will be changing more rapidly. We intend to publish these headline figures monthly, but would welcome user feedback on the frequency required.

Longer term strategy for publishing statistics on Child and Working Tax Credits

HMRC and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are working on a strategy which will support statistics users’ understanding of changes as a result of the migration of tax credits customers to Universal Credit. Based on expected rates of migration to Universal Credit, HMRC will soon reach a point where it is not sensible to be producing national statistics on such a small case load. We would also risk being disclosive with some of the geography-level information we publish. We expect to update users on this strategy by the end of 2022.

Inheritance Tax statistics

We propose making the following changes to the Inheritance Tax statistics publication:

1. Discontinue table 12.1. We judge that the public need for detailed statistics on trends in annual Inheritance Tax receipts is already met by HMRC’s tax receipts and national insurance for the UK annual bulletin and the ONS’ public sector finance releases. We would also rename the publication ‘Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics’ to make this distinction clear to users. Note that these releases contain information on cash receipts for Inheritance Tax. Information on non-cash receipts received under the ‘acceptance in lieu’ scheme are not included in either of these releases, but are available from the ONS’ Inland Revenue taxes: Inheritance tax (non-cash receipts) release.
2. Expand table 12.3a to add the average effective tax rate faced by taxpaying estates in each ‘net estate’ band. This is a statistic that has been commented on in the media, particularly following recent Office for Tax Simplification reports on Inheritance Tax. We judge that it would be helpful to the public debate to have this data published more transparently.
3. Discontinue table 12.7. We judge that the public interest for detailed statistics on 10-year anniversary charges paid by trusts is already met by table 12.8, and that table 12.7 does not add value.
4. Add an additional table to the publication that provides detailed statistics on the exit (proportionate) charges paid by trusts, in the same format as table 12.8. We judge it would be helpful to have this information in the public domain to inform the public debate around the use of trusts for tax planning.
5. Discontinue tables 12.10b and 12.11. We judge that the public need for detailed statistics on the geographical breakdown of taxpaying estates by UK nation and region is already met by the statistics published in table 12.10a. We also propose that we continue to publish table 12.12 (geographical breakdown by UK Parliamentary constituency) due to public interest.
6. In light of the above proposals, we would reorder the numbering of the tables in the publication.

Statistics on non-domiciled taxpayers in the UK

We propose making the following changes to the Non-domiciled taxpayers in the UK publication:

1. Shorten the time series of all tables and charts to cover the last eight years.
2. Incorporate data from Capital Gains Tax on Residential Property system, this is the new system introduced in tax year 2020 to 2021 now used to report and pay capital gains tax liability in real time for residential property transactions.
3. Discontinue table 3 since it is effectively table 1 minus table 2.
4. Discontinue table 8 since it is effectively table 5 minus table 7.
5. Discontinue table 12 as this charge was abolished 5 years ago and earlier versions are available from the National Archives.
6. Combine tables 13 and 14 into a single table and remove the split of Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT), to instead include an overall tax figure, as CGT is normally mostly suppressed. We would add in the number of individuals on remittance basis by area to this new table, but will not include a tax and national insurance breakdown for this group as it is mostly suppressed at present.
7. Discontinue the existing table 15.
8. Remove figure 5 from the commentary and refer to tables 5 and 6 that include the tax revenue data in the downloadable spreadsheet which will continue to be published.
9. Remove figure 7 (unremitted low income) and related text from the commentary. Data will continue to appear in table 9 in the downloadable spreadsheet.
10. Simplify section 8 of the commentary as the ‘remittance basis charged group’ is now a less significant contributor to revenues. This data will continue to appear in table 7 in the downloadable spreadsheet.

Statistics on trusts

We propose making the following changes to the Trust statistics publication:

1. Shorten the time series of all tables and charts to cover the last 8 years.
2. Investigate the possibility of enhanced content drawn from the Trust Registration Service. We would be grateful for feedback from users on which information from the Trust Registration Service is most required. Provide income band statistics only for the latest year, rather than a time series. Data for previous years would be available in the National Archives. Doing this would enable us to then combine tables 2 and 4 to include both the number of trusts and the amount of income in each income band for the latest year. We would also separately combine tables 5 and 7 for similar reasons. This would be consistent with current practice in the publication commentary.
3. Simplify the commentary by dropping tables from sections 2 to 5, but not the associated charts. Users can still refer to the relevant tables in the published downloadable data spreadsheet.
4. Making the above changes would lead to a renumbering of the remaining tables.

Charity Tax Relief statistics

We propose making the following changes to the Charity Tax Relief statistics publication:

1. Discontinue table 3 (Gift Aid donations amounts), as similar statistics are available in table 1.
2. Discontinue table 5 (Self Assessment individuals’ donations by tax year) which is the same as the totals lines for each of table 6 and table 7, except it is a time series which allows for comparison to previous years. The previous years’ data would still be available in the National Archives.
3. Remove the the columns with means and medians from tables 5 to 7 (donations by Self Assessment taxpayers). We will continue to publish the number of donors and the value of the donations they declare so that users may calculate averages.
4. We will also add information to the same tables about donors who ask HMRC to treat Gift Aid donations as if they were made the previous year, if it is practical for us to do so.
5. Discontinue tables 6a (Self Assessment taxpayers’ donations by main income source), 6b (by age) and 6f (by gender).
6. Add a column for relief for corporate donations into tables 1 and 2.
7. Making the above changes would lead to a renumbering of the remaining tables.