DWP administrative-based benefit statistics: proposed changes to scheduling and frequency of releases
Published 17 February 2026
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Summary
This consultation will run until 31 March 2026 for proposal 1 and to 12 May 2026 for proposals 2 to 5.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plan to change the scheduling and alignment and reduce the frequency of some of our routine administrative-based benefit Official Statistics, including Universal Credit (UC).
We would like your input as users on proposals 1 to 5 below.
These proposals are intended to improve sequencing of our benefit Official Statistics in a way that makes sense to users, whilst ensuring we can redirect some resources to enable our statistical teams to deliver required development work to support transformation and respond to emerging policy priorities through development of new statistics and by providing additional context drawing on a wider range of source data to better inform the story.
Background
This consultation sets out the rationale for each proposed change and invites feedback from users. The proposals cover statistical releases on GOV.UK and their corresponding datasets (either on Stat-Xplore or supplementary ODS (OpenDocument Spreadsheet) tables). All previously published Official Statistics will remain available to users.
The proposals set out in this document are underpinned by the principles of the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics, ensuring that our outputs continue to demonstrate trustworthiness, uphold quality and deliver value to users. The rationale for these proposals is grounded in a set of strategic drivers that align closely with the ambitions of the DWP 2030 Strategy. As the department moves forward with major reforms – including the child poverty strategy, transformation of health and disability benefits, and changes to pension provision – it is essential that our Official Statistics evolve at the same time.
These drivers reflect the need to ensure our outputs remain relevant, coherent, and sustainable in a changing policy and operational landscape, while also supporting the department’s broader goals around digital transformation, efficiency, and user-centred delivery.
Overview of proposals
Proposal 1
Reduce the frequency of Universal Credit statistics from monthly to quarterly and improve alignment of key metrics.
Proposal 2
Align the timing of DWP Benefit Statistics (including Benefit Combinations) to financial years, with a move to an annual compendium release in Autumn.
Proposal 3
Reduce the frequency of Housing Benefit Speed of Processing statistics to annual rather than quarterly.
Proposal 4
Reduce the frequency of Housing Benefit Debt recovery statistics to annual, aligned to financial years, rather than biannual.
Proposal 5
Reduce the frequency of the National Insurance Numbers Allocated to non-UK overseas nationals statistics to annual, aligned to financial years, rather than quarterly.
How to reply
Send your responses by Tuesday 31 March 2026 (for proposal 1) or Tuesday 12 May 2026 (for proposals 2 to 5):
by email to: benefits.statistics@dwp.gov.uk
or write to:
QBS Team
Finance Group
Department for Work and Pensions
BP5301 Dunstanburgh House
Benton Park View Benton Park Road
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE98 1YX
What happens next?
We invite you to review and provide input on the proposed changes outlined in this document. Your feedback is essential in ensuring that final decisions reflect the needs and priorities of the users of our statistics across DWP.
While we welcome feedback on the full range of statistical releases produced by DWP at any time, for the purposes of this engagement exercise we would be grateful if you could focus your comments on the specific proposals outlined in this document. This will help us gather the most relevant insights to inform immediate decisions about the future shape and sustainability of our outputs.
All proposals will be progressed through the Statistical Work Programme, with changes subject to approval from DWP’s Chief Statistician. This approach adheres to the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics.
Confidentiality and data protection
Information provided in response to this statistical notice, including personal information, may be subject to publication or release to other parties or to disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes (including the Freedom of Information Act 2000).
It would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances.
Proposal 1: Universal Credit statistics (including sanctions)
Feedback is invited on proposals to change the frequency of Universal Credit statistical releases from monthly to quarterly. Monthly data will continue to be made available via Stat-Xplore, with UC caseload, households, claims and starts information brought into sequencing alignment.
This has the benefit of better addressing the accuracy of caseload figures, and also improves coherence of the release, bringing greater consistency and ease of understanding around the dates pertaining to the figures presented, noting this will result in a slightly longer time lag for some measures. We aim to streamline the process for users by aligning reference points across Universal Credit claims, starts, people, and household statistical series. This change will also result in the removal of provisional estimates, reduce the need for frequent revisions, and deliver more robust final statistics.
This would mean changes to the Universal Credit Official Statistics as follows:
| Series | Current planned May 2026 release | Proposed May 2026 release |
|---|---|---|
| Claims | Data up to April 2026 | Finalised data up to February 2026 |
| Starts | Data up to April 2026 | Finalised data up to February 2026 |
| People | Provisional April 2026 data, Finalised March 2026 data | Finalised data up to February 2026 |
| Households | Data up to February 2026 | Data up to February 2026 (unchanged) |
Statistics would then be updated on a quarterly basis in August, November, February, and May in line with the existing release timetable, with a 3 further months’ worth of data added for each measure per release.
This proposed change aligns with our strategic DWP statistical plans and will enable us to redirect significant resources towards priority Universal Credit statistical developments (see release strategy), delivering greater value for our users.
Proposal 2: DWP Benefits Statistics and Benefit Combination Statistics
Current Publication Schedule
DWP Benefits Statistics are currently published as a biannual HTML statistical summary in February and August. Supporting datasets are released quarterly to Stat-Xplore. Benefit Combinations Statistics follow the same schedule.
Proposed Change
We propose streamlining the HTML releases to an annual schedule aligned with financial year reporting. This would enable delivery of higher-value insights and better alignment with user needs and strategic priorities. The new release would be a financial-year-based compendium covering the full DWP benefit landscape, published in Autumn with data up to the previous March. Given the current lag of around 6 months is likely to remain necessary for robust and safe production of these statistics, the publication lag is likely to be at least 6 months, for Autumn release, but will take into account wider timing considerations.
Rationale
Improving coherence and comparability
Aligning data quarters with the financial year (March, June, September, December) will improve comparability and coherence. Current caseload data (February, May, August, November) obscures the impact of annual uprating. The proposed schedule matches the approach used in major releases like the DWP Annual Report and Accounts.
Improving delivery
An annual release may also incorporate insights from separate statistical publications such as the Annual DWP Benefits Abstract, and Winter Fuel Payments. While these would remain standalone releases, the compendium would offer a unified, accessible view of DWP benefit activity, caseload and value.
Improving value
Covering 17 benefits, this release demands broad expertise. An annual schedule allows deeper understanding of data, policy and operations, all of which is essential for delivering on the extensive list of requested improvements and expansions to the statistics. The extended production timeline supports more ambitious developments without compromising data quality.
New annual release schedule
The HTML release would be published each Autumn, covering data to the end of the previous financial year (for example Autumn 2026 release would cover financial year 2025 to 2026). Benefit Combinations Statistics will align with this schedule. Winter Fuel Payment Statistics and the Abstract of DWP Benefit Rate Statistics may also be published at the same time, enhancing coherence across pensioner-related statistics such as State Pension and Pension Credit.
Proposal 3: Housing Benefit speed of processing
Current Publication Schedule
Housing Benefit Speed of Processing statistics are currently released on a quarterly basis in January, April, July and October on GOV.UK. An accompanying statistical bulletin is released alongside the statistical data tables each quarter. The statistics have a 4-month lag, for example, data covering quarter 3 of financial year ending 2024 (October 2024 to December 2024) were released on 30 April 2025.
Proposed Change
We are considering the ongoing value in continuing this series, and if this is established we propose a reduction to annual frequency. Implementation of a new more timely statistical data feed is expected to improve lag times and so if there is an ongoing requirement, we propose an annual release in July, covering data to the end of the latest financial year.
Rationale
It is believed the primary value of these statistics may be for internal monitoring purposes. We are seeking views from users on whether there is a continuing external need for these statistics and if so, how they are used and what function they serve. If this establishes a need to continue publication of this series then moving to annual release and shifting the release dates would enable us to explore aligning the financial year end reporting periods with wider benefit statistics releases, providing more coherence. In the long term it would also enable statisticians more time to maintain and develop the statistics, for example with the imminent work to quality assure and develop statistical datasets using the new more timely statistical data source.
Proposal 4: Housing Benefit Debt Recovery
Current publication schedule
Housing Benefit Debt Recovery statistics are published biannually, in March and September. The September publication includes data for the full financial year, with the March publication containing information for the first two quarters of the financial year.
Proposed change
We are considering the ongoing value in continuing this series, and if this is established, we propose a reduction to annual frequency. We plan to cease the March release and move to publishing an annual release in September, which would provide data for the full financial year. We also plan to explore if it would be possible to align the release dates and financial year publication time periods with the proposed annual benefits statistical release.
Rationale
It is believed the primary value of these statistics may be for internal monitoring purposes. We are seeking views from users on whether there is a continuing external need for these statistics and if so, how they are used and what function they serve. If this establishes a need to continue publication of this series then moving to an annual release in September would be more coherent with the annual benefit release and allow comparison of financial year data. Currently the March release only provides data for the first half of the financial year and can be amended by local authorities (LAs) which often results in revisions in the September release. We would therefore explore if the March release was still deemed necessary. Publishing one final release in September would enable us to provide a complete set of final statistics and in the long term would allow us more time to focus on developing the statistics and meeting user requirements.
Proposal 5: National Insurance numbers allocated to non-UK overseas nationals
Current publication schedule:
National insurance number statistics are published quarterly in February, May, August and November.
Proposed change
We plan to reduce the frequency of this publication from quarterly to annual on a financial year basis.
Rationale
Although these statistics are part of the cross-government suite of migration statistics, including the Office for National Statistics (ONS) headline migration statistics ‘long-term international migration, provisional’ (released biannually in May and November) the national insurance number statistics cannot be used as a measure of migration, but instead provide statistics on DWP’s accountability over its policy responsibility for the issuing of National Insurance numbers to non-UK overseas Nationals.
The statistics are currently released quarterly but since ONS only publish their headline long term migration statistics biannually then it is questionable as to why DWP need to publish these statistics on a more regular basis.
Reducing the frequency to annual is not expected to impact on public accountability to the allocation of national insurance numbers, and would also enable statisticians more time to meet user requirements and support the transition to cloud-based solutions.
Given national insurance number statistics are not intended as a measure of migration and are not a good proxy for migration, and other statistical releases from other departments provide the view of migration, we would like to explore whether there is value in alignment of national insurance number statistics to wider migration releases, or if the greater value lies in financial year reporting more in alignment with wider DWP Official Statistics.