Research and analysis

Datalab announcements

Updated 27 August 2025

HMRC published its HMRC Future Research Strategy report on 7 August 2025. The report, funded by Administrative Data Research (ADR) UK made recommendations on how HMRC should improve access to its data for research purposes, improve the quality of this data, and engage better with external researchers. It contained a commitment by HMRC to retain Datalab as a facility for external researchers to access HMRC data for more complex research focused on tax. You can read ADR UK’s news blog on the report.

If HMRC is successful in its ambition of improving the availability of its data for external research, HMRC expects to face increased demand for expert support for such research. HMRC needs to ensure that this increased demand is met efficiently and sustainably, balancing the needs of both researchers and HMRC.

The contracts that researchers and their sponsoring institutions sign with HMRC in order to access HMRC data in Datalab are a critical enabler of HMRC and researchers working well together. They are required to ensure that both sides not only meet the legal conditions for access to the data but also understand their respective responsibilities. In addition, the contracts set expectations and enable both researchers and HMRC to prioritise and plan the work they will be doing together.

As part of HMRC’s ongoing efforts to ensure the long-term sustainability of Datalab, HMRC will be reviewing these contracts, with the objective of ensuring that they provide clear and robust expectations for HMRC and Datalab users. The review will take into account the other improvements to researchers’ access to HMRC data recommended in the HMRC Future Research Strategy report. It will also take into account how well the current contracts introduced in January 2024 have served their purpose, as well as views expressed by institutions and researchers ahead of their introduction, and continuing feedback from users since then.

HMRC is committed to considering the perspectives of external stakeholders. The review will commence with a consultation involving current Datalab users and their sponsoring institutions, as well as with users of Datalab in the wider tax research community, who may want to use Datalab in the future. This consultation will last from 1 October 2025 to 31 December 2025. Although not formally part of the consultation, the Datalab users’ workshop on 24 September 2025 will also provide an opportunity for existing users to air their initial views.

Following the conclusion of the consultation, HMRC intends to implement revised contracts effective from 1 April 2026. To promote consistency and fairness for Datalab users, access to Datalab for research projects from that date will be subject to researchers and their sponsoring institutions meeting one of the following three criteria:

• Projects operating within the designated lifespan of contracts that were introduced in January 2024 may continue under those agreements until their specified expiration – subsequently, it will be mandatory to sign the new revised contracts to be introduced in 2026, in addition new researchers joining these projects after 31 March 2026 will be required to sign the revised contracts
• Projects with indefinite versions of contracts, used before January 2024, and individual researchers with temporary versions of those contracts, will be required to sign the revised contracts
• Crown Bodies and equivalent institutions will be required to sign Memoranda of Understanding with HMRC that are broadly consistent with the revised contracts