Rounding policy for statistical publications
Updated 30 October 2025
Applies to England
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As described in our statement on confidentiality and data security, we ensure that the official statistics we publish do not reveal the identity of any individuals or schools or colleges, or any private information about them.
To do this, we apply statistical disclosure control methods, including rounding.
We also use rounding to make our published data clearer, as rounded numbers are often easier to read and compare than unrounded numbers. Rounding also helps recognise where the limitations of some of our data sources mean that we cannot report figures with absolute precision (see our statement on administrative data sources for more information on the data sources we use).
Standard rounding method
Rounding involves adjusting numbers to a specified base. For example, if we were using a base of 5, we would round numbers up or down to the closest multiple of 5. For example, a value of 26 would be rounded down to 25.
In our statistical releases, all figures are normally rounded to the nearest 5, unless otherwise stated. Values of less than 5 (1 to 4) are represented as ‘fewer than 5’. True zero is denoted as ‘0’. This applies to reports as well as accompanying data tables.
In some instances, when there is no risk associated with the disclosure of the identity of an individual, statistics might be best represented as unrounded numbers. For example, the number of regulated awarding organisations given in our annual qualifications market report is not rounded.
In some instances, where individual rounded values have been presented in a table along with their sum total, this total may be slightly different to the sum of the individual rounded values. This is because the total has been calculated using the original unrounded values.
We also use unrounded values to derive percentages. Percentages are then normally rounded to one decimal place. Due to this rounding, percentages may not always add to up exactly 100%.