Skills England: revisions to statistics
Published 27 November 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-england-standards-for-official-statistics/skills-england-revisions-to-statistics
A revision is defined as any change to official statistics in the public domain. Practice T3.9 of the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics states:
“Scheduled revisions or unscheduled corrections to the statistics and data should be released as soon as practicable. The changes should be handled transparently in line with a published policy.”
In accordance with the code, this statement outlines Skills England’s policy on revisions.
Why we make revisions
Skills England will publish revisions where they improve the accuracy and reliability of our statistics.
Processes are in place to minimise the scale and number of revisions. Skills England aims to avoid revisions unless absolutely necessary.
Types of revisions
Revisions may be scheduled revisions or unscheduled corrections.
Scheduled revisions
Methodology changes. If we plan major changes to statistical methodology we will provide advance notice of the changes and explain why they are being made. We will consult with users where possible.
Planned data changes. Sometimes an official statistic is first released based on provisional data, with a revised release based on final data following. In these cases we will set out in the first release how and when the revised final statistics will be published.
Unscheduled corrections
Data error correction. We may receive updated data that reveals errors in the data used for an official statistic.
Process error correction. We may discover errors in our statistical processing or quality assurance.
If an error is identified, Skills England’s Lead Official for Statistics will assess the seriousness of the error and determine the appropriate response.
Major errors are errors that are likely to affect users’ interpretation of the statistics. A notice explaining the extent and cause of a major error will be published alongside the statistics and on Skills England’s GOV.UK pages. Individual users known to Skills England will be informed directly. The error will be corrected as soon as possible.
Minor errors are errors that are not likely to affect users’ interpretation of the statistics. Minor errors will be either corrected immediately or in the next release of the statistics.
All errors will be recorded and investigated so that processes can be improved to prevent similar errors in future.
Handling Revisions
Skills England are open and honest about revisions to our official statistics, we will:
- communicate all planned revisions within the affected official statistics release
- explain the impact of any revisions made within the updated official statistics release
- make sure official statistics subject to a revision will contain a link to this policy
- publish the names and contact details of the lead statisticians for each release
- encourage reporting of any suspected errors or suggestions for revisions