Official Statistics

Quality and methodology information: human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage estimates in England

Updated 24 June 2025

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2025

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About this report

This report outlines the quality and methodology information (QMI) relevant to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage official statistics release published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). This QMI report supports users in understanding the strengths and limitations of these statistics, ensuring UKHSA is compliant with the quality standards stated in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The report covers:

  • the strengths and limitations of the data used to produce the statistics
  • the methods used to produce the statistics
  • the quality of the statistical outputs

About the statistics

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a group of over 100 common viruses. HPV infections are often asymptomatic. However, some types can cause genital warts or cancer. HPV is predominantly spread through skin-to-skin contact of the genital area (vaginal, anal or oral sex) and the sharing of sex toys.

The national HPV vaccination programme was introduced in 2008 on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The programme aims to protect adolescents from HPV-related cancers. Since its introduction in 2008, there have been changes to the eligibility cohorts and the number of doses administered, as outlined in Appendix A.

This national annual report of HPV vaccine coverage in England presents the number of adolescents eligible for, and vaccinated with, the HPV vaccine during the academic year. As the programme has been expanded, the statistics presented in these reports have been adapted to allow monitoring of all eligible cohorts by age, sex and geography.

Geographical coverage: England

Publication frequency: annual

Changes to this document

24 June 2025: QMI report first published

Contact

Lead consultant: Colin Campbell

Contact information: adolescent@ukhsa.gov.uk

Suitable data sources

Statistics should be based on the most appropriate data to meet intended uses.

This section describes the data used to produce the statistics.

Data sources  

HPV vaccine data is collected by NHS School Age Immunisation Services (SAIS), aggregated by local authority, and manually uploaded to the ImmForm website at the end of the academic year.

The data submitted to UKHSA via the ImmForm website may be provided directly by the SAIS providers or by NHS England (NHSE) Regional Public Health Commissioning Teams. Regional teams are also requested to provide additional data for adolescents resident in the local authority who are not linked to any school. UKHSA also ask data providers to submit data on vaccinations delivered through community clinics or general practices (GPs), and these are then added to the school vaccination figures. Data providers must use updated data sources such as school rolls for all types of schools or units, plus children schooled at home, or the Child Health Information System (CHIS).

The 2022 to 2023 academic year was the second year that the ImmForm data collection survey captured dose 1 and dose 2 vaccine coverage for both males and females in all the year 8, year 9 and year 10 birth cohorts. The aim of including the year 10 data collection was to update the coverage reported for adolescents in school year 9 in the previous academic year. This update allowed us to assess any impact that catch up activities had on the low vaccine coverage reported in some areas following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Denominator data for the year 8 cohort (the number of adolescents in year 8 eligible for the vaccination) is estimated using the number of students who were in year 7 in the previous academic year, based on data provided by the Department for Education, who publish data on Schools, pupils and their characteristics. For the year 9 and year 10 cohorts, the denominator data is estimated using the total number of adolescents submitted in the previous year’s ImmForm collection.

Data providers are expected to update these provisional denominators to account for movement in and out of the local authority. If an updated denominator is not available, we use the provisional denominator data, which may also exclude students in alternative settings.

Data quality

The data that we use to produce statistics must be fit for purpose. Poor quality data can cause errors and hinder effective decision making.

We have assessed the quality of the source data against the data quality dimensions in the Government Data Quality Framework.

This assessment covers the quality of the data that was used to produce the statistics, not the quality of the final statistical outputs. The quality summary section below assesses the quality of the final statistical outputs.

Strengths and limitations of the HPV data

The following strengths of the data have been identified:

  • data is submitted by local authority providers who are responsible for monitoring school vaccination uptake, so the data published is factual  and up to date
  • reporting of HPV vaccine uptake is mandatory in the UK, which means data is available for all devolved governments
  • validation checks are carried out by both local authority providers and UKHSA to ensure the data submitted is accurate

The following limitations of the data have been identified:

  • there is some variation in data reporting between providers: not all local authorities include vaccinations given in alternative settings, such as GPs
  • data sources for the denominator may also differ between providers – these data sources include SAIS, CHIS and GP data
  • providers manually enter data into the ImmForm survey, which means there is a risk of human error
  • data collected is aggregated at the local authority level limiting detailed understanding of areas and people who remain unvaccinated

Accuracy

Accuracy is about the degree to which the data reflects the real world. This can refer to correct names, addresses or represent factual and up to date data.

Vaccination data is provided by local authorities who are responsible for monitoring school vaccination uptake and ensuring the data submitted for publication is as factual  and up to date as possible. UKHSA apply additional data validation checks to ensure data is accurate, and if the data fails validation checks, data providers are queried to confirm that the data entered is correct.

Completeness

Completeness describes the degree to which records are present.

For a data set to be complete, all records are included, and the most important data is present in those records. This means that the data set contains all the records that it should, and all essential values in a record are populated.

Completeness is not the same as accuracy, as a full data set may still have incorrect values.

As HPV is a mandatory programme in the UK, all immunisation providers must submit data, resulting in 100% completeness by local authority. Historically, data has been included for all local authorities. However, if data fails validation checks and a sufficient reason is not provided, we may choose to remove the data for that local authority.

The ImmForm survey contains several mandatory fields, so the data used in this report on the number of adolescents vaccinated, the number of adolescents eligible, programme delivery and denominator source are 100% complete for all local authorities and age groups.

Uniqueness

Uniqueness describes the degree to which there is no duplication in records. This means that the data contains only one record for each entity it represents, and each value is stored once.

Providers aggregate data to produce local authority level coverage figures. Only one survey can be submitted on ImmForm for each local authority, meaning there is no duplication of local authorities. Data providers are asked to deduplicate underlying individual-level data to ensure adolescents are not counted multiple times.

Consistency

Consistency describes the degree to which values in a data set do not contradict other values representing the same entity.

Coverage figures are not always directly comparable among providers. This is because some providers carry out routine vaccination in year 8, whereas some carry out routine vaccination in year 9. The methodology used to calculate coverage figures also differs among providers, as they use different data sources. Only some data sources include adolescents vaccinated outside of school. These alternative settings include adolescents in pupil referral units, secure units, residential units, adolescents schooled at home, adolescents resident in the local authority not linked to a school, and adolescents in schools. 

Timeliness

Timeliness describes the degree to which the data is an accurate reflection of the period that it represents, and that the data and its values are up to date.

The academic year starts on 1 September and ends on 31 August. Data collection begins 2 to 5 weeks after the end of the academic year. This allows time for data providers to upload the data to ImmForm.

The data is reported to UKHSA once a year, minimising the reporting burden for data providers. HPV is a seasonal programme, and the timing of delivery differs between local authorities. Measuring coverage at the end of the academic year allows us to assess the level of protection in the population once all vaccination activity is complete.  

Validity

Validity describes the degree to which the data is in the range and format expected. For example, the date of birth does not exceed the present day and is within a reasonable range.

In the ImmForm survey, radio buttons are used to ensure standardised answers between providers where possible. For example, in the question asking if students in year 8 had been vaccinated with a HPV dose, 3 options are given:

  • yes, all eligible adolescents in year 8 were routinely offered an HPV vaccine
  • vaccine was not routinely offered in year 8 in the 2023 to 2024 academic year
  • some HPV vaccines were offered in year 8

The survey will also only accept answers that are in the correct format. This means only numbers can be entered into the numerator and denominator fields, and only text can be entered into the comment fields.

There are also checks built into the survey to flag invalid or missing data. For example, the survey cannot be submitted if the number of adolescents vaccinated is greater than the number of adolescents eligible for vaccination or if mandatory fields are incomplete.

Sound methods

Statistical outputs should be made using the best available methods and recognised standards.

This section describes how the statistics were produced and quality assured.

Data is collected by SAIS or by NHSE Regional Public Health Commissioning Teams and submitted to UKHSA via the ImmForm website. To minimise errors during data collection, UKHSA produces a school level data collection tool which includes conditional formatting to flag anomalous data. However, the use of this tool is optional.

There are also validation checks built into the ImmForm survey. For example, if the number of students vaccinated in a cohort is less than the previous year, the survey will prompt providers to review their submission to ensure the figures are correct. Full details of the methodology can be found in the HPV vaccine coverage user guide for data providers.

Additional validation checks are carried out on the data following submission.

Data is queried with providers when the number of adolescents eligible for vaccination (denominator) differs by 10% or more between:

  • the year 8 cohort compared to the previous year 8 cohort
  • the year 9 cohort compared to the previous year 9 cohort
  • the year 10 cohort compared to the previous year 10 cohort
  • the year 8 cohort compared to the same cohort when they were in year 7 (estimated using school and pupil characteristics data from the Department for Education the year 9 cohort compared to the same cohort when they were in year 8
  • the year 10 cohort compared to the same cohort when they were in year 9

Data is also queried with providers when the proportion of adolescents vaccinated (coverage) differs by 5% or more between:

  • the year 8 cohort compared to the previous year 8 cohort
  • the year 9 cohort compared to the previous year 9 cohort
  • the year 10 cohort compared to the previous year 10 cohort
  • the year 9 cohort compared to the same cohort when they were in year 8
  • the year 10 cohort compared to the same cohort when they were in year 9
  • female students compared to male students in each cohort

If the data submitted fails any of these validation checks, the provider is asked to review the data and explain the reason for the change. If the data is incorrect, data providers are asked to resubmit.

Data set production

Data used in the annual report comes from one source: data reported on ImmForm. HPV vaccine coverage is calculated based on the total number of eligible females or males in the target population who have received the HPV vaccine.

For reports produced before 2022 to 2023, analyses were carried out using Microsoft Excel. To improve quality and reproducibility, reports produced since 2023 to 2024 are now automated using R. This means that the report, charts, and supplementary spreadsheet are all generated using R and R Markdown.

Quality assurance

The annual report is produced using R. The production of the statistics, graphs and maps has been automated. This reduces the risk of human error as users do not have to manually update figures or copy and paste between documents. Members of the UKHSA vaccine coverage team carry out quality assurance throughout the production of the statistics. Before the script is run, the input data is reviewed to ensure the data is accurate. After the script is run, outputs are manually reviewed to identify any errors. The figures and tables produced are compared with the figures within the text to ensure consistency and cross-checked against previous annual reports. If concerns are raised, further checks are conducted to identify any errors in the data or automation process.

Confidentiality and disclosure control

Personal and confidential data is collected, processed, and used in accordance with the UKHSA Privacy Notice. All UKHSA staff with access to personal or confidential information must complete mandatory information governance training, which must be refreshed every year. Information is stored on computer systems that are kept up-to-date and regularly tested to make sure they are secure and protected from viruses and hacking. UKHSA staff do not store data on their own laptops or computers, as data is stored centrally on UKHSA servers.

Specific disclosure control methods are used to ensure that no personally identifiable information is included in published data. Where the number of individuals vaccinated in a cohort is below 5, we suppress the data to prevent disclosure. We also ensure that the tables presented cannot be cross-tabulated to reveal sufficient information about individuals to pose a meaningful risk of secondary disclosure.

Where there are small local authorities, the data can be combined to avoid deductive disclosure due to the small number of adolescents. For example, data from the City of London is combined with Hackney, and Cornwall is combined with the Isles of Scilly. Data for the City of London is submitted together with data from Hackney. Data from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is submitted separately and combined following submission.

Geography

UKHSA produce statistics at 5 geographical levels:

  • England
  • NHS commissioning region
  • UKHSA region
  • NHS integrated care board (ICB)
  • local authority 

UK level data is also calculated by combining the coverage figures published by UKHSA, Public Health Wales, Public Health Scotland and the Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland).

These geographic breakdowns are published in the supplementary data tables.

Quality summary

The Code of Practice for Statistics states that quality means that statistics:

  • fit their intended uses
  • are based on appropriate data and methods
  • are not materially misleading

Quality requires skilled professional judgment about collecting, preparing, analysing, and publishing statistics and data in ways that meet the needs of people who want to use the statistics.

This section assesses the statistics against the European Statistical System dimensions of quality.

Relevance

Relevance is the degree to which the statistics meet user needs in both coverage and content.

These statistics on HPV provide evidence of progress towards initiatives to control HPV in the UK and have changed over time to meet the needs of a changing programme. To evaluate the roll-out of the HPV vaccine in males in 2019, the vaccine coverage collection changed to monitor coverage in males and females separately. Regular monitoring of vaccine coverage is important to evaluate the impact of changes to the vaccination schedule.

The statistics are published annually and are primarily used by people in clinical care and public health. These stakeholders use the statistics for performance monitoring, to determine immunisation strategy and for resource allocation.

We have continued to make changes to the publication to meet user needs. We now publish 3 products as part of the statistical release:

  • the main statistics report
  • supplementary data tables
  • this QMI report, published in June 2025

By providing this range of different outputs, we can better cater to the needs of different users from a range of backgrounds, in line with the Office for National Statistics user personas.

Accuracy and reliability

Accuracy is the proximity between an estimate and the unknown true value. Reliability is the closeness of early estimates to subsequent estimated values.

Data is submitted annually by local Screening and Immunisation Teams, meaning coverage figures are reliable and up to date. The number of students in each year is updated by providers to ensure the denominator used is accurate. In rare cases where an updated denominator is not available, the provisional denominator estimate may be used.

To assist data providers, we publish an ImmForm survey user guide and run a webinar which explains how to submit data to the ImmForm survey.

The data is also validated using:

  • a school-level data collection tool which includes conditional formatting to flag anomalous data, allowing teams to review data quality as it is collected – for example, the tool will highlight a cell if the number of students vaccinated in a cohort has fallen compared with the previous year
  • checks built into the ImmForm submission survey, which prevent missing data and ensure coverage figures are cumulative for years 9 and 10
  • additional validation checks following submission to query data that has changed substantially compared with the previous year

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness refers to the time gap between publication and the reference period. Punctuality refers to the gap between planned and actual publication dates.

This report aims to provide up-to-date figures on HPV national vaccine coverage to inform ongoing HPV control efforts in England. The statistics are always published as soon as possible, allowing for the collection of data submissions, production, and quality assurance. The final deadline for submission of all data to UKHSA is October each year, before undergoing extensive validation by members of the national and regional teams.

This annual report is official statistics and is pre-announced at least 4 weeks in advance, in line with the principle on orderly release of the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Accessibility and clarity

Accessibility is the ease with which users can access the data, also reflecting the format in which the data is available and the availability of supporting information. Clarity refers to the quality and sufficiency of the metadata, illustrations and accompanying advice.

In the 3 statistical products, we strive to ensure compliance with the public sector body accessibility regulations and the Government Analysis Function accessibility guidance.

From the 2022 to 2023 publication (published 23 January 2024), we started publishing the main statistics report as an HTML web page. The switch to HTML has made the report easier to access across different devices through accessibility features mentioned in the GOV.UK accessibility statement.

The publication includes visualisations that help explain the data. These are designed to be colour-blind friendly as each element has a different luminance value. This means that there is always sufficient contrast between elements for them to be distinguished.

We have simplified the commentary in the publication, focusing on plain English, and shortened the publication overall. We also now include the main messages in the publication to help users understand the statistics.

The supplementary data tables are published in ODS format and follow the Government Analysis Function’s spreadsheet accessibility guidance. For example, each worksheet contains only one table. We also do not include nested tables with merged cells, as these do not work well with screen readers. We avoid using empty cells for the same reason. Each worksheet has a descriptive heading, for example, “HPV vaccine coverage data by local authority, England, September 2023 to August 2024”.

Coherence and comparability

Coherence is the degree to which data that is derived from different sources or methods, but refers to the same topic, is similar. Comparability is the degree to which data can be compared over time and domain.

The HPV vaccination programme changed to a one dose only schedule in September 2023. Therefore, the data published from 2023 to 2024 onwards is not directly comparable to previous published reports.

Coverage may not be comparable between local authorities, as not all local authorities are able to include vaccinations given in alternative settings.

The geographies included in the report have changed between years, so the backing tables are not directly comparable. The geographies reported in:

  • the 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 academic years were by local authority, ICB, UKHSA region and NHS commissioning region
  • the 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 academic years were by local authority, local team, UKHSA region and NHS commissioning region
  • the 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 academic years were by local authority and local team
  • the 2015 to 2016 and 2016 to 2017 academic years were by local authority, local team and area team
  • the 2014 to 2015 academic year were by local authority and area team

Uses and users

Users of statistics and data should be at the centre of statistical production, and statistics should meet user needs.

This section explains how the statistics are used and how we understand user needs.

Appropriate use of the statistics

The statistics present HPV vaccine coverage in the UK. The data is collected annually by immunisation providers, in line with the school academic year.

Known uses

We are aware that the statistics have been used in several different ways, including:

  • monitoring HPV vaccine coverage by comparing different areas
  • strategy and resource allocation
  • awareness
  • research
  • clinical decision making
  • evidence on the WHO cervical cancer elimination initiative
  • informing vaccine policies

Known users

Known users of the statistics are primarily in clinical care and public health. We are also aware of users in the media, the charity sector, and academia and research.

User engagement

We plan to run a user engagement survey for these statistics in 2025. The survey will be used to identify users of the HPV coverage statistics and how we can improve them to better meet user needs. We will look to implement any improvements in the January 2026 report.

Appendix A: Summary of changes to the HPV immunisation programme

The HPV immunisation programme has changed over time in response to the latest science and advice:

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