Welcome to our dedicated consultation and participation area.
Here you can take part in consultations, user engagements, and other participation activities. Sharing your views helps ensure our statistics reflect society, continue to be relevant, and meet users’ needs.
You can find our open and closed participation activities below, or search for a consultation or user engagement activity by keyword or interest. You can also read our responses to closed participation activities by visiting Our response to your feedback.
You can find out more about how we manage your data in our privacy policy.
Thank you for getting involved. Giving your views helps us produce better statistics for the public good.
If you have any questions or comments on the participation activities, please contact the address listed in the overview section of an activity, or external.affairs@ons.gov.uk.
Open participation activities
User feedback on the new Open Geography Portal
The ONS Open Geography Portal is a public facing platform to allow geographers and statisticians to find and use ONS Geography data. The ONS Geography team are currently developing a new Open Geography Portal with the aim of improving usability, accessibility and discovery. We are now seeking views about which products to prioritise for upload to the new portal. Our progress to date: Between January to April 2026, we began building the new Open Geography...
Household Cost Indices user needs
8 May 2026 update Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback on the Household Costs Indices so far. Our most recent summary of findings and our next steps as a result of this feedback can be viewed in the related documents section at the bottom of this page. The Household Costs Indices (HCIs) measure the change in consumer prices over time for different household groups, based on their actual spending patterns. The HCIs are published as a series of UK-wide price indices...
Our response to your feedback
Find out more about what we’ve heard and how that can help inform future plans.
ONS business engagement survey
The Office for National Statistics is committed to improving business surveys which are fundamental to measuring and understanding the UK economy. The latest update on our Surveys and Economic Statistics Improvement programme has recently been published.
Stakeholder satisfaction survey
We have now published the results of our latest stakeholder satisfaction survey. Our findings show that 86% of respondents said our statistical topics fully or partially met their needs. The survey also highlighted area for development, including improved website usability and navigation, earlier involvement and more consistent follow-up.
Standard Occupational Classification 2020 revision
We will look to make a number of changes to SOC2020, including: creating new unit groups where the number of job titles have significantly grown, incorporating the 6-digit extended SOC structure into the 4-digit SOC structure, and reviewing entry qualifications for occupations and their current positioning in the SOC structure.
Closed participation activities
Consultation on release times for market sensitive economic statistics
We are seeking views and evidence on different potential release times for Office for National Statistics market sensitive economic statistics. Your feedback will help inform a recommendation to the Office for Statistics Regulation. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is reviewing the release times for its market sensitive economic statistics. The review will consider whether the current arrangements continue to best serve the public good, support user needs and align with the...
Digital Economy Act 2017 - Consultation Regarding Proposed Changes to Research Accreditation Criteria
Section 64 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 (the Act) permits the disclosure of information held by public authorities for the purpose of conducting research in the public interest. The Act requires that all persons involved in the processing or use of information under this gateway are accredited. The Research Accreditation Panel is the body responsible for overseeing this accreditation process on behalf of the UK Statistics Authority (the Authority) and are...
User needs of Country and Regional Public Sector Finances statistics
Country and Regional Public Sector Finances (CRPSF) is an annual publication providing estimates of public sector revenue, expenditure and net fiscal balance across the UK countries and regions. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement and compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, we are reviewing whether the publication continues to meet user needs. We would like to hear how you use CRPSF statistics, which outputs and data are most valuable to you, and...
Past participation activities
Participation activities held before November 2016 can be found on the National Archives.