The Office for National Statistics has announced a webinar on 12 August to brief data users on progress replacing the Labour Force Survey with a new online-first model, with full transition now pushed back to 2027 at the earliest.
The figures show just how much is riding on getting this right. ONS’s latest labour market overview reported that payrolled employees fell by 85,000 — 0.3 per cent — between May 2025 and May 2026, the kind of headline statistic that councils, employers and policymakers across Kent rely on to make spending and planning decisions. Any disruption to the quality or comparability of that data matters.
The 12 August webinar will cover three areas: the move to an online-first Labour Force Survey, the latest quality assessment of both the current LFS and its replacement — the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) — and future plans for Household, Skills and Labour statistics. ONS has been running the two surveys side by side while it works through methodological changes, but the Office for Statistics Regulation has flagged that running both concurrently is stretching ONS resources. OSR’s own assessment found that ONS has fully met just 4 of 12 outstanding recommendations, with work continuing on the remaining 8.
The original timetable had aimed for transition by around 2024 to 2026. That’s slipped. ONS confirmed at its April 2026 Economic Forum that the earliest feasible switch is now 2027, following readiness assessments and data-quality checks. One concrete change already in place: respondent incentives have doubled from £10 to £20 across all survey waves to boost participation and improve response rates.
For Kent, the stakes are practical. Kent County Council, Medway Council and district authorities use ONS employment, earnings and economic inactivity data to shape local skills strategies and allocate resources. A shift to online-first data collection raises questions about representativeness — parts of Kent with lower digital access or older populations could be under-represented in survey returns if ONS doesn’t adjust carefully. Improved weighting and redesigned sampling, if they work as intended, should sharpen the accuracy of county-level estimates. But that depends on the methodological work being completed to OSR’s satisfaction before the transition happens.
Key information
- The ONS “Labour market transformation progress update” webinar takes place on 12 August
- Register via the link posted by the @ONS account on X
- Kent-based data users — including local authorities, skills providers and researchers — can engage with ONS through webinars and consultation channels to raise concerns about local coverage and digital exclusion
Source: @ONS