Open consultation

Consultation on changes to HMRC statistics publications 2025

Published 16 January 2025

Executive summary

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is committed to producing high value and good quality statistical publications that meet the needs of our users, while using our resource in the most effective ways. This consultation encourages our users to provide their views on changes we are considering to our suite of statistical publications. We need to understand how you use these statistics so that we can prioritise publications which are important to our users. We look forward to receiving your comments.

Background

In 2021, HMRC ran an initial consultation indicating our intention to reduce the volume of statistical publications produced, to focus on the quality of those statistics. This was followed up by a second consultation in 2023. These formed part of our work to respond to the review of HMRC statistics, Strengthening the quality of HMRC’s official statistics published by the Office for Statistics Regulation on 30 April 2020.

HMRC recognises that it is important to engage with our statistical publication users regularly and to consider whether our publications remain of high value to them. Hence, we are again embarking on a similar exercise to propose changes to our large range of statistical publications.

The aims of the plans are to ensure that HMRC:

• continues to produce useful and relevant statistics for use by our stakeholders, adding to our existing statistics where appropriate
• adapts statistics publications to reduce what we produce for those which are no longer widely used, are duplicated elsewhere, or could be produced less frequently

This will bring about benefits that improve the coherence and relevance of our statistics including:

• making the user experience of our statistics better by reducing some of the general and statistical content that is of little value to users
• doing more to understand our data sources and publishing relevant materials for users
• streamlining production and quality assurance processes
• modernising our statistical outputs to make the best use of the latest software and tools available

We propose to make changes to the statistics publications listed below and would like to receive comments on our plans from users of these statistics. The plans are set out for each of the publications affected, listed alphabetically below.

If you want to comment on or make suggestions on the proposals or the programme more generally, please contact statisticsenquiries@hmrc.gov.uk, making sure to reference the publications to which you are referring where appropriate. We will review all feedback we receive and publish a consultation response, setting out confirmed plans in summer 2025.

Additionally, we would welcome feedback from users on any of our statistical publications, even if not listed in this consultation, as this can help future considerations as part of the continuous investment into our statistical publications.

Proposals

General

We are exploring publishing more data in a machine-readable format, following the move to this format for our Personal tax credits statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and would welcome user views on this. We would also welcome user views on the use of an interactive online platform, similar to the Department for Education’s solution: Explore Education Statistics. This would allow users to filter and analyse the data across statistics tables in a user-friendly way, to produce and share breakdowns of interest to them.

Air Passenger Duty Bulletin

We propose shifting the reporting period for the Air Passenger Duty Bulletin to 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and the publication.

Alcohol Bulletin

We propose shifting the reporting period for the Alcohol Bulletin to 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and of the publication.

Annual savings statistics

We propose to include additional and more granular income and market value bands to provide more detail in the Annual savings statistics. This proposal would increase the number of market value bands in tables 9.10, 9.11 and 9.12 and the number of income bands in tables 9.7 and 9.10.

We also propose to include Lifetime ISA market values, and breakdowns by type of investment (cash or stocks and shares). Lifetime ISA market values are already presented in the main ISA table for market values; however, they are not separated into their own row. This proposal would create this separation.

Capital Gains Tax statistics

We propose adding information on carried interest gains to the Capital Gains Tax statistics. This will include information reported on the Capital Gains Tax pages of the Self Assessment return such as:

• total carried interest gains reported in box 13 of the SA108 pages
• total amount of tax relating to these gains
• number of individuals liable for Capital Gains Tax reporting carried interest gains

We are also considering including further breakdowns of this data into categories including:

• size of gain
• taxpayer characteristics such as age, sex, or income

Charity tax relief statistics

In the UK charity tax relief statistics, we experimentally present Table 6 (Payroll Giving) directly in the commentary. We invite feedback about whether this presentation works well, especially for users who view it with a phone or tablet or have atypical access needs.

In Tables 3 to 5 ‘donations declared by individuals completing UK Self Assessment tax returns’, the column ‘mean ratio of SA donors’ donations to gross income’ currently excludes donors who have no income, and donors whose donations exceed their income. We particularly invite comments on whether or how we might address this.

We suggest changing it to ‘total income of SA donors’. This would have the advantage that no donor is excluded from the calculation due to their donation exceeded their earnings and would make the column easier to interpret. It might have the disadvantage that it will not be directly comparable with previous releases of our statistics.

To ease the transition to a new column, in the next release we expect to retrospectively calculate any new column for each previous tax year in Table 3, which presents the time series summary of the last decade. We invite feedback on whether this would be an issue for users.

Child and Working Tax Credits statistics

Tax credits are ending on 5 April 2025, and we will therefore be discontinuing our statistical publication series after summer 2025. In addition, we are proposing to consolidate information from previous publications into a ‘Tax Credits Overview’ publication that will provide a central point of reference which shows time series information on the volume of tax credit claims.

We are exploring whether this can be released in a machine-readable format to give users more flexibility to produce different cross-tabulations that they may find useful, as well as a summary to explain key aspects of tax credits over time. We welcome feedback on what users would find most useful to include in that summary.

Our proposed plan for concluding the existing publications is set out below:

Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics: Provisional Awards

The Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics: Provisional Awards publication presented a snapshot view of tax credits awards at a point in time. The publication for December 2024, due for release in February 2025, is the final one in this series. We would normally have also released a publication based on awards at April 2025 but by then there will be almost no awards in payment due to the end date of 5 April.

Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: Finalised Annual Awards

The Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: Finalised Annual Awards publication presented an annual view of tax credits awards for each whole tax year. The latest release, published in July 2024, covers the tax year 2022 to 2023. We are aiming to publish our final version of this publication in summer 2025. The coverage and timing of this final publication is being assessed and may change from what we have published for earlier years due to data availability and timing of our extracts as tax credits end.

Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: supplement on payments

This will also affect what we are able to publish in the related release Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: supplement on payments which was last published in September 2024. We will provide users with information about a final release of this publication on the same basis as the Finalised Annual Awards statistics referred to above.

Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information

For the Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information statistics, we have identified additional breakdowns and tables that would benefit users, based on repeated Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and feedback collected through cross-governmental steering groups.

These include a public/private ownership split of measures, a breakdown by gender, and further regional breakdowns. We will continue to explore ways to improve our process and identify resources so that we can include these in the future.

We also propose to switch from the Nomenclature of Territorial Units (NUTs) geographical area classifications to International Territorial Levels (ITLs) classifications.

We are currently working with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to publish accessible versions of the data tables, with improved layouts and better navigation between tables.

Given the scale of the data needed to be processed for the statistics there are constraints on how much can be produced in time for the monthly publication. To accommodate new breakdowns, we may need to:

• remove some existing breakdowns
• reduce the frequency of breakdowns from every 3 months to every 4 months
• reduce the number of metrics in each breakdown, for example publishing mean and total pay at the UK and highest level breakdowns, but only producing counts of employees and median pay in the more detailed breakdowns

Employee Share Scheme statistics

We propose expanding Table 5 in the Employee Share Scheme statistics to provide further statistics on the Share Incentive Plan with regards to shares taken out of plan. A new Table 5.5 may include:

• number of companies where employees took shares out of plan
• number of employees that took shares out of plan
• value of total gain on shares taken out of plan
• value of relievable gain on shares taken out of plan

Environmental Taxes Bulletin

We propose moving the publication date for the Environmental Taxes Bulletin earlier in the year, from June to March, and shifting the reporting period to 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and publication.

HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK

Within the HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK: statistical table we propose to reduce our monthly receipts table to present outturn for the last 10 years only (annual receipts will continue to be presented for 20 years).

We also propose to remove Corporation Tax credits from the monthly expenditure table as this is only reported annually.

In addition, we propose to remove reported Covid support scheme expenditure (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and Eat out to Help Out Scheme) as these schemes have now closed and outturn is not due to be updated.

Historical outturn for removed taxes and periods will continue to be available in archived versions of this statistics publication via the National Archives.

We would also welcome views from users on the continued publication of Table 5: Annual Contribution by Tax, and whether this table should be removed.

Finally, we would welcome wider views from users on the current content of our monthly and annual receipts bulletins and any additions or changes that would be beneficial.

Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin

We propose shifting the reporting period for the Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin to 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and the publication.

Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics

We do not propose any further changes to the Inheritance Tax liabilities statistics, but would welcome feedback from users on the publication more generally.

Insurance Premium Tax Bulletin

We propose shifting the reporting period for the Insurance Premium Tax Bulletin to 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and of the publication.

Measuring tax gaps publication

In the Measuring tax gaps tables we propose to remove the additional tables on alcohol (tables 3.26 to 3.47) and tobacco (tables 3.48 to 3.61) showing market share, revenue and volume, unless users find these statistics to be of particular value.

We would also welcome wider feedback from users on how they use online tables.

Numbers of taxpayers and registered traders statistics

We propose to add columns to the Numbers of taxpayers and registered traders statistics table for the numbers of employee and self-employed individuals with National Insurance liabilities (Class 1 and Class 4 respectively).

Personal Incomes statistics

We propose to discontinue Table 3.16 and Table 3.17 from the Personal Income statistics. These tables provide statistics on non-savings / non-dividend income tax liabilities for Scottish and Welsh taxpayers, using either the Scottish/Welsh indicator (table 3.16) or residential postcode (table 3.17). We already publish Scottish and Welsh income tax receipts in the annual Scottish and Welsh Income Tax outturn statistics release and so propose removing these liabilities tables to avoid confusion.

We propose adding marginal tax rate as extra columns to the sub-regional geographical breakdown tables (tables 3.13, 3.14 and 3.15), in response to user demand.

We also propose adding a new table showing selected percentiles by local authority, county, and region (Table 3.14 geography breakdowns). This information is requested through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests each year. These breakdowns could also be added as extra columns to the sub-regional geography tables rather than a standalone table.

We would welcome user feedback on the current content of the commentary and whether there are any additions or changes that users would find helpful.

Private pension statistics

We propose to discontinue Table 8 in the Private pension statistics publication from summer 2026, as the Lifetime Allowance has been abolished. This means there will be no updates to the figures from this point onwards.

We are considering plans to publish statistics on applications for Lifetime allowance protections in the Private pension statistics publication as a one-off table in summer 2025. We understand there is user interest in this data as evidenced by Freedom of Information (FOI) requests received on this subject.

We are also considering expanding Table 6 to include values of contributions, number of members making contributions and regional breakdowns.

We propose to publish the private pensions data in a machine-readable format, alongside the current spreadsheet format. The machine-readable file would contain all the associated data across multiple years, making data manipulation and linkage easier for users.

We are also investigating the use of an interactive online platform, similar to the Department for Education’s solution: Explore Education Statistics. This would allow users to filter and analyse the data across pension statistics releases in a user-friendly way, to produce and share breakdowns of interest to them more easily. We welcome user feedback on whether such a feature would be of value.

Quarterly and Annual Stamp Duty Land Tax statistics

We propose to discontinue the Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax statistics. This is due to the annual UK Stamp Tax statistics publication having more interest and use, and the replication of content between these publications.

If there are concerns regarding the discontinuing of the Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax statistics, we would welcome feedback on whether:

• publishing this data twice a year instead of quarterly would mitigate concerns?
• publishing a quarterly breakdown of the most recent year in the annual UK Stamp Tax statistics publication would ease concerns?
• publishing data on liable and non-liable transaction counts, Higher Rates on Additional Dwellings (HRAD) refunds, and Non Resident Stamp Duty Land Tax (NRSDLT) refunds in the annual UK Stamp Tax statistics publication, would alleviate concerns?

In the annual UK Stamp Tax statistics publication, we propose publishing only the latest 2 years in tables 3 onwards. Historic tables would continue to be available from the National Archives.

Scottish VAT Assignment statistics

We produce the Scottish VAT Assignment statistics at the request of the UK and Scottish governments. We are not proposing any changes but wish to know if there are other users of these statistics and what uses they make of them.

We would like to know:

• if you are a user of these statistics, what do you use these them for?
• which part of the publication do you use – for example any particular tables or charts?

Soft Drinks Industry Levy

We propose moving the publication date for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to January and shifting the reporting period to 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and of the publication.

Tax relief statistics

We currently publish the Tax relief statistics biannually; in December and in May. December is the primary release, and May provides further non-structural relief costings. The benefit of the May publication has been decreasing as there are fewer uncosted non-structural reliefs. We are therefore considering moving to a single annual publication for tax relief statistics in the summer, to balance timeliness of new information and effective use of our resources.

We are also proposing to shorten the length and to improve the accessibility of the commentary on the non-structural tax relief statistics.

We welcome user feedback on the frequency, timing and commentary of the tax relief statistics publication.

Tax-Free Childcare statistics

We are proposing to remove table 3 of the Tax-Free Childcare statistics, which shows the numbers of families with Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) accounts and a self-employed parent. This was of interest when TFC was initially introduced, as these families were not entitled to previous forms of support to help pay for childcare. However, the percentage of accounts with a self-employed parent has been broadly constant for the last 3 years and we no longer think this is a necessary breakdown to include.

We are also proposing to remove the columns from tables 1 and 2 which show the count of families/children with ‘TFC only’, and ‘TFC and 30 hours’ accounts. Removing the split would make tables 1 and 2 much simpler and easier to use.

Tables 7 to 12 are published each quarter but only updated once a year. We are considering omitting these tables from publications when they are not updated, which would streamline the published document.

Tobacco Bulletin

We propose reducing the frequency of the Tobacco bulletin from every 3 months to every 6 months and moving the reporting period to be 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and of the publication. Provisionally this will be achieved by dropping the February and August publications. Keeping the May date will allow for prompter publication of full financial year statistics.

UK Betting and Gaming statistics

We propose reducing the frequency of the UK Betting and Gaming bulletin from every 6 months to an annual publication and moving the reporting period to be 2 months in arrears, instead of the current 1 month. This will allow more time for quality assurance of the data and of the publication and allow for liabilities and receipts to be published on the same basis. Provisionally this will be achieved by dropping the April publication and moving the October date to September, which will allow for prompter publication of full financial year statistics.

UK payrolled employments by nationality, region, industry, age and sex

In line with Official Statistics protocols, HMRC have carried out a user engagement exercise on UK payrolled employments by nationality, region, industry, age and sex statistics to understand the demand for statistics relating to migrant workers in the UK labour market. The results from this, alongside repeated Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, suggest that users would like more specific nationality data to be published as well as income data and data on employee counts rather than employments.

To meet the demand for information, we are exploring the inclusion of more specific nationality data, income data and data on employee counts in future releases of the publication.

Value Added Tax (VAT) annual statistics

We would like to hear from users on proposals to:

• remove Table 1 from the VAT annual statistics since the numbers are already published in the HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK
• only tabulate figures for the last 20 years, in line with the HMRC tax receipts publication
• combine the tables for VAT population by trade sector and sub sector into 1 table for ease of reference
• remove the tabulation of the ‘Distribution of net Home VAT payment traders’ (Tables 10a and 10b) since the information is either evident (Tables 10a1 and 10b1) or repeated elsewhere (Table 5)
• create a new table to count VAT traders by region – this is in response to user requests for such information
• create a new column for Total net Home VAT liability to be put alongside the figures for total input and output tax liabilities (Table 11) for ease of reference
• combine the tables for VAT population in the publication by trade sector (Table 3) and sub-sector (Table 4a) into 1 table, for ease of reference
• add the overall sectors to the tabulation for net Home VAT liability by trade sub-sector (Table 4b), to provide a convenient summation for users
• combine Table 5 (net Home VAT by turnover band) with Table 8 (those eligible for the VAT Cash accounting and VAT Annual accounting schemes) by adjusting the turnover bands of Table 5, providing a neater output all within the same table