19th Aug 2025 11:43
(Alliance News) - The Office for National Statistics on Tuesday said it was delaying the release of UK retail sales figures, that were due to be published on Friday, so it can carry out further "quality assurance" work on the data.
The UK's statistics agency said retail sales figures for July will now to be released on September 5, two weeks later than previously planned.
An ONS spokesperson told the Financial Times that further information would be provided when the full data was released.
It is the latest setback for the ONS which had to correct April's consumer price index after finding an error stemming from a vehicle excise duty calculation. Labour market data has been hit by falling survey response rates, while trade data and producer price numbers have also been hit by quality concerns.
A review by former civil servant Robert Devereux in June warned of "deep-seated" issues within the ONS. Ian Diamond stepped down as head of the agency in May with immediate effect, citing health issues.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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