Since June 2025, we have worked in partnership with the Centre for Public Data to identify some of the most significant gaps in poverty-related data across the UK. Last week, we published 16 recommendations that we believe can make the greatest difference in addressing these challenges.
Our findings centre on three priorities:
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Reforming data access: Legislators, alongside the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HMRC, and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), should improve data access frameworks to better enable public-interest research.
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Closing critical data gaps: Statistics producers should address gaps that disproportionately affect user communities working on issues such as homelessness, disability, ethnicity, and wealth.
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Strengthening user support and engagement: DWP, HMRC, and ONS should invest in more effective support and engagement to ensure data is accessible, usable, and responsive to user needs.
These recommendations are shaped by the perspectives of nearly 100 stakeholders who contributed through interviews, roundtables, workshops, and case studies, details of which can be found on the project web pages. This diversity has been central to our work, and we believe progress will depend on ensuring that a wide range of voices, particularly those not always at the centre of these discussions, continue to be heard.
We believe many of these recommendations can deliver long-term efficiencies while enabling better use of data to understand and reduce poverty. They also aim to address persistent blind spots in how data access and user engagement are approached.
Thank you to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Insight Infrastructure team for their generous funding and invaluable support, without which this work would not have been possible. They work to enable the generation and use of timely and actionable insights to support social change, and aim to democratise access to high-quality quantitative and qualitative data and evidence through open collaboration and innovation, working towards a more equitable and just future, free from poverty.
We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively to strengthen poverty data in the UK.
Read the full recommendations and explore more about the project on the project web pages.