FOI reference: FOI-2026-3782
You asked
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 concerning statistical releases recorded as "Cancelled" in the Office for National Statistics release calendar.
As of 4 October 2026, the ONS release calendar displays 322 releases under the category "Cancelled".
I would be grateful if you could provide the following information.
1. Definition and guidance
Please provide any current policy, guidance, instructions, definitions, internal guidance notes or other recorded information which explains:
a) what the status "Cancelled" means within the ONS release calendar;
b) the circumstances in which a scheduled release should be recorded as "Cancelled" rather than "Postponed", "Provisional", rescheduled or another status;
c) whether "Cancelled" can encompass releases which are subsequently:
- published at a later date;
- published under a different title;
- incorporated into another ONS publication;
- superseded by a different release;
- paused pending further analysis, quality assurance or data;
- permanently discontinued.
2. Categories or reasons for cancellation
If ONS records cancellation reasons using internal categories, codes, fields, classifications or standard descriptions, please provide:
a) a list of those categories/codes and their definitions; and
b) any guidance provided to staff on how those categories should be applied.
I am not asking ONS to create new categories or conduct a new analysis if this information is not already held.
3. Cancelled release records
For releases currently recorded as "Cancelled" in the ONS release calendar, please provide, where held electronically and capable of being extracted without creating new information, the following fields:
- release title;
- originally scheduled publication date;
- date the decision to cancel was recorded;
- recorded reason for cancellation;
- any internal cancellation category/code;
- whether a replacement or successor publication is recorded;
- title and/or URL of any replacement or successor publication;
- any subsequently scheduled publication date.
I am happy for this information to be provided as a spreadsheet, CSV or other existing machine-readable export if available.
If providing information for all historic cancelled releases would exceed the appropriate cost limit under section 12 FOIA, please provide the information for the most recent five calendar years (1 January 2022 to 4 October 2026), or advise me how the request could most effectively be refined.
4. Approval and governance
Please provide any recorded policy, guidance or procedure governing the decision to cancel a pre-announced ONS statistical release, including:
- who is authorised to approve cancellation;
- whether a reason must be formally recorded;
- whether the decision is subject to statistical, methodological, quality or senior-management approval;
- whether users or stakeholders must be considered or consulted where a statistical series is permanently discontinued.
5. Release readiness
Please provide any guidance, definitions or recorded procedures concerning the stages through which a statistical release passes before publication, including any stages described as, or equivalent to:
- quality assured;
- approved;
- publication ready;
- finalised;
- signed off.
Please also provide any recorded guidance explaining what should happen if a release which has reached one of those stages is subsequently cancelled or withheld from its announced publication.
We said
Thank you for your request.
1. Definition and guidance
1a. The ONS holds guidance on cancellations of statistical publications. The guidance defines a cancellation as:
"A cancellation occurs when a publication that was planned and publicly announced is no longer going to be published at all."
The guidance further states that cancellations generally occur when:
the data are no longer available
the data are no longer required
the release cannot meet required quality standards
The guidance also notes that a planned publication may be cancelled because its content will instead be published elsewhere or in a different format, for example as a data-only release or incorporated into another publication.
1b. ONS guidance distinguishes between postponements and cancellations. A postponement occurs when a publication is rescheduled to a later date but is still intended to be published. A cancellation occurs when a publication that was planned and publicly announced is no longer going to be published at all. A provisional publication date for a statistical release is an unconfirmed publication date that is pre-announced on the release calendar. On the ONS release calendar, a provisional date can be shown as an exact date, a month or a two-month window. Publication dates should be confirmed at least four weeks in advance of publication, where possible.
1c. “Cancelled” can encompass releases which are subsequently:
Published at a later date – Where publication remains intended and a new publication date is agreed, this would be recorded as a postponement rather than a cancellation. However, if a business area does not have a clear timeframe on when they will publish there are some instances where this will be marked as cancelled rather than postponed.
Published under a different title – Yes. ONS guidance states that a planned publication may be cancelled when its content will instead be published elsewhere or in a different format.
Incorporated into another ONS publication – Yes. ONS guidance identifies incorporation into another publication as a potential reason for cancellation.
- Superseded by a different release – Yes. A cancellation may occur where the planned content will instead be published elsewhere or in a different format, for example, through another publication or a data-only release.
- Paused pending further analysis, quality assurance or data – Where publication remains intended and additional analysis, quality assurance or data are required, this would normally be recorded as a postponement rather than a cancellation. However, a publication may ultimately be cancelled if it is no longer intended to proceed or if there is no clear timeline for when it might be published.
- Permanently discontinued – Yes. ONS guidance notes that a cancellation may be appropriate when a publication is discontinued entirely.
2. Categories or reasons for cancellation
2a. ONS guidance requires publication teams to record the primary reason for a postponement or cancellation using one of the following categories:
Data supply/supplier
Systems
Resource
Publishing or prioritisation
Efficiency and savings
Quality
Unknown
Other
2b. We hold guidance which instructs staff to select the category that best represents the primary reason for the postponement or cancellation and to provide supporting explanatory information. The guidance includes examples of circumstances that may fall within each category.
3. Cancelled release records
The ONS does not hold all of the requested information as separate, structured fields. Information about cancelled publications is available through the ONS Release Calendar, which can be filtered to show cancellations within the relevant time period.
The calendar provides a list of cancelled publications. Selecting an individual publication will provide further information about the cancellation, where available. Publications may be cancelled for a range of reasons, including where releases have been merged or are no longer required following user need consultation.
The release calendar does not contain information on when the decision to cancel a publication was made. Cancellations require considered discussion and agreement from both the relevant output area and the Statistics Head of Profession Office. There is no single record held of specifically when these decisions were made. The only information we hold similar to this is the dates on which cancellation requests were submitted to the Publishing team.
4. Approval and governance
We hold guidance governing the approval and management of publication cancellations, alongside its publicly available Release Practice Policy.
4a. ONS guidance states that final approval for cancellations must come from the ONS’ Head of Profession for Statistics. Within ONS this function is managed by the Statistics Head of Profession Office.
4b. Yes. ONS guidance requires publication teams to provide a justification as part of the cancellation process.
4c. Publication teams are required to consider quality, transparency, public value and user impact when proposing a cancellation. Final approval is given by the Head of Profession for Statistics.
4d. ONS guidance requires publication teams to consider the impact on users and public value. The guidance does not require consultation in every case, however ONS prioritisation of outputs is shaped by user feedback.
5. Release readiness
The ONS does not hold a single corporate policy or guidance document that defines publication stages using the specific terms "quality assured", "approved", "publication ready", "finalised" or "signed off". The ONS does hold a range of production, publishing and quality assurance guidance covering the review, assurance, approval and publication of statistical outputs. These processes may vary according to the type of output and business area responsible for production.
ONS guidance states that where a publication can no longer be released as planned, publication teams should, where appropriate:
notify relevant stakeholders
explain the issue and implications for quality or validity
complete the formal postponement or cancellation process
seek approval through the Head of Profession for Statistics
communicate approved changes to users and update the release calendar where appropriate
The guidance further states that decisions to cancel publications should be based on statistical considerations, such as quality, data availability and public value, and should not undermine the integrity, independence nor transparency of official statistics.