Public sector classification guide and forward work plan

The Public Sector Classification Guide (xls, 2.6MB) lists current and former public sector bodies that Office for National Statistics has classified. For any enquiries, please contact:

David Beckett
econstats.classifications@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 456980

Forward Work Plan

The forward work plan (xls, 67.1KB) sets out the organisations and transactions which we expect to assess and classify in the coming 12 months. There is high demand for classification assessments and at any one time we progress a number of active cases, with new cases often arising. As such, this forward work plan does not cover all cases that will arise over the coming year; furthermore, minor cases (with smaller statistical and policy impacts) will be assessed as resources allow. The cases scheduled have been prioritised due to:

• the impact they will have on important statistics

• their importance to public policy

After EU withdrawal

As the UK leaves the EU, it is important that our statistics continue to be of high quality and are internationally comparable. During the transition period, those UK statistics that align with EU practice and rules will continue to do so in the same way as before 31 January 2020. This approach also applies to the classifications process.

After the transition period, we will continue to be guided by the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Statistics and act in accordance with internationally agreed statistical guidance and standards.

To ensure comparability with other countries, the classifications process will continue according to the existing definitions and standards until further notice, or until those standards are updated.

Impacts on fiscal aggregates

Approximate potential impacts on fiscal aggregates are given in the forward work plan.

The fiscal aggregates are:

• public sector net borrowing and public sector net debt for the UK

• general government consolidated gross debt and general government net borrowing for European measures

The impact described would occur only if an organisation’s classification status changes from public to private sector (or the other way around), or if a new organisation is classified to the public sector. Transactional classifications can also impact the fiscal aggregates.

For indicative impacts on fiscal aggregates the following definitions are used:

• small – less than £100 million change

• medium – between £100 million and £1 billion change

• large – more than £1 billion change

For any enquiries, please contact:

David Beckett
econstats.classifications@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 456980