Following the Child Benefit data loss in November 2007 and the subsequent suspension of the analytical feed of data used in the production of the Child Benefit National Statistics, both the quarterly national and annual geographical statistics were suspended. Following a review and from June 2009, Knowledge, Analysis & Intelligence (KAI) now receive a regular analytical extract of Child Benefit data.
This new extract has enabled us to restart the National Statistics series, the first of which, the annual geographical publication covering August 2007, will be published on 15 December 2009. We will then focus on the annual geographical publications for August 2008 and 2009, both of which will appear during spring 2010.
We have made the decision to only restart the annual publication, and not the quarterly publication. The main reason for this has been resource restrictions, but also that the seasonality within Child Benefit is now well documented and understood, and there exists a lengthy time series back to 2003 to provide evidence for this.
Statistics at LSOA level (for August 2007, 2008 and 2009) will also be published through the Neighbourhood Statistics Service, but again this will not be until the spring.
An announcement will be made in due course concerning the exact publication date for the 2008 and 2009 statistics, but in the mean time if you have any queries then please do not hesitate to contact us National Statistics Contacts.
December 2009
