‘Administrative data’ is the records generated by government service providers as part of everyone’s daily life - such as education, employment and tax and benefits records. Administrative Data Research UK has created an animation to help explain this in more detail – watch the animation now.

Adding administrative data to UK LLC’s Trusted Research Environment and combining it/linking it to linked health records and other information collected over time will enhance researchers’ ability to address important issues that affect people’s health and wellbeing. For example, researchers can examine how health and mental health conditions affect care provision among different socio-demographic groups and understand the social impact of childhood adversity on adult health inequality.

Not all will. Each partner study has their own set of conditions that have been agreed with their study participants. Some studies will choose not to link participant and administrative data for a variety of reasons. For example, studies based in Scotland may not want to link to Department for Education as this data is English. Some studies may not have appropriate permissions in place at this time and will require further engagement with their participants before they begin to explore undertaking further links.

We are working with a small number of studies to pilot the linking of study data to administrative data. If you are not a study participant in one of these studies, you may not be contacted for some time, perhaps up to a year. If your study is not taking part in linking to administrative data, you will not hear from them about this subject but you will continue to receive your usual communications from the study.

UK LLC has been granted permission from UK Government departments, including HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education, to link their administrative records with study data. For example: o Data collected by HMRC for the purposes of assessing total pay and tax liabilities such as P60 and P14 detailing pay and tax deductions o Employment and Occupational/Personal Pension records o Data collected for the administration of National Insurance Data collected and maintained by HMRC for the administration and payment of Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credits, child benefit o Department of Education data - for example data on Key stage Attainment ages 5- 18 - based on teacher assessments (early years) and teacher and externally marked tests including GCSE, A level and equivalent o School Census data: Absences, Information, Exclusions. Collectively, this data helps to provide a more rounded picture of people’s lives and the impact of major events, for example, the coronavirus pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

The first step is to agree data linkage and data sharing models with the government departments who have granted UK LLC permission to link administrative data. UK LLC, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and government departments are working together to explore the feasibility of using the existing data already held with ONS, to minimise movement of data and provide a more sustainable and acceptable process. UK LLC will ensure data is only accessed in the TRE and only by approved researchers who are trained in how to handle data correctly. The ONS will develop a system to carry out and quality assesses the way that the linking of data happens.

No. This will depend on any local conditions that have been agreed between the partner study and their study participants. Each study will be collating information on permissions given by their study participants. This information will be marked as a ‘flag’ in the data extract that is sent to Digital Health and Care Wales, our trusted third party. This ‘flag’ indicates whether those details should be sent for linkage to HMRC, DWP or DfE. Any study participants who are not clear on what they have agreed with their study, they should contact their research team.

This will be an ongoing process with the actual linking of data due to start mid-2024. It will take up to two years for the process to be completed with existing partner studies. Then as new partner studies come on board with UK LLC, they will have the opportunity to link their study data to administrative data. We have started the preparation for this work with a small group of our partner studies.

Yes, everyone will have some administrative data but some will have more than others. People who were born in the UK will have had administrative data collected – these come in the form of birth certificates, immunisation records and nursery/school registrations and so on, throughout the person’s life. Some people may have fewer administrative records. For example, those who have migrated to the UK, who are part of a Traveller community or children who have always been home educated. If these individuals are volunteers in a partner study, they will have less administrative data compared to others. Although we don’t have precise numbers, we anticipate that the number of study participants in this position will not impact any research and everyone’s data will be valued.

The Digital Economy Act 2017, Section 64 states that - ‘Disclosure of information for research purposes. It states that de-identified data held by a public authority in connection with the authority’s functions may be disclosed to another person for the purpose of research’.