ADR UK Annual Report 2025 – 2026 shares this year's developments, research impact and ambitious future plans
Categories: News, Annual Report, Reports, ADR UK Partnership
30 September 2026
The ADR UK Annual Report for 2025 – 2026 is now live. Six months into our new five-year investment period, the report shares how work across the partnership is gathering pace to deliver further impact for the public.
This year has seen ADR UK mark a range of key milestones, including the launch of the first UK-wide flagship dataset now available for research (RAPID: Population interactions with employment, benefits and pensions – UK); the funding of two new Academic Leads to support our economics and justice research programmes; formalised partnerships with five UK Government departments; and several key events both in the UK and internationally marking ADR UK’s position as a leader in the data sector.
You can scroll a timeline of all major milestones in the Annual Report.
Through our investment in new linked datasets, our strengthened partnerships with key government departments, and the funding of research with high potential for policy impact, this year we have built a strong foundation for our new five-year funding period.
Alongside our continued commitment to public engagement throughout our programme, ADR UK continues to drive the secure use of public-sector data in the public good.”
- Dr Emma Gordon, Director of ADR UK. Hear more from Emma on ADR UK’s vision:
Delivering data-driven impact for the UK
This year, ADR UK projects across the partnership have delivered robust evidence to inform better policy and practice. From supporting schools to target earlier support for children, to informing policy approaches to preventing homelessness and providing evidence on ethnic inequalities in sentencing, ADR UK research has been helping decision-makers to improve lives.
Discover key findings that are filling current gaps in evidence, or read a selection of this year’s impact case studies.
Do you only have five minutes? Hear from Emma Gordon on some of our top impact stories this year:
Key developments across the ADR UK partnership this year
This year has seen significant investment in impactful research using administrative data. Our largest ever ADR UK Research Fellowship cohort funds 17 new academics to address pressing policy questions, from the pay gap experienced by carers to tackling violence against women and girls. Meanwhile, a growing community of PhD students are supported by ADR UK to build their skills using administrative data and generate new insights.
Our dataset collection has also expanded significantly, now totalling 24 flagship datasets across all four national partners. Highlights include the launch of RAPID: Population interactions with employment, benefits and pensions, our first UK-wide dataset. This year has also seen major developments in Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data, including the addition of LEO datasets for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
You can also read about developments from each of our national partnerships:
Looking ahead: Five-year ambitions for ADR UK
This year saw the start of ADR UK's new £168 million investment, setting the ambition for our programme through to 2031. Our priorities for this next phase are clear: creating more data, improving researcher access, delivering real-world impact, and upholding public trust.
To explore what this means in practice across the partnership, read more about our plans for 2026 - 2031:
There’s plenty more to discover in our annual report, including public engagement activities from the year, how we are continuing to support research excellence, and the latest developments in data.
