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IPS153 Jay L. et al.
additional concepts and definitions would help our users better understand
migration patterns.
• Our latest research linking the MWS to both benefits and annual PAYE data
showed clear potential for earnings data to be an important source for
identifying and measuring migration patterns. Our analysis illustrated that
4 in 5 non-UK nationals in our linked dataset had signs of activity in income
and benefits data following arrival in the country, with more identified in
PAYE data. Further linkage work, using more comprehensive PAYE Real
Time Information (RTI) data, will therefore be instrumental in helping us to
identify patterns of migration to and from the UK.

As outlined in section 2, we are using our knowledge of the different data
sources to produce a series of data-driven rules with the aim of better
representing the usually resident population. We are also developing a set of
confidence-based rules aimed at improving the coverage of international
migrants.
Further analysis and a series of case studies that explore how we can use
administrative data to identify “activity” for the migrant population can be
found in Annex B of the published report, and an accompanying slide pack.

4. Discussion and Conclusion
We will continue to collaborate closely across the GSS and beyond to
develop our approach for putting administrative data at the core of our
statistics. The case study research in this report focuses on the findings from
linking individual data sources together to explore specific topic areas. To take
this further, our next steps will be to link across a fuller range of data sources
available to ONS, to continue to develop our data-driven rules and build an
integrated system for measuring population and migration.
Important data sources which we plan to focus on in our next research
phase are; further Home Office administrative data, PAYE RTI (and Self-
Assessment), further healthcare data, further linked education data, Council Tax
and others such as Electoral Register and DVLA registrations. This will improve
the coverage of our data, particularly for groups such as EU migrants. Whilst
we have improved our knowledge of what administrative sources such as
health and income data can tell us about both EU and non-EU migration, our
existing evidence base is much stronger for non-EU migration. Our next steps
will focus on how we can use these further data sources to improve our
coverage and address known challenges such as using administrative data to
measure emigration from the UK. As we progress, we will also continue to
consider the role of surveys in our future system, alongside developing our
methods for producing improved statistics at a regional and local level.

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