We link together data held by different parts of government and facilitate safe and secure access for accredited researchers to these new, de-identified datasets.
This creates a sustainable body of knowledge about how our society and economy function and gives decision makers the answers they need to solve important policy questions.
For more information on our datasets available for research, visit our data catalogue or explore our flagship datasets.
What does ADR UK do?
ADR UK provides national leadership and expertise to transform how administrative data is safely accessed and used for public good research. We work across all four UK nations to:
- Commission linked datasets to unlock new insights that inform policy and practice
- Facilitate secure access to administrative data for accredited researchers
- Provide funding to researchers using administrative data for projects with policy-relevant impact
- Deliver training and resources to support researchers using administrative data
- Actively involve the public in our work to ensure their views shape our research.
Our partnership
ADR UK is made up of four national partnerships (ADR England, ADR Northern Ireland, ADR Scotland and ADR Wales), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which ensures data provided by UK Government bodies is accessed by researchers in a safe and secure form with minimal risk to data holders or the public.
The partnership is coordinated by a UK-wide Strategic Hub, which also promotes the benefits of administrative data research to the public and the wider research community, engages with UK Government to secure access to data, and manages a dedicated research budget.
Our values
ADR UK is committed to a set of values that are central to the partnership’s activities and progress, guiding how we work together with our partners and defining how we engage with stakeholders and with the public. Our core values are:
Responsible
ADR UK is dedicated to ensuring the data we enable access to is used ethically and responsibly for research projects with real potential to make a positive difference to society. Data is de-identified and acces to it strictly controlled and monitored, with projects continually assessed for ethics, feasibility, privacy, public benefit and scientific merit.
Ambitious
ADR UK is ambitious about the game-changing societal impact that can be achieved by well-implemented administrative data research, and has a vision for a future where safe data sharing for such research is normal and valued. We are willing to work hard to bring the public, policymakers and researchers alike with us on a journey to achieve this vision.
How is ADR UK funded?
ADR UK is an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) investment initially funded from July 2018 to March 2022. In September 2020, £15.3 million of funding was approved by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (previously BEIS) and HM Treasury for the 2021/22 financial year. This covered the first year of a five-year investment. In September 2021, the remaining £90.12 million of funding was secured from UK Government to continue to grow the programme for a further four years, until March 2026.
In July 2025, UKRI confirmed the funding of the ADR UK programme beyond 2026. This £168 million investment ensures we can continue to deliver on our mission to enable data-driven research that improves lives across the UK.
As part of our programme, we manage and distribute a dedicated fund for commissioning research using linked administrative data. A regularly updated list of projects awarded grants from ADR UK, for which a grant agreement has been finalised and signed, can be found on Our funded projects.
