ADR UK Annual Report 2024–25: Looking back on a year of leadership, innovation, and impact
Categories: Data linkage programmes, Annual Report, Research using linked data, Public engagement, Reports, ADR UK Partnership
15 September 2025
We are delighted to share the ADR UK Annual Report 2024–25. Following a year of ambitious projects and growth, the report highlights how we continue to unlock the power of administrative data to inform policy and improve lives across the UK.
This year marks a pivotal moment for ADR UK. We have strengthened our data infrastructure, delivered new datasets for research, expanded public engagement, and led innovation in areas such as synthetic data and secure data linking.
An independent evaluation further confirmed the value of our work, finding a return of £5.05 for every £1 invested.
As we look ahead to the next phase of our journey, following £168 million in reinvestment from UK Research & Innovation, this report celebrates what we’ve achieved so far and sets the scene for our ambitions beyond 2026.
“Since our establishment in 2018, we have worked across our UK-wide partnership to build a sustainable and secure data infrastructure, funding projects that demonstrate the value of administrative data through world-class data linkage and research programmes. We can now show how this hard work has paid off. ADR UK is now firmly established as a trusted leader in the field. The research potential of administrative data is no longer theoretical – it’s visible, proven, and delivering meaningful impact.”
– Dr Emma Gordon, Director of ADR UK
You can access the report on our dedicated microsite. Explore the different sections using the menu at the top or use the buttons at the bottom of each page to navigate through the report in order.
Have five minutes? Watch the highlights video
Watch our highlights video for a snapshot of this year’s key developments:
Have ten minutes? Explore the main sections of the report
Explore the key developments from across the partnership, including an interactive timeline of the year’s achievements. You might also be interested in:
A year in review: Key developments
This year, ADR UK focused on delivering data and research consistently while setting priorities for the final phase of our current investment period. We expanded our flagship datasets, increased secure data access, and supported more research that informs policy.
Expanding programmes – including our synthetic data initiative and Community Catalyst events – have strengthened our role in shaping responsible, impactful data use. We also grew researcher capacity with a record number of new Fellows, PhD students, and internships, while achieving a huge milestone of setting up a public panel in every UK nation.
Partnerships across government and academia continue to deliver results, with new datasets and policy engagement driving real-world impact.
Discover the key developments across each partner:
Increasing access to datasets
This year we further enhanced access to ADR UK’s flagship datasets by providing additional information on data content, access routes, and training resources to researchers exploring our data. We also introduced new standards for documentation to help researchers prepare strong applications.
Alongside these improvements, more datasets have been added, updated, or are in development on research themes from education to health, tax and benefits. Explore new and emerging datasets.
Public engagement and sharing our expertise
From public panels in all four nations to partnerships with the voluntary and community sector, we’ve pursued public engagement activities to ensure that data is used in ways that reflect people’s views and values.
We also launched new knowledge-sharing initiatives – including podcasts, workshops, and training – to help researchers and policymakers make the most of administrative data.
Impact case studies and leading the way in innovation
The report features case studies of ADR UK research making a real difference – including reducing youth homelessness, improving outcomes for care experienced young people, and informing health and education policy.
Alongside this, we’ve taken bold steps in multiple innovations, such as developing privacy-preserving methods and synthetic data. This sets new standards for safe and effective research.
Looking ahead: Future investment and our vision beyond 2026
This year, UK Research & Innovation confirmed £168 million of funding for the next five years, securing ADR UK’s future and enabling us to build on our impact so far. This investment will expand linked datasets, strengthen researcher capacity, and enhance collaboration with policymakers to deliver more insights that improve lives.
In the next phase, we will:
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Support research to improve cancer detection and understand UK productivity through better economic data linking
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Expand training, Fellowship, and PhD programmes
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Scale up synthetic data initiatives and streamline researcher access
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Invest in AI-driven improvements to our data infrastructure
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Strengthen partnerships with key government departments.
These plans will ensure ADR UK continues to lead the way in using administrative data for public good.
Explore the ADR UK Annual Report 2024–25
Discover highlights, case studies, and our plans for the future.
