Editorial standards
The rules behind everything published in the SupportFund Media & Research Centre — how figures are sourced, labelled, updated and, where necessary, refused.
281
Verified statistics
3
Published datasets
19
Charts
6
Research reports
Statistics registry last checked against source: 2026-08-12.
No figure is published in the Media & Research Centre without either a named external source or a documented SupportFund methodology.
Each record stores the publishing organisation, the release title, the source URL, the reference period and the date SupportFund last checked it against the original release.
Records are labelled as external (published by another organisation), SupportFund analysis (our calculation of someone else's published data) or SupportFund research (our own data collection).
A journalist should never have to guess whether a number came from the ONS or from us.
Official statistics are reproduced exactly as published. We do not rebase, re-weight, seasonally adjust or combine unrelated official figures into a SupportFund index.
Where SupportFund calculates a straightforward aggregate, percentage, count or comparison from published records, we label it as SupportFund analysis and explain the calculation.
Different releases cover different periods. Every figure carries its own period, and we do not present figures from different periods as a time series.
Percentages and percentage points are distinguished throughout.
When a statistic is updated, the new value is stored as a new observation of the same metric, so earlier published figures remain checkable rather than disappearing.
Where a value does not exist for an area or period, we record no data. We never interpolate, estimate or carry a value forward to fill a gap.
Where a council or organisation has published nothing, we record that it has published nothing rather than assuming it offers nothing.
Council scheme records are verified against official council or administering-authority sources wherever available, with the source and verification date stored against the record.
Verification status is recorded honestly as verified, partial or needs review.
Research reports built on a changing dataset are pinned to a frozen snapshot at publication, so a citation stays valid while the live directory continues to be updated.
Every chart is generated from a verified Media & Research dataset, statistics registry or frozen research snapshot. A chart can only display values supported by the underlying sourced records, and derived calculations are clearly identified.
Analysis and commentary are clearly SupportFund's interpretation and are labelled as such. Where we draw a conclusion the data cannot prove, we say that on the page.
We do not claim causation from figures that only show association.
Reproduced directly from another publisher, such as the Office for National Statistics, the Department for Work and Pensions, Ofgem or the Bank of England. The figure is not altered.
A calculation made by SupportFund using externally published data — for example a straightforward aggregate, percentage, count or comparison. The calculation is explained on the page.
Information collected or coded by SupportFund using a documented methodology, such as a council-by-council review of published local scheme pages.
The organisations below are the publishers behind every statistic, dataset and report currently in the Media & Research Centre, generated directly from those records rather than a hand-picked list.
SupportFund links to the underlying publication wherever possible so journalists and readers can verify figures independently.
SupportFund Media & Research uses primary-source data and clearly labels SupportFund analysis. Individual datasets display their source period and verification date. If you spot something that breaks one of these rules, tell us and we will correct it in public.
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