Annual Review 2025-26

The sector in numbers 2025/26

Data, research and the new digital regulation landscape

The Data (Use & Access) Act 2025 received Royal Assent during the year, providing greater clarity on the application of data protection law to scientific research. MRS made representations to DSIT during the Bill’s passage, arguing against additional public interest tests that could have created unnecessary uncertainty, delay and compliance burdens for research organisations, particularly SMEs.

Following Royal Assent, MRS continued to liaise with the ICO on the implementation of the Act, including the application of the new scientific research provisions. MRS agreed to share research case studies with the ICO to inform forthcoming updates to the ICO’s Research Provisions guidance and expansion of its Anonymisation guidance and also responded to the ICO’s biometrics guidance consultation.

Internationally, MRS worked through EFAMRO to engage with the Irish Data Protection Commission on GDPR and AI, including the challenges of defining controllers and processors and the interaction between GDPR and the EU AI Act. MRS also supported EFAMRO’s response to the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus package, making the case for greater alignment between regulatory frameworks and a common framework for scientific research.

This activity sits within a wider shift in digital regulation. In the UK, the Data (Use & Access) Act 2025 reflects the Government’s intention to support responsible innovation, data sharing and scientific research while retaining high data protection standards. In the EU, the Digital Omnibus proposal seeks to simplify and align parts of the digital rulebook across data, AI and cybersecurity, including targeted amendments to the GDPR, ePrivacy rules, the Data Act, the NIS2 Directive and the AI Act. For MRS, the priority is to ensure that simplification does not inadvertently narrow the space for legitimate research or create uncertainty around scientific research, data quality, controller and processor responsibilities, or AI-enabled methods. Working through EFAMRO, MRS submitted consultation responses and engaged with EU stakeholders to seek clarity and refinements that would strengthen the position of European research activities.

MRS’ wider European public affairs activity also included responses to the Digital Fairness Act and the European Union Data Strategy, with a consistent focus on ensuring that action to address digital harms, dark patterns and the data economy does not unintentionally restrict responsible research techniques.

MRS also supported specialist standards work through the EPHMRA service contract, including activity to update the EPHMRA Code and supporting webinars for healthcare research audiences. This work extended MRS’ standards expertise into specialist research contexts where ethical, data protection and methodological requirements are particularly important.

Theme 1
AI and research

During 2025/26, MRS continued to support the responsible development and use of AI in research. Through EFAMRO, MRS contributed to the EU AI Office’s Generative AI Code of Practice, which was published in July 2025 as part of the implementation of the EU AI Act. MRS’ focus throughout this work was to ensure that the new requirements are practical, proportionate and capable of being implemented by organisations of different sizes and operating models.

MRS’ AI activity also focused on emerging operational and ethical risks for research. This included updating the MRS Guidance on Using AI and Related Technologies, plus investigating the potential impact of AI bots and agents completing surveys and considering whether there is scope within Ofcom’s regulatory framework to prevent or mitigate activity that could undermine data quality, participant trust and confidence in research outputs.

The MRS Advanced Insight & Analytics Council also published practical resources for members, including a Data Analysis and AI toolkit covering the basics of using AI and a separate paper on Systemic Inclusion by Design.

MRS also continued to connect data quality activity with AI and synthetic data. MRS as a founding partner of GRBN hosted a successful webinar on synthetic data in research in July 2025.

MRS also supported wider sector debate on AI and ethics, including participation in EPHMRA activity on AI and research ethics. This work complemented MRS’ broader standards activity by helping specialist healthcare research communities consider how existing ethical principles apply to new technologies and data-driven methods.

Theme 2
Government statistics, face to face data collection and the future of the census

MRS and the MRS Census & GeoDems Group (CGG) maintained a sustained programme of engagement on the future of UK population statistics and the 2031 Census throughout 2025/26. Following earlier concerns about the potential shift away from a questionnaire-based census towards administrative data, MRS and CGG continued to make the case that the census remains the gold standard foundation for representative sampling, small-area analysis, longitudinal comparability, service planning and evidence-based commercial and public policy decision-making.

In July 2025, the UK Government announced its support for the recommendation that a Census should take place in England and Wales in 2031, with statistical bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland reaching similar decisions. This was a significant outcome for MRS and CGG, reflecting the central argument made throughout the year that administrative data should complement, rather than replace, the Census unless and until any alternative approach can demonstrate equivalent coverage, quality, granularity and comparability.

MRS and CGG also engaged with wider scrutiny of the UK statistical system. In response to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiry into the UK’s Statistics Authority and the Devereux Review of ONS performance and culture, MRS and CGG called for a more open, collaborative and transparent process for implementing reforms. The MRS and CGG response emphasised the need to restore confidence in official statistics through stronger governance, clearer accountability, enhanced data quality controls, realistic strategic planning and sustained investment in ONS’ field force, response rates and data collection methods.

MRS and CGG subsequently wrote to ONS’ new Permanent Secretary and Acting National Statistician to welcome the renewed focus on statistical quality and user confidence, while underlining the importance of active engagement with external users. The correspondence encouraged ONS to publish a clear Census readiness plan, including milestones, dependencies and risks, and to involve user groups such as MRS CGG formally in the governance of Census 2031 preparations.

A particular focus was the continued availability of the census variables needed to produce the Approximated Social Grade. ASG, developed by MRS and CGG and applied to the 2001, 2011 and 2021 Censuses, is now an established and essential census output used across market, media, opinion and social research. MRS and CGG argued that certain census variables must be preserved if ASG is to be produced for 2031.

MRS and CGG also highlighted opportunities to improve ASG in 2031, including the potential use of income data or administrative data from sources such as HMRC and DWP to strengthen classification for older household reference persons. The MRS and CGG topic consultation response supported the inclusion of income as a new census topic, noting that it would be a valuable variable for research, media planning and commercial decision-making and could help improve or extend ASG coverage.

The MRS and CGG consultation responses also set out the sector’s need for consistent and comparable outputs across the four UK nations. MRS and CGG stressed that many research clients require GB or UK-level analysis, making alignment between Scotland, England and Wales, and Northern Ireland essential. They also emphasised the importance of granular geographies, particularly output areas, which are critical for representative sampling, small-area modelling, MRP analysis, media currencies and local decision-making.

In responding to the Scotland and England and Wales topic consultations, MRS and CGG made the case for retaining a wide range of topic areas used by the research sector, explaining how this data supports representative research. MRS and CGG also responded to ONS’ prioritisation decisions, raising concerns about the impact of reductions or changes to statistical outputs on researchers and businesses.

Alongside formal consultation activity, MRS convened a number of roundtables with ONS, ESRC and large data collection organisations on the challenges facing large-scale face-to-face data collection. These discussions considered potential areas for collaboration, including how the sector can respond to declining response rates, rising delivery costs and the need for more resilient data collection infrastructure. This work linked directly to MRS’ wider position that official statistics should draw on the expertise, field capacity and innovation of the wider research sector where this can improve quality, efficiency and public confidence.

MRS also undertook important work on Standard Industrial Classification and social grade. MRS responded to ONS’ first consultation stage on proposed changes to the UK Standard Industrial Classification, proposing extensions to classifications most frequently used by research businesses. In parallel, MRS working with JICPOPS and sector volunteers began the update to the MRS social grade job directory, last updated in 2010, by adding new roles, amending others and reviewing the application of social grade. The aim is to align social grades with current Standard Occupational Classifications and ensure the directory reflects contemporary research practice once the update is completed in 2026/27.

Theme 3
Telephone research

Telephone research remained an operational and policy priority during the year. Following the MRS and Ofcom webinar in April 2025, MRS continued discussions with Hiya, the caller ID and spam blocking service, about the impact of call blocking and call labelling on legitimate research calls.

MRS arranged for volunteer telephone units to have their calls analysed by Hiya to test whether tagging or algorithmic issues were adversely affecting research calls. The analysis found that high call volumes and repeated contacts to the same numbers were contributing to research calls being flagged as spam.

MRS submitted a response to Ofcom’s consultation on tackling spam calls, highlighting the operational and ethical risks created when legitimate research calls are blocked indiscriminately. MRS recommended that Ofcom consider a clear framework for distinguishing legitimate research calls from fraudulent activity, an accreditation pathway for vetted research providers and transparent redress mechanisms where call blocking is applied incorrectly.

Through EFAMRO, MRS also helped to broaden the discussion on telephone research restrictions across Europe, including hosting EFAMRO meetings and open discussions on the impact of call blocking technology on research activities and the need for proportionate approaches that protect the public without undermining legitimate research.

Theme 4
Data quality

Data quality remained a major priority for MRS during 2025/26. Building on the Global Data Quality (GDQ) initiative launched in 2023, MRS worked with GDQ partners, GRBN, SampleCon and other national and international associations to develop practical tools, shared benchmarks and guidance addressing fraud, poor-quality sample, bot activity, synthetic data and AI-related risks.

A key achievement was the launch of the GDQ Project Level Feedback Loop, developed by MRS with SampleCon creating an industry standard code frame for data quality. The feedback loop provides a consistent way for research organisations, sample suppliers and buyers to classify and communicate the reasons why records are removed, reversed or flagged as quality failures. It was launched with a webinar at the end of January 2026 and is intended to support more transparent, comparable and actionable project-level feedback across the sample ecosystem.

The GDQ Data Excellence Quality Pledge also continued to grow strongly during the year. More than 270 companies had signed the Pledge by early 2026, committing to uphold rigorous data quality standards, provide transparency, protect participant experience and rights, support education and collaboration, and participate actively in GDQ initiatives.

The evidence base for data quality also expanded. The second and third rounds (wave 1 and wave 2) of the GDQ benchmark study were completed during the period. The benchmarks covered pre-survey removals, in-survey fraud and poor behaviour terminations, abandon rates, device type, secure link use, post-survey cleanout and total removal rates, providing a more global and detailed picture of data quality challenges across study types.

GRBN and GDQ also progressed the Online Sample Buyers’ Sentiment Survey. The first wave (wave 0) highlighted higher satisfaction among B2C buyers than B2B buyers and showed that satisfaction with online sample was driven more by speed and price than by quality. Two further waves of the research was completed during 2025/26 and the results were presented through GDQ and GRBN webinars, reinforcing the need to rebalance expectations around price, speed and quality in online research.

MRS and GDQ continued to develop guidance and practical resources for the sector. New guidance on data quality considerations for qualitative research, undertaken in partnership by GDQ partners MRS, AQR and QRCA, was finalised during the year, addressing the specific fraud, participant authenticity and process integrity risks affecting qualitative methods. MRS also worked with GDQ partner CRIC to combine draft post-survey data cleaning guidance with MRS material on the same topic, creating a more comprehensive resource on post-fieldwork cleaning and quality review which is due to be published in the forthcoming period.

The GDQ resource base was also reviewed and maintained, with updates to the GDQ data quality glossary reflecting new terms from the other GDQ resources issued in the period. Throughout the year, MRS also used GDQ outputs to support wider work on research fraud, procurement and standards. MRS continued its discussions with the City of London Police and the Home Office to have research fraud recognised as a crime. Work also continued on understanding third-party quality and technology solutions and on developing approaches to measure the impact of data fraud, supporting MRS’ longer-term objective of strengthening recognition of research fraud as a serious issue affecting evidence quality and trust.

Client engagement became a more prominent part of the MRS data quality programme. MRS launched a new Client-side Data Quality Forum through the Senior Client Council in December 2025, with a second meeting held in February 2026. The Forum focuses on helping client-side practitioners navigate GDQ resources, understand the right questions to ask agencies and sample suppliers, and develop practical client-side approaches to improving research data quality.

Together, these activities positioned MRS and GDQ as central convenors of international action on research data quality, strengthening the sector’s evidence base and practical guidance while helping buyers, suppliers, platforms and client-side teams protect the integrity and credibility of research data.

Theme 5
Inclusion, access and representation in research

The Standards team continued to update MRS guidance to support inclusive, accessible and transparent research practice. New MRS Best Practice Guide on Accessible Data Collection was issued during the year, following work undertaken in readiness for the implementation of the EU Accessibility Act and engagement with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation project.

MRS also responded to the GSS consultation on proposed changes to the ethnic group harmonised standard, ensuring that the research sector’s perspective was reflected in the development of statistics standards used across government and public bodies. This complemented MRS’ wider emphasis on harmonised, comparable and inclusive statistical data that can be used reliably across commercial and social research.

The MRS sex and gender guidance was also updated and reviewed by the MRS Standards Board during the period with the revised guidance due to be published in the 2026/27 period.

MRS issued updated MRS guidance on how to read opinion polls including guidance on MRP models. Together these outputs strengthened the practical guidance available to members on inclusive research and methodological rigour.

Theme 6
People, talent and skills

MRS continued to support people and talent work across the sector, with a particular focus on the changing needs of client-side insight teams and the skills required for the next phase of research practice. ClientSight, the client-side research, insight and analysis practitioner survey developed with AURA and IMA and delivered with insight partner Opinium, moved from fieldwork to dissemination during the year. The results were shared first at an in-person event at Opinium’s London office in June 2025 and then through a dedicated webinar in July 2025, helping to extend the findings to a wider client-side and agency audience.

The 2025 ClientSight work provided an important complement to MRS’ supply-side people and talent activity by surfacing the experiences, role pressures and support needs of client-side practitioners. It highlighted the continuing evolution of insight functions as organisations seek faster, more integrated and more commercially connected evidence. The findings reinforced the importance of career development, practical skills support and stronger links between client-side practitioners, agencies and professional bodies.

This work was extended in 2026 with the Insights in Transition research project, the second phase of the ClientSight programme. Undertaken with MRS, AURA and IMA, and based on 18 in-depth interviews with insight professionals affected by restructuring, redundancy and organisational change, the research provided a more detailed picture of how client-side insight roles are being reshaped.

The findings underline the importance of supporting practitioners to build future-facing capabilities, including AI literacy, commercial confidence, data interpretation, strategic influence and concise communication with senior stakeholders. The research also raises a wider sector concern about the talent pipeline, as AI and automation reduce some of the foundational tasks traditionally used to train junior researchers. In 2026/27 MRS will use these insights to inform future training, professional development and advocacy, including work to help practitioners and employers understand the skills needed for insight professionals to remain relevant, influential and commercially valuable in a rapidly changing market.

Theme 7
Employment Rights Act 2025

The Employment Rights Act 2025 became a major public affairs priority for MRS because of its potential impact on flexible fieldworker contracts. The Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and includes a package of employment reforms, including new rights relating to zero-hours and low-hours arrangements. The most relevant provisions for research fieldwork are the proposed rights to guaranteed hours.

MRS supports the policy objective of protecting workers from exploitative arrangements and improving baseline security. However, MRS has consistently argued that flexible fieldworker contracts are not the type of one-sided exploitative employment practice the reforms are intended to address. In research, flexible fieldwork contracts provide interviewers a way to work as interviewers whilst also having the ability to fit in other responsibilities such as caring, study, retirement or other employment.

Throughout the Bill’s passage, MRS worked with the Advertising Association and CBI to press for greater clarity and refinement of the zero-hours provisions. MRS also engaged with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), which is responsible for the legislation, to explain the distinctive features of research fieldwork and the potential unintended consequences if fieldworker contracts are brought within scope without appropriate exclusions or safeguards.

A key concern is that the additional costs of any guaranteed-hours provisions, the operational uncertainty and additional administrative and compliance burdens.

MRS has also raised the wider implications with major funders and users of large-scale data collection, including ESRC and the ONS. These discussions have focused on the potential impact on future data collection costs, field capacity and the resilience of large-scale face-to-face research.

The next stage will be critical. The primary legislation establishes the framework, but the practical detail will be set through secondary legislation and consultation. This will determine the scope of the guaranteed-hours rules.

MRS will continue to engage with DBT, the Advertising Association, CBI and relevant public-sector stakeholders as the secondary legislation is developed. The priority will be to ensure that workers are protected from exploitative practices without undermining legitimate flexible fieldwork models that support high-quality social, public policy and research. MRS will issue guidance for members once the legal position is clearer and the implementation timetable is confirmed.

Theme 8
Procurement

As part of MRS policy to improve public sector procurement practices, MRS continued to have bi-monthly meetings with Government Commercial Agency (GCA) (formerly called Crown Commercial Services) throughout 2025/26 to discuss the Research & insight Marketplace which is the main procurement vehicle for public sector research procurement.

Procurement concerns raised with CGA included tenders being terminated early, challenges in multi-year contracts, the impact of the proposed Employment Rights Act changes on the costs of fieldwork and examples of poor procurement practice.

Throughout the year, MRS also continued to work with the Social Research Association and Government Social Research exploring joint opportunities for furthering understanding of research procurement in the public sector.

MRS also responded to the Cabinet Office consultation on further reforms to public procurement, continuing its work to ensure that public sector research procurement supports fair competition, realistic project design and sustainable delivery.

Theme 9
Late Payments

Late payments became a focus of MRS’ public affairs activity in 2025/26. MRS responded to the DBT consultation, supporting the principle of prompt payment while stressing that any solution must apply end-to-end across all businesses, including multinationals. MRS also called for greater clarity on what constitutes late payment and how the proposed measures would work in practice.

Theme 10
Quality Standards

The update to ISO 20252: 2019 Market, opinion and social research, including insights and data analytics — Vocabulary and service requirements, progressed towards its final stages during 2025/26. The revised draft was issued for public consultation over the summer 2025, and the ISO Technical Committee reviewed more than 300 comments from the international consultation. Follow-up meetings were held to resolve outstanding issues, with the updated standard expected to be published in summer 2026.

The Technical Committee is also considering whether a separate technical specification or conformity assessment document is needed to support more consistent certification of the standard globally. This will be decided once the ISO 20252 update is complete.

Activities and highlights

Find key statistics for all of our products and services.

The following summary of key financial information is extracted from the audited accounts for the year 2025/26.

A copy of the statutory report and accounts which is submitted to Companies House is available to members on request.