Annual Review 2024-25

The sector in numbers 2023/24

Data (Use & Access) Act 2025: what it means for research

When the election was called on 4 July 2024 one of the casualties was the proposed Data Protection & Digital Information (No.2) Bill (DPDI Bill), which the former UK Government aimed to bring into legislation at some point in 2024. By the time of the election, the DPDI Bill had failed to complete its Parliamentary journey and was discarded.

With the new government came a new proposal, the Digital Information & Smart Data Bill which was proposed in the Kings Speech with the aim of progressing the regulatory framework for digital identities in the UK and to streamline and clarify the UK’s data regime. This Bill soon morphed into the Data (Use & Access) Act 2025, the DUA Act, which has now completed its Parliamentary process having received Royal Assent on 19 June 2025.

So, what does the DUA Act do? The aim of the Act is to refine the data protection legislation in the UK, building on the Data Protection Act 1998, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). It does not replace the existing legislation rather its builds on the existing framework with the intention of bringing clarity, promoting innovation and economic growth, and making it easier for organisation (particularly SMEs) to implement their data protection and privacy obligations. It also aims to complement other forthcoming legislation such as the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. The intention is that individuals and businesses will have more flexibility in how they meet data protection and data requirements, rather than needing to meet new requirements.

One of the big benefits of the DUA Act is that it makes it clearer when personal data can be used for the purposes of scientific research, clarifying that commercial scientific research can meet the definition of scientific research and participants can give ‘broad consent’ to an area of scientific research. A point MRS fought for, liaising with the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) and various ministers to ensure that this concept, first mooted in the DPDI Bill, was brought into the new Act.

The new Act allows the re-use of participants ’ personal information for scientific research without providing a privacy notice if this would involve a disproportionate effort. This can only be undertaken if other individual rights are protected and notices of activities are accessible via websites, etc. In addition, the new Act has an assumption of compatibility for some data re-use, assuming that some re-uses of personal information are compatible with the original purpose without having to do a compatibility test. This includes disclosing personal information for the purposes of archiving in the public interest, even if data was originally collected with consent for a different purpose.

Another win for research was the changes to the cookie rules which allows some types of cookies to be used without consent, when used for purposes such as statistical purposes (such as media measurement) and to improve the functionality of websites.

The Act also recognises the increasing use of AI and other forms of automated decision making by expanding the ‘lawful bases’ which can be used, in conjunction with appropriate safeguards, when using personal data to make automated decisions. This allows for the use of legitimate interest, for example, as a legal base but not if the data includes special category data.

On a wider level there is great er clarity on the rules for disclosures to help other organisation perform their public tasks. For example, sharing data with the police without first having to decide whether sharing the data is compatible with their public function. This responsibility now rests with the organisations, such as the police, making the request.

For some of the rights, such as Subject Access Requests (SARs) the DUA Act makes things easier. From now on when fulfilling SARs a reasonable and proportionate search is acceptable. The legislation also clarified that direct marketing activities can be a legitimate interest.

Many of the Act’s provisions will be enabled through secondary legislation and incremental updates rather than an overnight change. Some of the changes such as those to cookies etc are expected to come in quickly.

Overall, the new legislation is written and structured to make some of the grey areas (such as research) easier to understand. Away from the specifics of data protection and privacy the Act also enables a number of new initiatives which should benefit research in the medium- to long-term including the new smart data schemes and the UK’s Digital Verification Services (DVS) Trust Framework. Whilst the final stages of the discussions about the legislation became dominated by discussions about copyright and AI, with musicians such as Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney weighing in and taking much of the media attention, overall, the new legislation is a welcome addition to the data protection legislative landscape.

The final challenge will be the EU’s assessment of the new legislation. The European Commission has extended the UK’s adequacy decision until the end of 2025 to allow for the finalisation of this legislation. The UK Government is confident that adequacy will be retained. In May 2024 MRS responded to the House of Lords inquiry about data adequacy stressing the importance of the adequacy recognition as an enabler for congruency between EU and UK legislation and economic relations. As the EU also seeks to modernise its approach to data protection and GDPR, it will be interesting to see if they follow the UK’s lead and acknowledge the benefits of the UK’s approach. The early signs are good with the European Commission issuing in July 2025 a positive draft decision that the UK remains adequate.

In 10 themes

Theme 1
AI and Research

In July 2024, the UK experienced a significant political shift with the election of the new Labour government, marking the most significant change since 2010. This new government is determined to “turbo charge AI” as part of their ambitious “decade of national renewal” through the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan. Among the 50 recommendations, several are poised to benefit the research sector, including the creation of new AI Growth Zones to fast-track AI infrastructure development and the establishment of a New Data Library. The goal of this data library is to “...responsibly, securely, and ethically unlock the value of public sector data assets to support AI research and innovation...”.

This AI plan is a cornerstone of the government’s new Industrial Strategy, which aims to position the UK as a global technology leader by 2035. One of the key objectives is to make the UK one of the top three destinations worldwide (alongside China and the US) for launching and scaling tech businesses. Historically, the UK has been a stronghold for ResTech, and the government’s tech ambitions are set to further solidify the UK research sector’s status as a hub for technology, MRS input into the new Industrial Strategy as part of its membership of the Professional & Business Sector Council Innovation and Technology Working Group.

During 2024/25 there were a number of AI-related consultations which MRS responded to including the House of Lords Scaling Up – AI and Creative Technology consultation. The inquiry examined challenges SMEs face scaling up AI in the UK and what actions are needed from Government and industry over the next 5 years to maximise the economic potential of the sector. The MRS response (with input from the sector) included upskilling, access to impartial guidance, R&D incentives, and producing a comprehensive regulatory landscape as part of the challenges which the sector faces to effectively scale AI technologies.

MRS, as a member of EFAMRO, was selected to participate in the working groups responsible for the development of the EU AI Office’s Generative AI Code of Practice an essential part of the roll out of the EU’s new AI Act. The Code, drafted through an iterative process of internal discussions within the Working Groups and additional external input from stakeholders, was published in July 2025. MRS’ focus during the drafting has been for practical, implementable requirements which recognises the different challenges for both large and small businesses.

In tandem with these policy developments the MRS Guidance on Using AI and Related Technologies, first issued in November 2023, was updated and issued just after the 2024/25 period in April 2025. The updated guidelines include more contextual commentary to assist practitioners in interpreting and applying the legal and ethical requirements plus new rules on the use of synthetic data.

The Advanced Insight & Analytics (AIA) Council also contributed to the MRS thought leadership in this area with the publication of its paper, AI and Synthetic Data in Market Research, which was published in March 2025.

Theme 2
Translation and transcription

In October 2024, MRS issued a new Report, Translation and Transcription Procurement: Data Privacy and Compliance. The aim of the Report is to create a shared starting point between research practitioners and the language service community for buying translation and transcription services. The report covers vocabulary to clarify communications and looks in depth at some of the more common topics to consider during the translation and transcription procurement process including data privacy and translation memory. The report includes analysis of the data protection, storage and retention considerations for a range of different translation and transcription scenarios.

The launch of the report was supported by a webinar which was held in February 2025.

New additional translation and transcription guidance, considering the AI implications, is being drafted and is due to be launched in the autumn of 2025.

Theme 3
Government statistics and the future of the census

During 2024/25 MRS continued to make representations on population statistics whilst the sector waited for a decision on whether a Census for 2031 would be undertaken. Throughout the period MRS and members of the Census & GeoDems Group (CGG) met with representatives from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) to discuss the challenges with government statistics and the need for the Census in 2031.

These representations were being played out during a tumultuous time with the ONS and the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) facing significant pressure due to the poor response rates for several studies, not least the Labour Force Survey. To tackle these issues, two consultations were launched to investigate the root causes of the statistical problems. In March 2025 , Sir Robert Devereux KCB was appointed to lead an independent review of the performance and culture of the ONS, with the results of the review published on 26 June 2025. Additional ly, on 7 April 2025, just after the end of the 2024/25 financial period, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) launched in inquiry focusing on the performance of the UKSA, and its two executive offices, the ONS and the OSR.

In May 2025 , MRS and MRS CGG submitted a consultation response to the PACAC inquiry recommending several key action:

• Maintaining the census until 2031: ensure the foundation for representative samples remains robust.
• Improving transparency: ONS should be more transparent about the steps being taken to improve data quality.
• Improving accountability: a governance review to improve accountability is crucial.
• Realistic strategic planning: UKSA needs to revise its strategy based on the government’s needs and data landscape.
• Streamlining ONS: ONS should focus exclusively on official statistics that are crosscutting across departments (e.g., health, economics, population statistics).
• Investing in resources: there is a need for increased investment in both financial and human resources to support ONS’s field force.
• Enhancing data quality control: ONS should have enhanced data quality control measures.
• Active AI implementation: The safe and ethical adoption of AI in business operations and statistical production must be a priority for ONS.

In June 2025 , UKSA issued a recommendation for a Census to be conducted in England & Wales in 2031. In July 2025 the UK Government announced its support of this recommendation. Another good result for the research sector as a result of MRS’ policy and public affairs activities.

Theme 4
Telephone research

In December 2024 , MRS met with Ofcom and the network providers to discuss the impact of CLI call blocking technology on telephone research activities. MRS explored with the network providers how genuine telephone research can be recognised by their systems to avoid CLI call blocking. Following the meeting MRS and Ofcom agreed to arrange a webinar to discuss the changes to the CLI rules with the aim of providing practical guidance on how best to manage the impact of these changes.

The MRS and Ofcom joint webinar was held in April 2025 to discuss some of the challenges of telephone research, particularly call blocking and labelling. To watch the webinar, visit the MRS Webinar Library.

Following this webinar , the MRS Standards & Policy team have been in discussions with Hiya, the caller ID and spam blocking service, about how it affects telephone calls for research purposes. Hiya has recommended some resources which members and Company Partners may find useful:

• 10 tips for a positive call reputation: recommendations for minimizing the risk of poor recipient reactions to calls and potential spam labelling or blocking.
• Number registration: free registration for telephone research businesses, establishing their phone numbers as active in use by a known, legitimate caller.
• Remediation: if calls are still being labelled even after registration, a dispute ticket can be created resulting in further investigation.

Discussions on this topic are set to continue into the 2025/26 period with some pilot analysis being undertaken of a handful of research telephone call centres to see if there are technical issues which are causing some research telephone numbers to be tagged as spam.

Theme 5
Data quality

Since March 2023, MRS has been at the forefront of a global initiative to tackle ongoing and emerging risks to data quality in market and social research, consumer insights and analytics. This initiative, known as the Global Data Quality (GDQ) initiative, has seen MRS collaborate with various global and national associations and bodies.

Throughout the 2024/25 period, MRS focused on combating fraud and bot technology. The dedicated MRS project team, comprising over 30 volunteers undertook several activities:

• Enhancing the GDQ glossary by adding new terms and definitions to align with other outputs produced by the GDQ.
• Conducting an audit to understand how different data quality approaches are being used. The results will be used to expand and provide more operational guidance to enhance the Improving Data Quality and Integrity: some practical approaches guidance produced in April 2024.
• In March 2025, producing a new PowerPoint deck describing the complexities and challenges of the sampling ecosystem. This was accompanied by a complementary Data Quality Transparency Checklist, designed to help inform buying decision s.
• Throughout the 2024/25 period MRS volunteers from Cint and Cobalt Sky, in collaboration with SampleCon, created and piloted a project level feedback loop aimed at providing a standardised classification and approach for quality reversals and removals. The initiative is set to launch in 2025/26.
• Working with GDQ partners AQR and QRCA, MRS is developing new qualitative guidance to tackle data quality challenges disrupting qualitative research. This new guidance is expected to be released by the end of 2025.
• Work has continued on documenting and classifying third party data quality and security solutions and how they address different aspects of the fraud challenge. A survey of these solutions was undertaken in early 2024 and this is being enhanced with upto- date information with the aim of producing an online tool later in the 2025/26 period.
• Following initial discussions with the Home Office and the UK police to have research fraud designated as a crime to enable the sector to utilise government schemes such as the Action Fraud crime reporting service, MRS has been working with volunteers to develop a draft model for measuring the impact of data fraud. The aim being to loop back to the Home Office and the police, with the financial impact model, to strengthen the arguments for having research fraud classified as a crime.
• The MRS project to explore the impact of poor mobile design and lack of mobile optimisation has on participation, completion and response rates, continued to thrive. New research was reported during a webinar held in November 2024 and a separate participant topical survey was conducted to identify causes and text device preferences.

At a global level, the GDQ launched the GDQ Pledge, a comprehensive framework calling for businesses to uphold rigorous data quality standards, provide transparency, protect participant experience and rights, enable education and collaboration and participate actively in GDQ initiatives.The Pledge has been embraced by nearly 250 businesses since it was launched in March 2025.

Other GDQ initiatives included the launch of the Insights Associations’ first wave of the Data Quality Benchmark Report and the launch of the Global Research Business Network’s (GRBN) Online Sample Buyers’ Sentiment Survey. Soon-tobe- released resources include GDQ Operational Guidelines for Research Participant Incentives plus The Research Society’s, Incentive Guidelines for Market and Social Research.

Theme 6
Inclusion, access and representation in research

In March 2021, the MRS Representation in Research group was established to determine how MRS can improve representation of often underrepresented groups within UK research projects. During 2024/25 the Representation in Research (RinR) Group built on the tools and guidance developed during the previous period including the launch of new guidelines, in November 2024. These guidelines aim to help practitioners ensure an inclusive, representative, engaging and safe approach to global research. They identify three core areas to help practitioners address and navigate the international representation issues, aiding in the development of well-considered briefs for conducting international research in any market.

Looking ahead, the RinR Group plans to raise awareness of the available resources, to create focused and targeted messaging and to engage more actively with clients ensuring the RinR outputs are understood across the research supply-chain.

In August 2024, the MRS Standards & Policy team in collaboration with Unlimited, produced new guidance as part of the MRS Essential Safeguards series, on Conducting activities with neurodiverse individuals.

Throughout the year, the Standards team liaised with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) on its consultation updating the harmonised standards for ethnicity, sex and gender identity and physical and mental health conditions. MRS will review its guidance on these topics once the new harmonised standards are completed. The Standards team is also completing new guidance interpreting the EU’s Accessibility Act which is due to be published in the autumn of 2025.

Theme 7
People, talent and skills

In the previous financial period MRS launched the new MRS Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Survey (EESS) as part of MRS’ on-going People and Talent initiative. The MRS EES Survey helps participating businesses understand their individual workforces and benchmark their performance with similar businesses across the sector. The report featuring the first cohort of research organisations that participated , was published in December 2024.

In February 2025, the second wave of the EESS was launched, with the data collection completed and results published in July. Seven organisations took part with three new participating organisations.

In March 2025, MRS, in collaboration with AURA and the IMA, jointly launched a new research project called ClientSight . This project focuses on clientside research, insight and analysis, aiming to support career development and complement the EESS findings from the supplyside. Undertaken with insight partner Opinium, the results were unveiled at an in-person event at the Opinium HQ in London in June 2025 followed by a webinar in July 2025.

Other people and talent initiatives launched in the period included the Return on Retention Report which was launched at the Agency Owners and Leaders conference in November 2024 together with a separate webinar. In addition a new resource was created, A Guide to Hybrid and Flexible Working, which was published in July 2024.

Theme 8
Employment rights

With the UK election in July 2024 the new UK Government proposed a new Employment Rights Bill aimed at delivering a core part of the government’s five mission-led priorities to grow the economy. One ambition of the government is to address “one-sided flexibility” by ensuring that jobs provide a baseline security for workers. One part of this is to end “exploitative zero-hour contracts” by introducing rights to guaranteed hours among other proposals.

Throughout 2024/25 the proposed Employment Rights Bill continued its Parliamentary progress. During this time MRS strived to obtain positive changes with the Bill, as MRS continues to believe that there are real problems with the Bill, specifically around the Zero Hour Contracts (ZHC) provisions and the assumption that all such contracts are ‘exploitative’. The CBI and Advertising Association together with MRS continue to drive home the same points about ZHC.

MRS is continuing to engage with the relevant policy team at the Department for Business & Trade (DBT), the UK Government department responsible for the Employment Rights Bill, to discuss the implications of the ZHC proposals for fieldworker contracts.

DBT appears to appreciate the arguments put forward by MRS and is encouraging MRS to engage with the secondary legislation planned, which will provide the detail necessary to determine when fieldworker contracts may be in scope of the legislation. In the current version of the Bill the end user of the worker’s services will be responsible for offering guaranteed hours, but it has been stated that exceptions may be introduced in secondary legislation, which may offer a way of having flexible fieldworker contracts excluded.

Separately, MRS has been engaging with large data collection funders, such as the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), ONS and the OSR to flag what these changes will potentially mean for future data collection costs. As part of these discussions further issues affecting fieldworker costs, such as the rise in the National Insurance and the decrease of the NI secondary threshold, have also been raised.

The Bill is due to be completed later in the 2025/26 period after which secondary legislation is due to be introduced. MRS will issue guidance for members about the application of the new Bill once the details are clearer. In the meantime, MRS will continue to make the case for the exclusion of flexible fieldworker contracts from the proposed ZHC provisions.

Theme 9
Procurement

As part of MRS policy to improve public sector procurement practices, MRS continued to have bi-monthly meetings with Crown Commercial Services (CCS) throughout 2024/25 to discuss the Research & Insight Marketplace which is the main procurement vehicle for public sector research procurement.

During the period MRS secured the agreement of the CCS to recognise the updated MRS Climate Pledge in the same way as the former MRS Sustainability Pledge. This CCS recognition enables MRS Company Partner organisations, which are signed up to the Sustainability Pledge, as having an equivalent to a carbon reduction plan as part of the application process to be listed as a recognised supplier on the Research & Insight Marketplace.

In the 2025/26 period ahead MRS is planning with the Social Research Association (SRA) to host a procurement roundtable with suppliers and UK public sector commissioners to discuss innovation and procurement issues. A similar event was successfully held in the 2023/24 period.

Theme 10
Quality standards

In 2024 the ISO Technical Committee responsible for the standard, ISO 20252: 2019 Market, opinion and social research, including insights and data analytics — Vocabulary and service requirements, started the process of updating the research standard. During 2024- 25 the update of the standard was underway in earnest with three main areas of focus:

• Ensuring that the standard enabled for the use of AI and related technologies across the research standard processes, modes and methodologies detailed in the standard.
• Enhancing the data quality requirements for panels and samples, primarily focused in Annex A of the standard.
• Aligning the standard with other relevant standards (e.g., ISO 27001) and incorporating feedback received since the 2019 standard was launched.

In June 2025, a consultation for the new standard was launched and the aim is that the new standard will be finalised in the second half of 2026.

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 2024/25

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