Bank of England asks firms to continue Form BN reporting while it assesses alternative data sources for ONS needs

The Bank of England issued a follow-up green notice on its proposal to discontinue the collection and publication of Form BN data, summarising consultation feedback and setting out next steps. After identifying the extent to which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) relies on Form BN data for certain published national statistics, the Bank is considering alternative sources and has asked firms to continue submitting Form BN for now. No respondents objected to discontinuing Form BN and most agreed it would reduce reporting burden, although a minority noted that integrated internal processes across multiple collections could limit any resource savings. The Bank is assessing whether Forms CC and CL, which it says provide a large degree of overlapping coverage, could meet the ONS’ needs, including the suitability of derived data for ONS use, required methodological adjustments and their impact on outputs, and whether any additional costs of using CC and CL outweigh the savings from decommissioning Form BN. Further updates will follow once the assessment is complete, with any confirmed changes communicated via a subsequent Statistical notice. Firms that currently report Form BN, or are later advised they have met the reporting threshold, should continue reporting Form BN.