How to access : Overview
The Integrated Data Service (IDS) is designed for government analysts, devolved administrations and external accredited researchers.
You must be an accredited researcher to access data in the IDS, as stated by the Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2017.
This section is a step-by-step guide to help you to:
- understand what accreditation means and what you will need
- apply for individual accreditation
- apply for project accreditation
- sign in to the IDS Hub to access your workspace
Application timeline
Currently, we estimate that the:
- researcher accreditation process may take three to five weeks
- IDS internal review and data owner approval process of the formal project accreditation application may take two to ten weeks
- UK Statistics Authority accreditation decision stage takes two to nine working days
Cost information
The IDS is free to all accredited researchers.
There are two possible exceptions:
- projects using commercial datasets – which are purchased by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), enabling them to be available more widely – are reverse charged at a discounted rate
- organisations that require network configurations to establish remote connectivity (such as Assured Organisational Connectivity and Cloudflare)
If you have any questions, email IDS.Customer.Support@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)