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How to access : How to apply for project accreditation

If the capabilities of the Integrated Data Service (IDS) platform align with your project, we may ask you to submit a formal project accreditation application through the Research Accreditation Service (RAS) (opens in a new tab) 

Projects are accredited using Section C of the Research Code of Practice and Accreditation Criteria (opens in a new tab) , approved by the UK Parliament in July 2018.

As part of your application, we may ask you about:

  • the purpose, aims and duration of the project
  • the personal data involved and how it will be used
  • methods and software used
  • ethical standards
  • who will be involved, including team members and sponsor
  • how the project will impact and benefit the UK public
  • how results of the research will be made openly and accessibly available

We will review project application submissions and may ask for additional information or amendments. We will be checking for and, where necessary, getting the relevant data owner approvals.

We will submit your application to the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) and the Research Accreditation Panel (RAP) and inform you of their accreditation decisions.

Timeline of application

The timeline for these processes may vary depending on many factors, such as the:

  • nature and complexity of your proposal
  • data requirements and if the data are already held within IDS
  • ethical considerations
  • analysts obtaining their accredited researcher status

In the current beta phase, we estimate that:

  • the IDS internal review and data owner approval process of the formal project accreditation application may take two to ten weeks
  • the UKSA accreditation decision stage takes two to nine working days; the UKSA or the RAP may raise queries and responding to them adds to this turnaround time

Work is underway to ensure the application process is as simple as possible, while maintaining our commitment to rigorous security and ethical checks.

You can email the IDS Customer Support team for more information at IDS.customer.support@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)