62 in-depth analyses

How the four hour standard has slipped to 76 per cent, the rise in 12 hour waits, and the worst trusts.

7,278,384 referral to treatment pathways were waiting at the end of May 2026, around 6.2 million individual patients, with 65.6 per cent within 18 weeks against a 92 per cent standard last met in September 2015, and 104,734 waits of more than a year.

How the four hour A&E standard has slipped since 2007, the rise in twelve hour waits, by health board, with St John's in Livingston.

How many people can still see an NHS dentist, the collapse in access since the pandemic, and the worst dental deserts.

5,565 drug poisoning deaths registered in England and Wales in 2024, of which 3,736 were drug misuse, a rate that has more than doubled since 2012, and 9,809 alcohol specific deaths across the UK comparing all four nations on one consistent measure.

How long a newborn can expect to live by area and nation, the gap of about a decade between places, and where West Lothian sits.

How people rate their own lives on the ONS measures of life satisfaction, worthwhile, happiness and anxiety, by nation and local authority, and where West Lothian sits.

How long an ambulance takes to arrive, the Category 2 calls far over target, the fastest and slowest services, and the handover bottleneck.

How long children wait for mental health support, the size of the backlog, how it varies by area, and the eating disorder standard that is mostly missed.

How connected people feel to where they live: belonging holding at 62 per cent, trust down to 40 per cent, formal volunteering fallen to 17 per cent a month, and where volunteering is strongest and weakest.

How the price of a home has climbed over thirty years, how far it varies between places, and where West Lothian sits.

What share of children grow up in a low income family, by local authority and nation, how much housing costs add, and where West Lothian sits.

How many households cannot keep warm at a reasonable cost, by region and local authority, and how the measure has changed since 2010.

A British Resilience Index analysis ranking English local authorities on fuel poverty, child low income and drug deaths together, to show where the deepest hardship overlaps.

How many years of pay a home costs in every local authority: 7.63 times typical earnings in England, down from the 2021 peak but more than double the 1997 ratio.

The average UK rent at 1,388 pounds a month and up 3.3 per cent in a year, where renting costs most and least by local authority, and which areas are rising fastest.

134,210 households were living in temporary accommodation on 31 December 2025, including 176,130 children, up 5.0 per cent in a year and within a fraction of the record; the small fall from that record is the first quarterly fall since 2022.

91,092 landlord possession claims and 29,067 bailiff repossessions in England and Wales in 2025, the section 21 accelerated route explained, mortgage possessions, and 1.34 million households on English council housing waiting lists.

Two sides of housing pressure: more than 1.3 million households on council waiting lists, and the rise in renter evictions, by area.

Food inflation has fallen from a peak of 19.1 per cent to 1.7 per cent, but the price level is still 38.3 per cent above January 2020 and has never come back down, with oils and fats up 75.3 per cent and the poorest tenth of households spending 14 per cent of their budget on food against 8 per cent for the richest.

The Ofgem price cap since 2019, the Energy Price Guarantee crisis peak, and a record 4.79 billion pounds of household energy debt and arrears.

The 1,862 pound typical bill decomposed into eight Ofgem cost allowances, the 14 to 18.5 billion pound levy path on OBR figures, and the 55 per cent policy cost cut almost nobody noticed in April 2026.

718,838 children had an education, health and care plan at January 2026, up 12.5 per cent in a year, the fastest rise on record, with 1 in 5 pupils having a special educational need and a deficit the NAO puts near 4.6 billion pounds.

The gap between disadvantaged pupils and the rest at GCSE, how it has widened, where it is widest and narrowest, and why inner London bucks the trend.

The storm overflow record: how often each water company spills, into which rivers, and whether it is getting better or worse.

Over 1.2 million incidents a year by council, what is dumped and where, and the gap between incidents and prosecutions.

UK emissions allocated to local areas fell 46.4 per cent, from 655.8 to 351.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent between 2005 and 2024, with transport now the largest single source, and a per head league across all 361 local authorities in the four nations where a single power station or peatland can dominate an area total.

Every renewable and low carbon power project: what is operating, what is consented and waiting to be built, by technology, company and nation.

Household recycling rates by council, stuck near 44 per cent, and how local carbon emissions have halved per person since 2005.

How clean the air is across England, the fall in fine particle pollution since 2018, and how almost every area still exceeds the World Health Organisation guideline.

About 6.3 million properties in England are in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea and surface water, the split by source and by the nine regions, and how the total could reach around 8 million by mid century.

The Environment Agency's 2025 classifications for England's 451 designated bathing waters: two thirds rated Excellent, the 32 waters still rated Poor named, and how the Excellent or Good share has slipped since 2019.

Full fibre, gigabit and mobile availability across the UK, the premises still without a decent connection, and how it varies by nation and local area.

Punctuality and cancellations by train operator, who is most and least reliable, from the Office of Rail and Road.

What share of roads need repair, by local authority in England and council in Scotland, and where West Lothian sits.

The public charging network growing fast but unevenly, by nation and local area, with Scotland ahead and Northern Ireland far behind.

About a fifth of water lost to leaks, which companies leak most, who is improving, and where supply is least reliable. The companion to sewage.

Every company on the register: how many businesses there are, what they do, how many are in trouble, and the picture in West Lothian.

The surge in councils needing emergency support, the section 114 bankruptcies, and which authorities are most stretched.

A cross-dataset analysis: rising high needs demand, the council bailout wave, and deprivation. The data shows high needs demand is not what is bankrupting most councils, and is not a poverty story.

How much usable reserve English councils have left, the fastest drawdowns, the most stretched authorities, rising council tax and weakening collection.

The average Band D bill at 2,392 pounds and up 4.9 per cent, how it has climbed since 1993, where bills are highest and lowest, and who raised them most this year.

The typical UK full time employee earned 766.60 pounds a week in April 2025, up 5.3 per cent in cash but only about 1.1 per cent after inflation, with a 1.86 times gap between the highest and lowest paid local authorities.

9.1 million people aged 16 to 64 are economically inactive, 20.9 per cent, with long term sickness now the single biggest reason and the fastest growing since before the pandemic, from Labour Force Survey figures the ONS itself badges as official statistics in development.

What full time workers earn and how productive each area is, the gap between the best and worst paid places, and why pay and productivity tell different stories.

What the UK government owes and borrows: public sector net debt near 95 per cent of GDP and about 2,835 billion pounds, this year's deficit, and the fuller balance sheet of net worth and net financial liabilities.

126,281 people in England and Wales entered a formal insolvency procedure in 2025, one in 395 adults, how the mix has shifted away from bankruptcy, and where rates are highest.

8.3 million people on Universal Credit in Great Britain, how the caseload has more than tripled since 2019, who is in paid work, and where local claimant rates are highest and lowest.

The state pension costs about 146.1 billion pounds in 2025-26 for 13.2 million recipients, rising to 180.7 billion by 2030-31, while DWP estimates about 2.1 billion pounds of means tested Pension Credit went unclaimed in the year to March 2024.

UK welfare spending at about 333.8 billion pounds in 2025-26, heading to 408.6 billion by 2030-31 on DWP forecasts, the State Pension the biggest line and disability benefits the fastest growing at 44 per cent.

Total Managed Expenditure reached 1,360 billion pounds in 2025-26, 44.3 per cent of GDP, where it goes by function and department, and how the share of the economy has moved since 1950.

728,070 work, study and family visas granted in the year ending March 2026, down 44 per cent from the 2023 peak; 93,525 asylum claims, a 39 per cent grant rate at initial decision and the backlog down 55 per cent to 48,758 people; and UK net migration at 171,000, an ONS measure kept separate throughout.

HMRC collected about 939 billion pounds in 2025-26, four taxes raise about 86 per cent of it, and the whole tax take is now about 36 per cent of GDP, the highest share since 1951.

Every offence recorded by police from 2012/13 to 2024/25: what gets recorded, what has gone up and down, and where rates are highest by force area.

How exposed the UK is online: breaches by business size and across education, record fraud against the public, the cost to the economy, the NCSC year, government's own resilience and the skills gap.

An estimated 3.8 million adults, 7.8 per cent, experienced domestic abuse in England and Wales in the year to March 2025, against 816,493 police recorded crimes, with separate non-comparable totals for Scotland and Northern Ireland and just 7.3 per cent of recorded crimes ending in a charge.

What share of crimes end in a charge, how that varies by offence type and police force, and why so many are closed with no suspect identified.

The proven reoffending rate is 29.6 per cent overall, but 67.1 per cent after a custodial sentence of under 12 months against 39.0 per cent after a community order, a comparison the Ministry of Justice says cannot be used to judge whether sentences work, alongside record prison self harm and crowding.

Prisons at 96 per cent of capacity and projected to overflow, why short sentences drive the highest reoffending, and the rise in assaults and self harm.

A Scotland council area profile (S12000040): cited indicators set against Scotland, by theme. Not a scored composite.

Twenty years of the roadworks register for the whole county, broken down by who digs, where, and how often.

Where coordination could cut cost and disruption: avoidable repeat digs, reactive hotspots, and works that overrun.