The RDMF: facilitating data linkage
Data are now the number one asset for public sector organisations, and there is huge excitement about the possibilities, so it is important that clarity is provided on how data are linked together securely, removing identifiable information to ensure the public’s privacy. This is one of the areas the IDS adds value to government data usage.

The secure linkage of data is one of the key benefits of the IDS, and thanks to the ONS’ Reference Data Management Framework (RDMF), designed to link and match data, while stripping out personally identifiable information, the IDS can provide researchers and analysts with rich and secure datasets.
This framework is made up of a collection of five high quality reference datasets called indexes. These fives indexes are based on geography, people, classifications, businesses and addresses.
The RDMF allows an accredited IDS researcher to access datasets with pre-allocated reference IDs, which enable those datasets to be linked to others with the same IDs. As datasets have been matched to pre-existing central indexes on people, locations or businesses, this enables researchers to expand upon datasets’ analytical potential while saving time and focusing on producing quality outputs.
Further, a mechanism known as Cross Index Association (XIA) facilitates the linkage of record reference IDs across indexes. For instance, an individual on the Demographic (person) Index can be linked to their employer on the Business Index or a company on the Business Index can be linked to an Address (and related geography) on the Location Index.
Matching to the five central indexes, rather than directly between datasets, offers key benefits. It facilitates a consistent approach to data integration; reduces the need for researchers to access raw data and offers significant efficiencies, by matching data once and using them many times.
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To allow for efficient and accurate linking, new datasets that enter the IDS will pass through the RDMF’s Matching Services, which strips out personally identifiable information, while adding ONS-specific IDs. It is important to note that this excludes data transitioning to the IDS from the Secure Research Service (SRS) which have already been de-identified through prior procedures.
It is one of the ambitions of the National Data Strategy that the ONS implements this product across government, through the IDS, in order to ensure that sensitive data are kept secure and are used ethically. The RDMF is already an important pillar of ONS’s business statistics and transformation of future population and migration statistics.
Next steps
Now that the IDS operates as a Trusted Research Environment (TRE), having achieved Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA) accreditation for the provision of data, the service can move towards the next steps. The IDS will focus on continuing to improve user experience, while scaling up and maturing the service.
This will include working with partners to ensure that the IDS achieves its full potential of offering scalable, efficient, and collaborative data analysis, to add to the secure platform, while continuing engagement with the data community to evidence the benefits of the service to stakeholders.
Have you any experiences of or questions on the IDS? Email IDS.Comms@ons.gov.uk and sign up to the IDS newsletter.