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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released the final series of articles ahead of the Blue Book and Pink Book changes, which will be introduced on 30 September, setting out these changes and their estimated impacts on UK National Accounts.

One article gives more information about the changes to the treatment of pensions and the implications for measuring household saving in the National Accounts.

A separate article gives the impact of changes to key Income and Capital Account (Sector and Financial Accounts) estimates, including updated estimates of the Saving Ratio for 2010-12.

A further article sets out the impact of the changes on the Balance of Payments for 2010-2012.

ONS Director of National Accounts and Economic Statistics Caron Walker said:

“Today's articles give more information about the improvements to National Accounts. They give more detail, for example, about the way the improved treatment of pensions results in higher measured household saving. They also complete the picture up to 2012 of what the UK's balance of payments will now look like under the new treatment.”

The releases are the last of a series of articles in advance of the Blue Book and Pink Book changes, which will be introduced on 30 September. The previous articles are listed below:

• The overall package of changes was described on 28 April 
• Articles on 29 May described the impact on current price GDP from those changes not related to new international standards (‘ESA 2010’, for short) 
• Articles were published on 10 June giving estimates of the impact on the level of current price GDP from the changes due to the implementation of ESA 2010 
• On 30 June, articles described the impact of the changes on annual growth in the headline measure of GDP over the period 1997 to 2009 
• Articles on 9 July detailed the impact of the changes on the Sector & Financial Accounts and Balance of Payments, as well as an article comparing the impact of the UK’s National Accounts changes with those being implemented in other countries 
• On 23 July an article was published giving details of the impacts of the changes on the expenditure and income components of GDP 
• Further detail of the impact of the changes on the expenditure components of GDP were set out on 12 August 
• Estimates of annual current price GDP levels for 2010-2012, annual real GDP growth for 2010-2012, quarterly GDP growth figures for 1997-2012, changes on the Balance of Payments for 1997-2009, the estimated impact of the changes on the Sector and Financial Accounts and estimates of the impact of the new method for inflating imputed rental data were published on 3 September

ENDS 

Background notes

1. The full article containing a detailed explanation of the impact of the changes to the treatment of Pensions in the National Accounts is available here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa1-rd/national-accounts-articles/detailed-explanation-of-the-impact-of-the-changes-to-the-treatment-of-pensions-in-the-national-accounts/index.html
2. An article giving a detailed assessment of changes to Sector & Financial Accounts for 2010 -12 is available here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa1-rd/national-accounts-articles/detailed-assessment-of-changes-to-sector-and-financial-accounts-2010-to-2012/index.html
3. An article giving the impacts of changes to the measurement of Balance of Payments as a result of the introduction of BPM6 for 2010-12 is available here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa1-rd/national-accounts-articles/impacts-of-changes-to-the-measurement-of-balance-of-payments-as-a-result-of-the-introduction-of-bpm6--2010-to-2012-/index.html
4. An article summarising the upcoming changes to GDP is available here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa1-rd/national-accounts-articles/summary-of-upcoming-changes-to-gdp/index.html

5. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference. 
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