Reclassification of certain train operating companies to public non-financial corporations - implementation date to be confirmed
In July 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced a decision to reclassify the train operating companies (TOCs) that were subject to emergency measure agreements (EMAs) to the public non-financial corporation sector. Whilst the EMAs are temporary measures, and the reclassification is therefore likely to be a temporary change, the Bank intends to ask reporters to reclassify affected firms in accordance with this. Normal protocol would be to avoid asking reporters to make reclassifications on a temporary basis. However, given the reclassification only affects a small number of specific firms (a full list of which is below), and that there is currently no immediate date for their classification to revert to the private non-financial corporate sector, the Bank feels any costs to comply with the reclassification will be outweighed by the benefit of ensuring the ongoing relevance of published statistics.
Reporters should, however, note that the implementation of this change will not be effective in National Accounts, and therefore statistical returns, until there is a further announcement. The publication of a statistical notice will outline when this change should be implemented, though this will not require the restatement of previously submitted returns.
The TOCs affected by this classification decision are: Avanti West Coast; c2c; Caledonian Sleeper; Chiltern Railways; Cross Country; East Midlands Railway; Govia Thameslink Railway; Greater Anglia; Great Western Railway; Scotrail; Southeastern; South Western Railway; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains.
If the reclassification results in changes of more than £10 million then please email dsd_ms@bankofengland.co.uk with the details.
For further information, please see the ONS website.
If you have any queries relating to these changes, please contact the Money and Credit Group DSD_MS@bankofengland.co.uk for balance sheet reporting or the Financial Statistics Group DSDPLTeam@bankofengland.co.uk for income and expenditure reporting.