NEWS

ons 0.1.5 (2026-11-01)

Data-correctness release.

ons_gdp() read every measure from the first-estimate dataset (PN2), which is only updated at each first estimate. After the quarterly national accounts (QNA) are published it is out of date: in October 2026 it still gave Q2 2026 GDP of GBP 712.5bn in the old chained-volume prices, where the national accounts give GBP 744.5bn after Blue Book 2026, and growth of 0.4% rather than the revised 0.5%. Each series is now read from whichever of the two datasets the ONS released most recently.
ons_gdp(measure = "yoy") returned annual figures (series IHYP), one row a year, from a quarterly function. It now returns the quarterly series (IHYR): growth on the same quarter a year earlier.
ons_wages(measure = "real") failed with HTTP 404: the ONS moved the real earnings index (A2F8) from the LMS dataset to EMP. Both are now tried.
The cache never expired, so a series downloaded once was returned unchanged on every later call, missing each new release. Cached copies are now re-fetched after 24 hours; set options(ons.cache_ttl = <hours>) to change this.

Added rate limiting to ons_search() to match other API functions and prevent accidental 429 errors.

Examples now wrapped in try() to handle transient ONS API failures gracefully during CRAN checks.

Examples now cache to tempdir() instead of the user's home directory, fixing CRAN policy compliance for \donttest examples.
Cache directory is now configurable via options(ons.cache_dir = ...).

Initial release.
Data functions: ons_gdp(), ons_monthly_gdp(), ons_cpi(), ons_unemployment(), ons_employment(), ons_inactivity(), ons_wages(), ons_trade(), ons_retail_sales(), ons_house_prices(), ons_productivity(), ons_population(), ons_public_finances().
Generic fetch: ons_get() fetches any series by CDID code.
Discovery: ons_search() searches the ONS catalogue by keyword.
Caching: clear_cache() manages locally cached data.