London Councils reveals the capital has lost £130 million due to population statistic blunder 

The experience of London boroughs backs a new study which reveals a growing mistrust in official data and a large fall in the numbers of people believing population figures to be accurate. 

Ironically, the Office for National Statistics report on which the Commission's comments are based, said that the general public's confidence in population data has declined since "improvements" were made to the way local authorities' populations are estimated.   

This new method resulted in projections of London's population that were well over 100,000 less than in the previous projections. This contradicts experience on the ground and work undertaken by a number of London boroughs to estimate their local population. 

As this data is used by central government to distribute vital funding to local authorities this has had a devastating impact on London.  London Councils has estimated that these inadequate population figures have resulted in a loss in the region of £130 million in undamped formula grant between 2008/09 and 2010/11.  This has put considerable strain on London's already stretched local services.