British retail sales rose 0.6 per cent in July, according to the delayed release of figures that the Office for National Statistics said had been marred by quality failures.
The ONS said on Friday that it had identified problems in aligning the survey periods used to compile the figures with calendar months.
Explaining the delay in the release of the figures, which were due to be published last month, James Benford, ONS director-general of economic statistics, said: “Our annual review of how we adjust for seasonality found that we had not adjusted figures correctly. This resulted in our previous figures overstating the monthly volatility in retail sales in the first half of the year.”