The Vacancy Survey (VS) is a statutory, monthly survey of businesses in Great Britain, which asks the single question, how many job vacancies did a business have in total on a specified date for which they were actively seeking recruits from outside their organisation. Vacancy statistics provide important information about the demand for labour, and give an early indication of what is happening in the labour market. They are used for monitoring and policy-making purposes by UK government departments and Eurostat.Questionnaires are sent to a sample of approximately 6,000 businesses on the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) every month, approached mainly via head offices rather than by local offices. The IDBR is a live register of data on businesses collected by HM Revenue and Customs via VAT and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. Businesses return their Vacancy Survey data to the Office for National Statistics using key presses on a telephone rather than returning a paper questionnaire. A small number of businesses have elected to receive a paper questionnaire which is returned in the pre-paid envelope provided.The survey covers all sectors of the economy, with the exception of employment agencies and agriculture, forestry and fishing.Linking to other business studiesThese data contain IDBR reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.Latest edition informationFor the thirtieth edition (April 2025), two new data files have been added to the study (June to September 2024 and July to October 2024).  The Vacancy Survey data files held under SN 7421 include the following information for each business surveyed each month:returned or imputed number of vacanciesnumber of employees, from the IDBRStandard Industrial Classification codedesign, calibration and outlier weightsIDBR reporting unit reference number