Corrections Log
This is a record of corrections we’ve made in the past 3 years.
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13 Sep 2024
'Unelected' Prime Ministers: common or not?
We've updated this article to clarify that ten of the 28 time the role of Prime Minister changed hands followed an election where they led the party which gained the most seats rather than votes. -
14 Aug 2024
NHS performance: how do the four nations compare?
We made it clear that a chart showed outpatient cases specifically, and that Northern Ireland has not published comparable waiting list data since September 2023. -
25 Jul 2024
Social media image showing ‘Muslims paying tribute to Keir Starmer’ is not real
This article has been updated to include the response from an X account that shared the image. -
19 Jul 2024
NHS performance: how do the four nations compare?
A section on comparisons in cancer care was removed in response to information about upcoming publications from the ONS. -
28 Jun 2024
Crime statistics explained - is it rising or falling?
Corrected full name of CSEW -
25 Jun 2024
What is a parliamentary ‘supermajority’?
This article was corrected on 25 June to clarify that in the US it is a conviction in an impeachment trial, rather than impeachment itself, which requires a two-thirds majority. -
13 Jun 2024
Is the tax burden at a 70 year high?
This article originally stated that the ‘tax burden’ in 2023/24 was 36%. We’ve corrected this to reflect the accurate figure of 36.1%. -
10 Jun 2024
Conservative political broadcast claims on tax and mortgages need context
We corrected a mistake in this article, which previously said that the government had reduced the basic rate of income tax. In fact the government announced a plan to do this in 2022, but later reversed the decision. -
10 Jun 2024
Is Labour right to say families are £5,883 worse off under Rishi Sunak?
This article previously referred to the OBR as the Office for Budgetary Responsibility and has been corrected. -
10 Jun 2024
No good evidence for numerous claims about energy drinks
Image resized -
31 May 2024
Spring Budget 2024: fact checked
Clarified the level of earnings associated with the greatest tax savings. -
20 May 2024
Defence secretary repeats claim about £75 billion increase in defence spending
Corrected date of X post in story -
9 May 2024
HS2 has not cost £100 billion to date
This fact check was corrected to clarify that the eastern leg of HS2 linking Leeds and the East Midlands, not Leeds to Manchester, was cancelled in 2021. -
9 May 2024
Emissions camera in Edinburgh is not linked to fines or points
A previous version of this article said EDAR devices could not detect acceleration, speed or number plates, which was not correct. We changed the rating from partly false to missing context. -
7 May 2024
Were 99.75% of people able to cast their vote when voter ID was first introduced?
We’ve corrected two typos where we previously said the true proportion of voters who were “unable” to cast their vote may be less than 99.75%. We should have said—as is now above—that the true proportion of voters who were “able” to cast their vote may be less than 99.75%. -
15 Mar 2024
Photo of busy train carriage is from Cairo, not Sweden
This article has been updated to amend a typo in the headline. -
15 Feb 2024
Has the government failed in its pledge to grow the economy?
We’ve corrected this article to make clear that the definition of a recession is widely taken to be two consecutive quarters of negative growth, not GDP growth decreasing in consecutive quarters. -
6 Feb 2024
Video does not show electric bus on fire in London
We updated this article to correct a typo in the claim box. -
26 Jan 2024
MailOnline corrects ‘fiscal headroom’ headline
We’ve corrected this article to make clear that the misleading headline appeared in and was amended by MailOnline, not the Daily Mail. -
28 Nov 2023
Widespread confusion over number of ‘people’ on NHS waiting lists
We corrected a mistake in the Welsh waiting list data and added inpatient and day case data for Scotland. -
15 Nov 2023
No evidence clip of Sadiq Khan supposedly calling for ‘Remembrance weekend’ to be postponed is genuine
The article was updated to correct a typo. -
9 Nov 2023
Fluoride levels in toothpaste aren’t toxic when used as directed
We corrected a description of the claim to clarify it was ‘misleading’ to suggest that the fluoride found in toothpaste is "toxic" and not "safe". We also updated this piece to include more information on the recommended daily amounts of fluoride. -
27 Oct 2023
Website homepage
We made a small change to the homepage of our website to remove a line that said we’d asked 57 MPs to correct themselves in 2023. There was an error with the way this figure was automatically calculated. It should have said we’d asked MPs to correct themselves 53 times in 2023. -
12 Oct 2023
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party conference speech: fact checked
We corrected a percentage calculation in this article to 45% instead of 55% -
20 Sep 2023
Hoax posts about ‘missing’ man called Gerald spread across UK
This article has been updated to correct an error in the headline. -
1 Sep 2023
Windowless cars in Maui aftermath pictures don’t mean fires were caused by weapon
A previous version incorrectly referred to glass burning in the conclusion. We have changed this to melting. -
24 Aug 2023
Comparison of benefit fraud and tax avoidance losses is inaccurate
We’ve corrected an earlier version of this fact check which referred to a £100 million increase in the amount estimated to have been overpaid due to benefit fraud in 2022/23. It was actually a decrease. -
10 Aug 2023
Are GP numbers rising or falling?
We updated the 'Full disclosure' information to clarify when funding from the Health Foundation began. -
10 Aug 2023
How much of the rise in ‘economic inactivity’ is due to long Covid?
We updated the 'Full disclosure' information to clarify when funding from the Health Foundation began. -
10 Aug 2023
Four claims about GP numbers fact checked
We updated the 'Full disclosure' information to clarify when funding from the Health Foundation began. -
10 Aug 2023
Government fails to back up PM’s claim that A&E patient flow is 'faster than ever'
We updated the 'Full disclosure' information to clarify when funding from the Health Foundation began. -
10 Aug 2023
Do Rishi Sunak’s claims about hospital discharge funding stack up?
We updated the 'Full disclosure' information to clarify when funding from the Health Foundation began. -
9 Aug 2023
Food study didn’t show that later breakfasts raise diabetes risk
This article has been corrected to clarify that the article was from MailOnline, not the Daily Mail. -
9 Aug 2023
Post about missing uncle in Sunderland is fake
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Fake alerts for missing pensioners are circulating online
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Facebook posts claiming man with dementia is missing with his dog are false
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Post about man with dementia missing with his dog is a hoax
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Hoax posts about ‘missing’ man ‘Martin Jones’ recirculating on social media
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Hoax alerts for missing pensioner shared thousands of times
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Facebook posts about missing woman with dementia are hoaxes
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Man pictured with caravan has not gone missing in Grimsby
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Facebook post does not show a missing man with dementia named ‘Mr Jones’
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Plea to help find missing grandma on Facebook is a hoax
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
9 Aug 2023
Hoax post about missing six-year-old girl shared on Facebook
This article has been corrected to clarify who silver alerts apply to. -
3 Aug 2023
Injured dog hoax uses photo of pet recovering from surgery
This article has been corrected due to an error meaning the wrong text appeared in the “what was claimed” box instead of the Facebook post’s actual claim. -
3 Aug 2023
Having a sharia-compliant mortgage doesn’t mean stamp duty isn’t paid
This article has been edited to reflect the fact that Andrew Bridgen is an MP for the Reclaim party, not Reform UK. -
26 Jul 2023
Newspapers and health minister understate junior doctors’ pay demand
This article has been corrected to show that the Nuffield Trust calculations used CPI, not CPIH. -
21 Jun 2023
Police can’t automatically track your location if you press 55 during a 999 call
This article has been corrected to amend a spelling error. -
16 Jun 2023
The WHO has not declared the Covid-19 pandemic over
We have removed a reference to Covid guidance on the UK Government website as this appears to predate the WHO's recent announcement. -
17 May 2023
Government website makes percentage error on National Insurance rise
The word “tax” was deleted from the ‘our verdict’ box to make it clearer that many people will face a 10% rise in the amount of National Insurance they pay, not their tax bill as a whole. -
25 Apr 2023
Advice to ‘NEVER’ give babies water is missing context
This article was edited to clarify the wording in the subheading, and to remove a rating on a social media video. -
25 Apr 2023
The UK is not being flooded with contaminated drugs
We corrected the description of 'men' to 'males' when talking about leading causes of death across the UK. -
24 Apr 2023
Buzz Aldrin didn’t ‘admit’ he never went to the Moon
This article has been updated to amend our reference to the amount of photographs and video footage gathered during Mr Aldrin’s time on the Moon’s surface. -
13 Apr 2023
The Government is not expecting tree planting to almost halve by 2025
We’ve corrected this piece to show that we received comment from the DEFRA, not the DESNZ. -
16 Mar 2023
Research on long term effects of childhood infections misreported
This article has been corrected to say that the most recent count of pneumonia deaths is around 40 times the figure the Sun originally reported. This article had initially reported it as being over 10 times larger. -
6 Mar 2023
Oxford residents won’t require a permit to ‘leave their district’
This article has been corrected to clarify that the proposed 15 minute neighbourhood plan is being considered by Oxford City Council, not Oxfordshire County Council. -
2 Mar 2023
PA Media corrects error in reporting on research for prostate cancer test
This article previously said that the PSA test did not have a high “false positive” rate, but this should have read “false negative”. We have corrected the name of PA Media, which is no longer called the Press Association. We had previously stated that the published scientific article had been updated, but this is not the case. This article has also been updated to confirm the Daily Mail has now made a correction. -
11 Nov 2022
MPs' vaccine debate fact checked
This article was updated to correct a misspelling of Andrew Bridgen's name. -
8 Nov 2022
‘New’ UK trade deals don’t account for ‘over £800 billion worth of new global trade’
This article has been corrected to say £814 billion, not £816 billion, was the value of bilateral trade between the UK and countries it has a trade deal with in 2021. -
27 Oct 2022
How might the Retained EU Law Bill affect our right to watch the Olympics for free?
We’ve corrected this piece to clarify that while the power to designate listed events is protected as primary domestic legislation, the list itself may fall under the scope of the REUL Bill. -
19 Oct 2022
Wigan ‘diaper give away’ seems not to be genuine
This article has been updated to clarify that the Facebook post did not give a time for the event. -
20 Sep 2022
Did several billion people watch the Queen’s funeral?
We’ve updated this fact check to reflect the fact that the 5.1 billion estimate was used on BBC Radio Stoke on 20 September, after the figure began circulating online. Many thanks to the Full Fact reader who alerted us to this. -
6 Sep 2022
Boris Johnson’s kettle comments taken out of context
We’ve corrected this piece to state that Boris Johnson’s speech was made on 1 September. -
26 Aug 2022
Out-of-date map showing high GB electricity prices compared to Europe re-emerges
We’ve updated this piece to reflect the correct abbreviation of megawatt hour (MWh) -
26 Aug 2022
The EU has not set lower gas price cap than the UK
We’ve updated this piece to reflect the correct abbreviation of megawatt hour (MWh) -
19 Jul 2022
Rishi Sunak pledge to review ‘2,400’ remaining EU laws doesn’t tell the full story
This article has been corrected to clarify that 2,006 is the number of EU laws which the government dashboard shows as remaining unchanged—ie, they have not yet been amended, repealed or replaced. -
14 Jul 2022
Poll saying 5% of Northern Ireland trusts UK government is about protocol specifically
The headline of this article previously said the poll said 5% didn't trust the government, which was incorrect. We've now corrected it. -
14 Jul 2022
Claim two-thirds of child asylum seekers are actually adults is false
This article has been updated to highlight the misleading headline used by the Express and to explain more fully the potential issues with statistics on age dispute cases. -
13 Jul 2022
The EU did not completely outlaw use of imperial measures in the UK
The name of the European Economic Community was corrected. -
12 Jul 2022
What payouts do ministers receive when they leave office?
This article has been corrected to account for further errors that we have since identified in the Liberal Democrats’ analysis. -
1 Jul 2022
Average salary of workers involved in RMT national rail strike is not £44,000
We have corrected this piece to reflect that a small number of drivers were balloted and did participate in the RMT strike. -
15 Jun 2022
War in Ukraine has contributed to global shortages of certain products
We have updated this post to accurately present figures for Ukraine and Russia’s grain exports. -
14 Jun 2022
Research didn’t find contraceptive pill reduces risk of suicide
We have updated this article to reflect the exact wording used in The Sun’s headline throughout. -
13 Jun 2022
EU rules didn’t ‘ban’ crown symbols on pint glasses
This article was corrected to make clear in the conclusion box that the crown symbol could only be used decoratively after 2006. -
9 Jun 2022
Reports that ‘most teachers’ are suffering from depression are based on a self-selecting survey
This article has been edited to change the name "Press Association" to "PA". -
25 Apr 2022
Keir Starmer wrong to say families will be £2,620 worse off this year
We have updated this article with a more detailed explanation of different independent estimates of the fall in household disposable income in 2022/23, all of which are significantly lower than Labour’s estimate. A previous calculation that the average household could be £700 worse off was based on ONS figures for equivalised median income, rather than non-equivalised mean income as above. We also overemphasised this estimate and did not explain the uncertainty clearly enough. -
25 Apr 2022
Labour election leaflets and ads wrongly claiming families are ‘£2,620 worse off’
We have updated this article with a more detailed explanation of different independent estimates of the fall in household disposable income in 2022/23, all of which are significantly lower than Labour’s estimate. A previous calculation that the average household could be £700 worse off was based on ONS figures for equivalised median income,rather than non-equivalised mean income as above. We also overemphasised this estimate and did not explain the uncertainty clearly enough. -
21 Apr 2022
Viral pensions post has its maths all wrong
A previous version of this article incorrectly said the Facebook post had claimed you’d have £900 million if you invested £2,250 each year for 50 years with a 5% interest rate. The post actually said you’d have close to £900,000. -
7 Apr 2022
No evidence for MP’s claims ‘tens of thousands of people’ have ‘suffered severe damage’ from vaccines
This article previously quoted data as of 16 March about Yellow Card reports and suspected reactions for the Pfizer vaccine only, not all Covid-19 vaccines as claimed. The data for 9 March reflected the number of reports relating to the Pfizer vaccine and all Covid-19 vaccines, not the number of reports and suspected reactions across all vaccines as claimed. The figures have been corrected to reflect the total number of Yellow Card reports and suspected reactions following all Covid-19 vaccines. -
1 Mar 2022
Has the NHS had its budget reduced by £30 billion?
This article was corrected to include two paragraphs and a chart that were not included on first publication, due to an administrative error. -
24 Feb 2022
Test and Trace money wasn’t just spent on an app
This article previously said that £76 million was spent on the contact tracing app in 2020/21 as stated by the NAO's report. This was the budget for the app, while the spend was £35 million. -
23 Feb 2022
GP’s article overstates the number of Covid-19 deaths in children
A typing error was fixed to correct "January 2021" to "January 2022". -
1 Feb 2022
Germany has spent far more than £48m on test and trace
This article previously included a crude estimate for part of the cost of the German system—the cost of testing up to March 2021. That calculation was wrong, because it compared figures for two different sorts of Covid tests, so we have now removed the estimate from this article. We have also added additional information on the likely cost of the German contact-tracing app and rapid antigen tests. -
31 Jan 2022
PM misleads on employment figures, again
This article originally said the Daily Express had also made the claim being discussed, when it said “400,000 jobs have been added since the start of the pandemic”. The Express told Full Fact it was not referring to the number of people in employment, but to the increase in the number of job vacancies compared to the pre-pandemic level, which the ONS puts at 462,000. -
28 Jan 2022
An Instagram post underestimates Covid-19 deaths among younger people
"A sentence was changed to clarify that the FOI response showed deaths due to Covid where there was no pre-existing condition listed on the death certificate." -
21 Jan 2022
The Covid-19 vaccines don’t have ‘negative efficacy’
A use of the word "underestimates" was corrected to "overestimates". -
18 Jan 2022
David Icke makes false claim that vaccines are ‘gene therapy’
The original version of this article stated that asymptomatic Covid-19 cases accounted for a “huge” number of overall cases. This has been changed to say that while asymptomatic illness does exist and has been an important factor in how Covid-19 spreads, evidence of the proportion of asymptomatic cases is mixed. -
14 Jan 2022
Doctor who challenged Sajid Javid made misleading claims about vaccines
We updated this article to correct a typo in Mr Javid's name and the date in the second paragraph. -
14 Jan 2022
Doctor who challenged Sajid Javid made misleading claims about vaccines
The article originally repeated the claim and conclusion boxes. This has been corrected. -
13 Jan 2022
Facebook posts falsely advertise weight loss pills as endorsed by judges on US Dragons’ Den
This article originally repeated the claim in the conclusion box. This has been corrected. -
25 Nov 2021
Peston claim that immigration is top public concern based on his own findings
We corrected this article to note the claim was made on 24 November. -
4 Nov 2021
NHSX website doesn’t reveal vaccine passport roll out
This article was corrected to reflect the fact that the COVID NHS Pass in Wales also allows individuals to present a lateral flow result.