HIV and AIDS Reporting System (HARS)
Guidance on the collection and reporting of data for specialist outpatient HIV consultations in the UK.
About
The HIV and AIDS Reporting System (HARS) data set is designed to:
- reduce the reporting burden for reporting sites
- increase the efficiency of HIV surveillance
- enhance standard HIV surveillance outputs
- produce quality of care indicators
- directly support commissioning services
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) co-ordinates and manages the quarterly data collection, processing, storage, analysis, and reporting of HARS data on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Data is:
- reported yearly to service providers and NHS England
- published annually as official statistics and included in other reports
- used for the D07 HIV late diagnosis indicator on and other indicators in the
Sources of data
HARS collects data on people aged 15 years and over accessing HIV services from all specialist HIV outpatient services in England. It is an electronic, pseudonymised patient-level data set which is submitted on a quarterly basis reported by over 160 services in England.
All NHS-funded specialist HIV services in England are required to complete and return HARS data to UKHSA. Information about the is available online.
Once a year, other sources of data are collated with HARS data for England to create a UK database of HIV attendances that allows the planning of services and monitoring of the quality of care received by people living with HIV, and their clinical outcomes for the UK.
These data sources include:
- data on HIV outpatient clinic attendances submitted to UKHSA for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales
- data for paediatric attendances at HIV clinics in England extracted from the (on behalf of NHS England)
How to submitÌýHARSÌý»å²¹³Ù²¹
The data set is modelled against the NHS data dictionary which ensures all data items are consistently reported across the NHS.ÌýHARSÌýfiles are submitted in XML format using theÌýHARSÌýXML schema. This is a compulsory component of all NHS data systems and improves data quality by ensuring the correct formatting of all data items in the file.
The HARS XML schema can be downloaded from the website.
Upload and validation
HARSÌýfiles are submitted toÌýthe UKHSAÌý. On upload, the file automatically undergoes a 2-stage validation process.
Stage 1: verification against XML schema
The uploaded file is verified against theÌýHARSÌýXML schema and any formatting issues or missing mandatory variables are identified and made available to the user. These must be corrected and re-uploaded to the before the file can be accepted to the next stage.
Stage 2:ÌýUKHSA validations
Once the file passes the XML verification stage, it is imported and validated against a set ofÌýdetailed UKHSA validation rules. Users will receive an email containing results of the validations. Files containing major errors will be rejected and these must be corrected and re-uploaded to the for the file to be accepted.
When to submitÌýHARSÌý»å²¹³Ù²¹
| Reporting period | Reporting deadline |
|---|---|
| January to March 2026 | Friday 24 April 2026 |
| April to June 2026 | Friday 17 July 2026 |
| July to September 2026 | Friday 16 October 2026 |
| October to December 2026 | Friday 15 January 2027 |
| January to March 2027 | Friday 23 April 2027 |
| April to June 2027 | Friday 16 July 2027 |
| July to September 2027 | Friday 15 October 2027 |
| October to December 2027 | Friday 21 January 2028 |
Where to access HARS data
HARS data is subject to strict data sharing and publication rules (particularly regarding small numbers) that are outlined in theÌýUKHSAÌýHIVÌýandÌýSTIÌý»å²¹³Ù²¹ publication guidelines.
Information on people accessing HIV care is available in a variety of formats.
These official statistics present information on HIV testing, HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (HIV PrEP and HIV PEP, respectively), new HIV and AIDS diagnoses and deaths in people withÌýHIV, and on people accessing HIV services and treatment in the UK by demographic characteristics and geographical region.
These provide local area data on sexual health, reproductive health and HIV diagnoses and services through interactive maps and charts.
These are restricted-access reports for monitoring local, regional and national sexual health trends and are generally published once a year. They are accessible to registered NHS and local authority users only.
Sexual health, reproductive health and HIV in England
This guide is to help local government, service providers and commissioners understand the sexual health, reproductive health data and HIV data available across England and how it can be accessed.
HARS data requests
HARS and other HIV data may be requested by completing the HIV and AIDS reporting section data request form and sending this to harsqueries@ukhsa.gov.uk
Data requests will be assessed with regards to the risks of deductive disclosure in accordance with the UKHSA HIV and STI data publication guidelines.
Data requests may take up to 20 working days for the response to be compiled (this may take longer during busy periods).
UKHSA sexual health and HIVÌýprivacy information
UKHSA’s sexual health andÌýHIVÌýprivacy informationÌýexplains the depersonalised data we collect, how we use it and how we protect this information.
Contact information
For further information on HARS or to request access to the , please contact the HIV help desk at harsqueries@ukhsa.gov.uk