The asylum support figures we checked on 9 September 2026 described 30 June. They had been published on 27 August. Calling all three dates “the latest update” would save space, at the cost of telling the reader very little.
The reference date is the one to look for first. It tells us when the observation was made, or which period it covers. In this example, 30 June is a snapshot of asylum support at the end of a quarter. Updating a webpage in September does not turn it into a September count.
The publication date tells us when the source released the information. The Home Office published its year-ending June 2026 statistics on 27 August. Readers could only examine those figures once they became available.
What our check means
The Cartulary checked these launch records on 9 September. That verification date records our review of the transcription, definitions and processing against the published source. It is not a claim that we audited the Home Office’s underlying administrative systems.
Each evidence record keeps these dates separate so a reader can judge how old the observation is and when it was last checked. The newest timestamp is not necessarily the most useful one.
If the publisher later revises a figure, the record should identify it as an update. If we copied or processed a figure incorrectly, it should identify a correction. Either change belongs beside the affected record, where the next reader can find it.
