Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 11 July 2024

• The seasonally adjusted total Direct Debit failure rate decreased by 1% in June 2024 when compared with the previous month, but was 6% higher than the level seen in June 2023 (Vocalink and Pay.UK). Section 3: Consumer behaviour.

• In the week to 7 July 2024, overall retail footfall decreased by 4% when compared with the previous week (MRI OnLocation). Section 3: Consumer behaviour.

• Across the 10 Pret A Manger location categories monitored, the number of transactions increased in 4, decreased in 4 and remained unchanged in 2 locations in the week to 27 June 2024, when compared with the previous week (Pret a Manger). Section 3: Consumer behaviour.

• The total number of online job adverts on 5 July 2024 increased by 1% when compared with the previous week but was 19% below the level in the equivalent period of 2023 (Adzuna). Section 4: Business and workforce.

• In the week to 7 July 2024, the daily average number of UK flights increased by 1% when compared with the previous week and was 2% higher than the equivalent week of 2023 (EUROCONTROL). Section 6: Transport.

Monthly Direct Debit average transaction amount and failure rate

The monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount are anonymised, and aggregated datasets are made available to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) by Pay.UK and Vocalink. The data are unadjusted for inflation and reflect economic activity in nominal terms.

For further details on what is covered within this indicator, see our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology.

The total Direct Debit failure rate in June 2024 decreased by 1% when compared with the previous month. However, this rate was 6% higher than the level seen in June 2023. This year-on-year change was driven by increases in the “Electricity and gas”, “Water” and “Fitness facilities” categories, which rose by 30%, 11% and 10%, respectively.

The total seasonally adjusted monthly average Direct Debit transaction amount increased by 1% in June 2024 when compared with the previous month and increased by 5% when compared with June 2023, continuing the upward trend.

The main contribution to this year-on-year increase came from annual growth in the "Water" and "Mortgages" spending category, at 11% and 10%, respectively. However, the seasonally adjusted monthly average Direct Debit transaction amount spent on "Electricity and gas" in June 2024 continued to follow the month-on-month decline since the peak in May 2023, falling to 17% below the level seen in June 2023.

Our accompanying Monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount dataset is available.

National retail footfall

In the week to 7 July 2024, overall retail footfall decreased by 4% when compared with the previous week and was 3% below the level seen in the equivalent week of 2023.

High street footfall decreased by 6% when compared with the previous week, while retail park footfall decreased by 2% and shopping centre footfall decreased by 1%. Retail park footfall increased by 1% when compared with the equivalent week of 2023, while shopping centre footfall decreased by 3% and high street footfall decreased by 5%.

Overall retail footfall decreased in all 12 UK countries and English regions when compared with the previous week. The largest decrease was seen in the East Midlands, falling by 5%.

When compared with the equivalent week of 2023, all 12 UK countries and English regions saw a decrease in overall retail footfall. The largest decrease was seen in the South West, which fell to 6% below the level seen in the equivalent week of 2023, followed by the North East and Wales, which both fell by 5%.

Transactions at Pret A Manger

In the week to 27 June 2024, the number of transactions at Pret A Manger stores increased in 4, decreased in 4 and remained unchanged in 2 of the 10 location categories monitored when compared with the previous week. The largest increase was seen in Yorkshire stores with an increase of 14%. The largest decrease was seen in Regional Station stores, falling by 8%.

When compared with the equivalent week of 2023, the number of in-store transactions at Pret A Manger decreased in 9 of the 10 location categories. The location categories with the largest decreases were the Manchester and Scotland stores, falling by 15% and 11%, respectively.

Our accompanying Transactions at Pret A Manger dataset is available.

Online job adverts

Figure 4: In the latest week, the total number of online job adverts increased by 1% when compared with the previous Friday, but was 19% lower than the equivalent period of 2023

Volume of online job adverts, non-seasonally adjusted, UK, 7 February 2018 to 5 July 2024

Notes

1. These estimates of online job adverts are provided by Adzuna, an online job search engine and are an indicator for the demand of labour. 

2. Week-on-week changes in online job advert volumes are outlined as percentages, rather than as percentage-point changes. Percentage-change figures quoted in the commentary will therefore not necessarily match the percentage-point changes observed in the chart and in our Online job advert estimates dataset. 

3. Further category breakdowns are available in our Online job advert estimates dataset, and more details on the methodology are in our Using Adzuna data to derive an indicator of weekly vacancies: Experimental Statistics methodology.

The total number of online job adverts on 5 July 2024 increased by 1% when compared with the previous week.

Over the last week, online job adverts increased in 9 of the 12 UK countries and English regions, decreased in 2 and remained broadly unchanged in 1. The largest increases were seen in the South East, Scotland and Yorkshire and the Humber, which all rose by 3%.

The total number of online job adverts in the latest week was 19% lower than the equivalent period of 2023, with all UK countries and English regions seeing a decrease. The largest year-on-year decrease was in Scotland, which was 30% lower.

The total number of online job adverts was lower in 24 of the 28 job categories when compared with the equivalent week of 2023. The categories with the largest year-on-year decreases were "Construction and trades" and "Admin, clerical and secretarial", which were 52% and 51% lower, respectively.

Our accompanying Online job advert estimates dataset is available.

Business impact and insights

Initial results from Wave 112 of our Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) statistical bulletin were collected from 1 July to 9 July 2024, with a response rate of 22.7% (8,850 responses).

Advanced notification of potential redundancies

Calculated as a four-week rolling average, the number of potential redundancies in the week to 30 June 2024 was 25% lower than the equivalent week of 2023. The number of employers proposing redundancies was 9% lower when compared with the same period.

Comparisons with the equivalent period a year ago help account for any seasonal impacts. For more information, our accompanying Advanced notification of potential redundancies dataset is available.

System Price of electricity

In the week to 7 July 2024, the System Price of electricity decreased by 17% compared with the previous week, from a seven-day average price of 7.308 pence per kilowatt hour to 6.077 pence per kilowatt hour. This is now 19% lower than the equivalent week of 2023, which had a seven-day average price of 7.500 pence per kilowatt hour.

Our accompanying System Price of electricity dataset is available.

Daily UK flights

In the week to 7 July 2024, the daily average number of UK flights increased by 1% when compared with the previous week. This was 2% higher than the equivalent week of 2023.

Our accompanying Daily UK flights dataset is available.

This section lists a selection of the data available in this publication. For the full list of available datasets, please see our accompanying dataset page.

Real-time indicator

A real-time indicator provides insights into economic activity using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys or experimental estimates, which represent useful economic and social concepts.

Seasonal adjustment

Seasonal adjustment is the identification and removal of consistent and systematic variation in time series that is associated with the time of year. For more information on seasonal variation, and how we implement seasonal adjustment, see Section 2: How we measure real-time indicators of our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology.

Official statistics in development

These statistics are labelled as "official statistics in development". Until September 2023, these were called "experimental statistics". Read more about the change in our Guide to official statistics in development.

We are developing how we collect and produce the data to improve the quality of these statistics. Find out more in our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology.

Once the developments are complete, we will review the statistics with the Statistics Head of Profession. We will decide if the statistics are of sufficient quality and value to be published as official statistics, or if further development is needed. Production may be stopped if they are not of sufficient quality or value. Users will be informed of the outcome and any changes.

We value your feedback on these statistics. If you would like to contact us, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Dataset release dates and intended release frequency

Latest release dates and intended release frequency of our associated datasets are available in this section. Please note that there may be some change to the intended release frequency for a variety of reasons, such as data availability. If you would like further information about any of these datasets, or previous release dates, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Weekly data release

• The UK spending on credit and debit cards dataset was last updated on 16 May 2024.

• The Revolut spending on debit cards dataset was last updated on 1 February 2024.

• The Automotive fuel spending dataset was last updated on 27 June 2024.

• The Online job advert estimates dataset was last updated on 11 July 2024.

• The Company incorporations, voluntary dissolutions and compulsory dissolutions dataset was last updated on 5 July 2024.

• The Advanced notification of potential redundancies dataset was last updated on 11 July 2024.

• The System Average Price (SAP) of gas dataset was last updated on 5 July 2024.

• The System Price of electricity dataset was last updated on 11 July 2024.

• The Traffic camera activity dataset was last updated on 20 June 2024.

• The Weekly shipping indicators dataset was last updated on 5 April 2024.

• The Daily UK flights dataset was last updated on 11 July 2024

Fortnightly data release

• The Transactions at Pret A Manger dataset was last updated on 11 July 2024.

Monthly data release

• The Monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount dataset was last updated on 11 July 2024.

• The Value Added Tax, flash estimates dataset was last updated on 18 April 2024.

• The Renter affordability for new tenancies dataset was last updated on 11 July 2024.

• The Sales and jobs in small businesses dataset was last updated on 2 May 2024.

These statistics have been produced to provide timely indicators of the effect of developing world events on the UK economy and society, using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys, or official statistics in development.

The data presented in this bulletin are reviewed and refreshed on a regular basis. Indicators are swapped in and out of the publication based on their suitability and availability.

Seasonality

Seasonal fluctuations are likely to be present in many of these indicators, so caution must be applied when interpreting changes in series that are not seasonally adjusted.