Index of Services, UK: October 2024

• We estimate that services output was flat (0.0%) in October 2024; this follows growth of 0.1% in August 2024 and 0.0% in September 2024.
• There were monthly increases in 7 of the 14 sectors in October 2024, with the largest positive contribution coming from "information and communication" (0.9%).
• There were monthly decreases in 6 sectors in October 2024, with the largest negative contribution coming from "administrative and support service activities" (down 0.8%).
• We estimate that in the three months to October 2024, services output increased by 0.1%, when compared with the three months to July 2024.
• The main positive contributing sector in the three months to October 2024 was "professional, scientific and technical activities" (1.5%).
• The small increase in the three months to October 2024 was partially offset by negative contributions of a similar size in several other sectors, led by a decrease in "administrative and support service activities" (down 0.8%).

Response rates for October 2024

The response rates for October 2024 were 72.7% based on forms returned. This accounted for 86.0% of total turnover coverage of the sample population. For further information, see our Current and historical Monthly Business Survey (MBS) (services) response rates dataset.

Data sources and collection

The Index of Services (IoS) is compiled using data from several different sources (share of overall economy based on latest gross value added (GVA) weights). These include the:

• Office for National Statistics (ONS) MBS (34.9%)
• ONS Retail Sales Inquiry (4.8%)
• ONS Government Expenditure (15.3%)
• ONS Households' Expenditure (11.2%)
• ONS Finance Expenditure (8.0%)
• ONS Households and non-profit institutions serving households (1.9%)
• other (3.6%)

The MBS data are published alongside this release in our MBS turnover of services industries dataset.

Data relating to the retail industry are broadly comparable with our Retail sales, Great Britain: October 2024 bulletin, published on 22 November 2024.

For further information on what is included within "other", please see our Gross domestic product (GDP(o)) data sources catalogue. 

The percentage of each data source is based on their gross value added weight. Our IoS methods and sources pages provide more information on the data that underpin these statistics; of particular note is our GDP(o) data sources catalogue.

Value Added Tax (VAT) data are also included for small and medium-sized businesses to help inform estimates. For more information, see our VAT turnover data in National Accounts: background and methodology.

Quality and methodology

The data reported in IoS bulletins and datasets are estimates that are subject to uncertainty, for example, sampling variability and non-sampling error. For more information on these, see Section 2 of our Uncertainty and how we measure it for our surveys methodology.

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Index of Services Quality and Methodology Information.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in April 2014. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".

Revisions to IoS 

In line with our National Accounts Revisions Policy, this release provides data for October 2024 for the first time, with no other periods open for revisions.