Index of Services, UK: September 2024

• We estimate that in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2024, services output increased by 0.1%, when compared with Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2024; this follows quarterly growth of 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively, in the first two quarters of 2024.

• The main positive contributing sectors in Quarter 3 2024 were "professional, scientific and technical activities" (0.7%) and "wholesale and retail trade" (0.6%).

• These increases in Quarter 3 2024 were partially offset by negative contributions of a similar size in several other sectors; these were led by decreases in "other service activities" (down 1.6%) and "financial and insurance activities" (down 0.3%).

• We estimate that services output remained flat (0.0%) in September 2024; this follows 0.1% increases in both July and August 2024 (both months are unrevised).

• There were monthly increases in 7 of the 14 sectors in September 2024, with the largest positive contribution coming from "professional, scientific and technical activities" (0.5%).

• There were decreases in six sectors (one saw no growth) in September 2024, with "information and communication" (which was down 2.0%) the only sector seeing a fall greater than 0.8%.

Response rates for September 2024

The response rates for September 2024 were 70.0% based on forms returned. This accounted for 85.3% 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: September 2024 bulletin, published on 18 October 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 QMI.

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 September 2024 for the first time, with July 2024 and August 2024 also open for revision.