UK services output rose 0.2% in September after August was revised to a 0.1% fall from the 0.0% first published, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday.
July’s 0.5% rise is unchanged from the earlier estimate. The September reading therefore follows a month of contraction rather than the stagnation reported on 15 October.
Over the third quarter as a whole, services output grew 0.9% on the second quarter, after growth of 0.6% in the second quarter and 0.7% in the first. Services account for around 79% of UK gross domestic product (GDP).
Real estate activities rose 0.4% and transportation and storage rose 1.4% in September, the largest positive contributions on the month.
Professional, scientific and technical activities fell 0.7% and information and communication fell 0.6%, the largest negative contributions.
Nine of the 14 sectors grew in the month, three fell and two recorded no growth.
The monthly picture differed from the quarterly one for the same two sectors. Information and communication rose 2.1% over the quarter and professional, scientific and technical activities rose 1.6%.
Administrative, support and service activities led the quarter with a rise of 4.1%. Eleven of the 14 sectors grew over the three months.
Three sectors fell in the quarter, with education and accommodation and food each down 0.5%.
The ONS said total GDP grew 0.7% in the third quarter, after 0.5% in the second, leaving the economy 1.9% larger than a year earlier. Growth was mainly caused by services, in particular “business-facing services”.
Production output rose 0.1% in the quarter, while construction fell 0.7%.
The earlier August bulletin put services growth in the three months to August at 0.9%, the same rate now reported for the third quarter. That bulletin showed August monthly output flat after rises of 0.5% in both June and July.
In that earlier estimate, administrative and support service activities fell 1.7% in August and accommodation and food service activities fell 2.1%. Wholesale and retail trade rose 2.0% in the month.
The September bulletin includes revisions to July and August as well as the first estimate for September. The ONS said the estimates are subject to sampling variability and non-sampling error.
The response rate for September was 71.0%, covering 87.0% of turnover in the sample population. For August the response rate was 73.8%, covering 88.7% of turnover.
Monthly Business Survey data make up 36.0% of the index by gross value added (GVA) weight. Government expenditure accounts for 15.9%, households’ expenditure for 12.2% and finance expenditure for 7.3%.
The ONS has said that businesses sometimes submit quarterly or annual figures, which it smooths to produce a monthly path. It steers users towards three-month and annual growth rates for that reason.
The series has been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation and carries accredited official statistics status. The ONS found no statistically significant residual seasonality in the aggregate estimates from January 1997 to September 2026.
The next Index of Services release is due on 11 December, with the next GDP release on 22 December.
