Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators & Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 6 February 2025

The ONS has today published its latest set of weekly experimental ‘real-time indicators’ and detailed fortnightly results from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) showing the impact of challenges facing the economy and other events on UK businesses.

Real-time indicators main points

• SPENDING – Total Revolut debit card spending increased by 9% in the week to 2 February 2025 when compared with the equivalent week of 2024; the 18 to 34 years age group saw the largest average spend increase over this period of 13%, whilst the 55 years and over saw no spending change.
• ENERGY – The System Average Price (SAP) of gas increased by 10% in January 2025 when compared with the previous month and increased by 64% when compared with the equivalent month of 2024; the System Price of electricity increased by 44% in January 2025 when compared with the previous month and increased by 69% when compared with the equivalent month of 2024, according to data from the National Gas Transmission and Elexon.
• TRANSPORT – exactEarth data show the number of ship visits to major UK ports in the week to 2 February 2025 increased by 5% compared with the previous week but decreased by 10% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024; over the same period, the average number of daily UK flights increased by 5% compared with the previous week and increased by 2% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024, according to EUROCONTROL.

Read our real-time indicators release

The data presented below are the final results from Wave 125 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS), which was live from 20 January to 2 February 2025.

Main points

• EXPORTS – In late January 2025, 21% of businesses with 10 or more employees reported that they had exported goods, services, or both in the last 12 months; of these businesses, 18% reported they have exported more in December 2024 compared with December 2023, while 24% exported less.  Around 3 in 10 (29%) exporting businesses with 10 or more employees reported that the costs of exporting in December 2024 were higher than in December 2023; this is broadly stable with September 2024 (30%).
• IMPORTS – In late January 2025, 27% of businesses with 10 or more employees reported that they had imported goods, services, or both in the last 12 months; of these businesses,14% reported they have imported more in December 2024 compared with December 2023, while 18% imported less. Approximately a third (33%) of importing businesses with 10 or more employees reported that the cost of importing had increased in December 2024 compared with December 2023; although this proportion is broadly stable with September 2024 (34%), it has fallen steadily since early March 2022 (70%).
• TRADE – In December 2024, 31% of businesses with 10 or more employees reported that they were able to get the materials, goods, or services they needed from the EU; in contrast, 2% reported they were not able to, which has been broadly stable since March 2023.