Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 15 June 2023

• Less than a quarter (23%) of trading businesses reported their turnover was lower in May 2023 compared with the previous month, down from 26% in April 2023; in comparison, 16% reported their turnover was higher in May 2023.
• When asked in early June 2023, nearly 1 in 5 (19%) trading businesses reported they expect their turnover to increase in July 2023, down from 21% of businesses that had these expectations for June 2023.
• 3 in 10 (30%) trading businesses reported an increase in the prices of goods or services bought in May 2023 compared with the previous calendar month; however, this is down 5 percentage points from April 2023 and has been slowly falling from the 48% reported in September 2022.
• When looking ahead to July 2023, 17% of trading businesses expect to raise the prices of goods or services they sell, stable compared with expectations reported for June 2023; more than a quarter (27%) of these businesses reported energy prices as a reason for considering these increases.
• More than 4 in 10 (41%) trading businesses reported that they had absorbed costs because of the increase in general prices in early June 2023, whereas 25% reported they had passed the increases onto their customers.
• More than a quarter (27%) of businesses with 10 or more employees reported they experienced difficulties recruiting employees in May 2023, unchanged from April 2023, but down from 30% in March 2023.

The data presented in this bulletin are the final results from Wave 84 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS), which was live from 30 May to 11 June 2023.

The data reported within BICS bulletins and datasets are estimates that are subject to uncertainty, for example, sampling variability and non-sampling error. Further information on quality is available in our Business insights and conditions Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) and we regularly update confidence intervals associated with the survey questions.

Experimental single-site weighted regional estimates up to Wave 74 are available in our Business insights and impact on the UK subnational single-site economy: February 2023 article.

Figure 1: Headline figures from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey

Notes:

1. For presentational purposes, some response options have been combined and/or excluded.
2. Prices: for presentational purposes, the data show an increase to prices bought and sold compared with the previous calendar month.
3. Data are plotted in the middle of each wave.

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The percentage of businesses that reported they were trading in early June 2023 was 95%, with 86% fully trading and 8% partially trading (for example, trading with reduced hours or staff numbers). Meanwhile, 4% of businesses reported "temporarily paused trading" and 2% "permanently ceased trading" as their business's trading status.

Access to microdata

You can access the microdata for Waves 1 to 83 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) through the Secure Research Service (SRS). The BICS microdata for each wave are released on a rolling basis in the week following the publication of each wave. The microdata are made confidential and do not disclose information on any specific business.

Only researchers accredited under the Digital Economy Act, as explained on the UK Statistics Authority website are able to access data in the SRS. You can apply for accreditation through the Research Accreditation Service (RAS). You need to have relevant academic or work experience and must successfully attend and complete the assessed Safe Researcher Training.

To conduct analysis with microdata from the SRS, a project application must be submitted to the Research Accreditation Panel (RAP), as explained on the UK Statistics Authority website. To access the SRS, you must also work for an organisation with an Assured Organisational Connectivity agreement in place.

Reporting unit

The business unit to which questionnaires are sent is called the reporting unit. The response from the reporting unit can cover the enterprise as a whole or parts of the enterprise identified by lists of local units.

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) QMI, updated on 24 January 2022.

The BICS is voluntary, and the results are experimental. More information is available in our Guide to experimental statistics.

The results are based on responses from the voluntary fortnightly BICS, which captures businesses' views on financial performance, workforce, prices, trade and business resilience. The Wave 84 survey was live for the period 30 May to 11 June 2023. The BICS survey questions are available.

Coverage

The Monthly Business Survey (MBS) covers the UK for production and Great Britain (GB) only for services. The Retail Sales Index (RSI) and construction are GB-focused. Therefore, the BICS will be UK-focused for production-based industries but GB-focused for the other elements of the economy covered. The industries covered are:

• non-financial services (includes professional, scientific, communication, administrative, transport, accommodation and food, private health and education, and entertainment services)
• distribution (includes retail, wholesale, and motor trades)
• production (includes manufacturing, oil and gas extraction, energy generation and supply, and water and waste management)
• construction (includes civil engineering, housebuilding, property development and specialised construction trades such as plumbers, electricians, and plasterers)

The following industries are excluded from the survey:

• agriculture
• public administration and defence
• public provision of education and health
• finance and insurance

For more information on the methodology of producing the BICS, such as weighting, please see our BICS QMI report.

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) QMI.