Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 18 June 2026

• A quarter (25%) of trading businesses reported that their turnover had decreased in May 2026 when compared with the previous month, this is 2 percentage points down from April 2026; 21% of businesses with 10 or more employees reported that their turnover had increased, broadly stable with April, but down 4 percentage points (25%) from a year ago in May 2025.

• Economic uncertainty (33%) remained the most reported challenge affecting turnover for trading businesses in June, broadly stable with early May; for businesses with 10 or more employees, cost of labour (38%) was the most reported challenge, also broadly stable with May.

• 37% of trading businesses reported an increase in prices of goods and services bought in May, down 4 percentage points from April (40%), but 7 percentage points up from February (29%); 13% reported an increase in the prices of goods or services sold, down 3 percentage points from April but broadly stable with February.

• Almost one in five (19%) trading businesses expect the prices of goods and services that they sell to increase in July 2026, this is broadly stable with expectations for June 2026; 27% of businesses reported they were considering raising their prices because of energy prices, an increase of 11 percentage points compared with July 2025.

• Almost two-thirds (63%) of businesses expressed some degree of concern regarding energy prices in early June, broadly stable with late May; 65% of businesses reported some degree of concern about fuel prices in early June, down 3 percentage points from late May (68%).

• 5% of trading businesses reported that they experienced global supply chain disruption in May, broadly stable with April but down 4 percentage points from the recent peak in March (9%); of these businesses, 50% cited the conflict in the Middle East as a reason for the disruption.

The data presented in this bulletin are the final results from Wave 158 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS), which was live from 1 to 14 June 2026.

This wave of the survey asked businesses questions about:

• turnover, including expectations for next month and current challenges affecting turnover
• prices of goods and services bought and sold, including expectations for next month
• energy (gas and electricity), and fuel prices
• global supply chain disruption
• worker shortages and recruitment difficulties
• business concerns
• business performance, including expectations for next year

Full details of the survey questions used are available in our Business Insights and Conditions Survey questions: 1 to 14 June 2026 article.

Data reported in 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 BICS Quality and methodology information (QMI), and we regularly update confidence intervals associated with the survey questions.

Single-site weighted regional estimates up to Wave 154 are available in our Business insights and impact on the UK subnational single-site economy: May 2026 article.

The percentage of businesses that reported they were trading in early June 2026 was 94%, with 83% fully trading, and 11% partially trading (for example, trading with reduced hours or staff numbers). Meanwhile, 3% of businesses reported "temporarily paused trading", and 3% reported "permanently ceased trading" as their business's trading status.

Turnover

Trading businesses were asked how their turnover in May 2026 compared with April 2026, excluding any seasonal trading.

A quarter (25%) of trading businesses reported that their turnover had decreased in May when compared to the previous month. This figure is 2 percentage points down from April. For businesses with 10 or more employees, the proportion was 27%, broadly stable with April.

16% of trading businesses reported an increase in turnover in May, broadly stable with April (14%). In comparison, 21% of businesses with 10 or more employees reported that their turnover had increased compared with the previous month; this is broadly stable with April but down 4 percentage points from May 2025 (25%).

The accommodation and food service activities industry had the highest proportion of businesses reporting that their turnover had increased in May (22%), increasing 12 percentage points from April (10%). Conversely, the education industry had the highest proportion of businesses reporting that their turnover had decreased in May (32%), up 10 percentage points from April (22%).

Turnover expectations

Trading businesses were asked about their expectations for their turnover in July 2026.

Around 1 in 7 (14%) trading businesses reported that they expect their turnover to decrease in July, broadly stable with expectations for June (14%). Moreover, 14% of trading businesses expect their turnover to increase in July, this broadly stable with the proportion expecting an increase in June (16%).

When asked in April, 16% of businesses reported that they expected their turnover to decrease in May. However, when asked in June, 25% of businesses reported an actual decrease in turnover in May. This follows a pattern that has been observed since the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) was introduced, where the proportion expecting turnover to decrease is below the proportion later reporting an actual decrease.

Turnover challenges

Trading businesses were asked what challenges, if any, were affecting their turnover in early June 2026.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of trading businesses reported experiencing at least one challenge that affected their turnover during June. This figure is up 2 percentage points from May (62%). 28% of businesses reported that they did not experience any challenges, broadly stable with May.

Economic uncertainty (33%) remained the most reported challenge affecting turnover for trading businesses in June, broadly stable with May 2026. However, this is up 6 percentage points from June 2025 and 12 percentage points from June 2024.

For businesses with 10 or more employees, cost of labour (38%) was the most reported challenge, broadly stable with May.

The accommodation and food service activities industry had the highest proportion of businesses reporting experiencing at least one challenge affecting turnover (83%). The most reported challenges facing this industry were:

• cost of materials (48%),
• cost of labour (48%),
• economic uncertainty (43%).

Further details on financial performance, including all response options broken down by industry and size band, are available in our accompanying dataset.

Prices bought and prices sold

Businesses were asked how the prices of goods or services they bought and sold in May 2026 compared with the previous month.

Nearly 2 in 5 (37%) trading businesses reported an increase in the prices of goods and services bought in May. Although this has fallen 4 percentage points from April (40%), the proportion is up 7 percentage points from February (29%) and (aside from March and April 2026) is the highest proportion since March 2023.

For businesses with 10 or more employees, 40% reported that the prices of goods and services bought increased in May. This is down 9 percentage points from April 2026 (49%) but, aside from March and April 2026, is the highest proportion reported since April 2025 (41%).

Around 1 in 8 (13%) trading businesses reported an increase in the prices of goods or services sold in May. While this is down 3 percentage points from April 2026, it is up 3 percentage points from May 2025. Of businesses with 10 or more employees, 17% reported that prices increased, down 7 percentage points from April.

The accommodation and food service activities industry had the highest proportion of businesses reporting that the prices of goods or services sold had increased (27%). Additionally, the construction industry had the highest proportion of businesses reporting that the prices of goods and services bought had increased (53%).

Price expectations

Businesses were asked what their expectations were for their prices of goods or services to be sold in July 2026.

Around 1 in 5 (19%) trading businesses expect the prices of goods and services that they sell to increase in July, broadly stable with expectations for June.

Since April 2022, the proportion of businesses expecting the prices of goods and services they sell to increase the following month has remained above the proportion reporting an actual increase in that month in later surveys.

The industries with the highest proportion of trading businesses expecting to raise the prices of goods or services they sell in July were: 

• the accommodation and food service activities industry (35%)
• the construction industry (28%)
• the wholesale and retail industry (24%)

Price-raising factors

Businesses were asked which factors, if any, were causing their business to consider raising prices in July 2026.

Over a quarter (27%) of trading businesses cited energy prices as a factor for considering raising prices in July 2026. This is broadly stable with June 2026 (28%) but up 11 percentage points from July 2025 (16%).

The other most reported factors were:

• labour costs (22%), down 2 percentage points from June
• raw materials prices (21%), broadly stable with June
• transportation or haulage costs (19%), down 2 percentage points from June

In comparison, 43% of trading businesses reported they were not considering raising prices in July.

For trading businesses with 10 or more employees, the most reported factors were:

• labour costs (40%), down 3 percentage points from June
• energy prices (35%), broadly stable with June
• raw materials prices (26%), broadly stable with June

The proportion of businesses with 10 or more employees not considering raising prices in July was 32%.

Further details on prices, including all response options broken down by industry and size band, are available in our accompanying dataset.

Almost two-thirds (63%) of trading businesses expressed some degree of concern regarding energy prices in early June 2026, broadly stable with late May. The other services industry had the highest proportion of businesses reporting concern about energy prices (91%).

Additionally, 72% of businesses with 10 or more employees reported some degree of concern. This is broadly stable with late May.

6% of businesses reported that energy prices will be the main concern for their business in July 2026.

Similarly, 65% of trading businesses reported some degree of concern about fuel prices in early June, down 3 percentage points from late May (68%).

Around 1 in 20 (5%) trading businesses reported that they had experienced global supply chain disruption in May. While broadly stable with April, this is down 4 percentage points from the recent peak in March (9%) but up 2 percentage points from January (3%).

Of those businesses that experienced global supply chain disruption, conflict in the Middle East (50%) was the most reported reason for the disruption.

Access to microdata 

You can access the microdata for Waves 1 to 157 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 researcher accreditation using the People and Projects Service (PPS). For more information, please see the guidance on the Integrated Data Service (IDS) website. 

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. Project accreditation applications should be submitted using the Project Accreditation Service for SRS (PASS). For more information, please see our guidance on applying for an accredited research project. 

To use the SRS, you must access it through the appropriate safe setting. For more information on the full range of safe setting options, please see our guidance on accessing data securely. 

Making our published spreadsheets accessible 

Following the Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance on releasing statistics in spreadsheets, we will be amending our published tables over the next couple of publications to improve the usability, accessibility and machine readability of our published statistics. Please email bics@ons.gov.uk if you have any questions or comments.

Reporting unit

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

Private sector businesses

The Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) is a survey of private sector businesses, meaning that the public sector is not sampled. Some businesses are also excluded; please see the Coverage section of this bulletin for more information.

Trading businesses  

Trading businesses refers to businesses that responded that their trading status was “currently fully trading” or “currently partially trading” only.

If a statistic is not specified as referring to “trading businesses”, they refer to businesses that have “not permanently stopped trading”. This includes trading businesses and those that said their trading status was “paused trading and intends to restart in the next two weeks” or “paused trading and does not intend to restart within the next two weeks”.

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, which was updated on 10 October 2024.

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

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 158 survey was live for the period 1 to 14 June 2026. For full details of the survey questions used, see our Business Insights and Conditions Survey questions: 1 to 14 June 2026 article.

Coverage

The BICS sampling frame is based on the same industries as our Monthly Business Survey (MBS). The MBS covers the UK for production industries only, and Great Britain for construction, retail and services industries. The MBS is an important input to the output measure of gross domestic product (GDP), which includes monthly GDP.

For detailed information on the industries covered by the MBS and BICS, see our GDP(o) data sources catalogue. The following are some industries that are excluded from MBS and BICS:

• agriculture
• oil and gas extraction
• energy generation and supply
• 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 Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) QMI report.

Strengths and limitations

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.