Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 13 March 2025

• In the week to 9 March 2025, overall retail footfall remained broadly unchanged when compared with the previous week but was 1% higher when compared with the equivalent week of 2024; high street footfall increased by 3% when compared with the previous week, while retail park and shopping centre footfall decreased by 2% and 3%, respectively (MRI OnLocation).

• During the month of February 2025, when compared with the previous month, the seasonally adjusted Direct Debit failure rate increased by 2% and the average transaction amount increased by 1% (Vocalink, Pay.UK).

• Total Revolut debit card spending for February 2025 decreased by 6% when compared with the previous month, with notable declines in the services sector (22%), shopping sector (7%), utilities sector (5%), and health sector (5%); when compared with February 2024, total debit card spending increased by 2% (Revolut).

• In our latest Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) most people reported that during February 2025, their cost of living had increased (59%) or stayed the same (39%) when compared with January 2025; only 2% of people reported a decrease in their cost of living (initial findings for February 2025 from our OPN, publishing on 21 March 2025).

• Of businesses currently trading, most reported that turnover in February 2025 stayed the same (51%) or decreased (26%) when compared with the previous month; only 14% of businesses reported that turnover increased, while 9% of businesses were unsure (initial weighted results from Wave 128 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey).

• The System Average Price (SAP) of gas decreased by 8% to 3.392 pence per kilowatt hour (p/kWh) in the week to 9 March 2025 when compared with the previous week, while the System Price of electricity decreased by 6% to 8.577 p/kWh; when compared with the equivalent week of 2024, the SAP of gas and System Price of electricity increased by 44% and 25%, respectively (Elexon, National Gas Transmission).

• In the week to 9 March 2025, the number of ship visits to major UK ports was broadly unchanged compared with the previous week; when compared with the equivalent week of 2024, ship visits to major UK ports increased by 3% (exactEarth).

• In the week to 9 March 2025, the seasonally adjusted number of daily UK flights increased by 1% when compared with the previous week; when compared with the equivalent week of 2024, the number of daily flights also increased by 1% (EUROCONTROL).

Notes:

1. Card spending over time is pushed upwards by the impacts of both inflation on value of transactions and cash-to-card conversion.
2. Revolut adjustments to user count are at an aggregate level and as such age bands may not adjust evenly.
3. Indicators with SA in the title have been seasonally adjusted.

Real-time indicator

A real-time indicator provides insights into economic activity using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys or experimental estimates, which represent useful economic and social concepts.

Seasonal adjustment

Seasonal adjustment is the identification and removal of consistent and systematic variation in time series associated with the time of year. For more information on seasonal variation, and how we implement seasonal adjustment, see Section 2 of our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology article.

Official statistics in development

These statistics are labelled as official statistics in development. Until September 2023, these were called "experimental statistics". Read more about the change in our Guide to official statistics in development.

We are developing how we collect and produce the data to improve the quality of these statistics. Find out more in our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology article.

Once the developments are complete, we will review the statistics with the Statistics Head of Profession. We will decide if the statistics are of sufficient quality and value to be published as official statistics, or if further development is needed. Production may be stopped if they are not of sufficient quality or value. Users will be informed of the outcome and any changes.

We value your feedback on these statistics. If you would like to get in touch, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Dataset release dates and intended release frequency

Latest release dates and intended release frequency of our associated datasets are available in this section. Please note that there may be some change to the intended release frequency for a variety of reasons, such as data availability. If you would like further information about any of these datasets, or previous release dates, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Weekly data release

• UK credit and debit card payments; updated 5 December 2024.

• Revolut spending on debit cards dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• Automotive fuel spending dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• Company incorporations, voluntary dissolutions and compulsory dissolutions dataset; updated 30 January 2025.

• Advanced notification of potential redundancies dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• System Average Price (SAP) of gas dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• System Price of electricity dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPC) dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• Weekly shipping indicators dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• Daily UK flights dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

Monthly data release

• Monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

• Textkernel new online job adverts dataset; updated 20 February 2025.

• Value Added Tax (VAT) flash estimates dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

• Renter affordability for new tenancies dataset; updated 13 March 2025.

Quarterly data release

• Sales and jobs in small businesses dataset; updated 7 November 2024

Strengths and limitations

These statistics have been produced to provide timely indicators of the effect of developing world events on the UK economy and society. We use close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys, or official statistics in development.

The data presented in this bulletin are reviewed and refreshed on a regular basis. Indicators are swapped in and out of the publication based on their suitability and availability.

Seasonality

Seasonal fluctuations are likely to be present in many of these indicators, so caution must be applied when interpreting changes in series that are not seasonally adjusted.