Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 14 August 2025

• The seasonally adjusted Direct Debit failure rate increased by 3% in July 2025, compared with June 2025, with the average transaction amount increasing by 1% in the same period; both values also increased when compared with July 2024, by 7% and 4%, respectively (Vocalink and Pay.UK).
• The total Revolut debit card expenditure decreased by 4% in the week to 10 August 2025, compared with the previous week, but increased by 11% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024 (Revolut).
• Overall retail footfall decreased by 2% in the week to 10 August 2025, compared with the previous week, but remained 3% higher than the equivalent week of 2024; all three site types saw a week-on-week decrease, high streets and shopping centres fell by 2% and retail parks decreased by 1% (MRI OnLocation).
• The total number of ship visits to major UK ports remained broadly unchanged in the week to 10 August 2025, compared with the previous week, but decreased by 9% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024 (exactEarth).
• The seasonally adjusted number of daily UK flights remained broadly unchanged in the week to 10 August 2025, compared with the previous week, but increased by 2% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024 (EUROCONTROL).
• The System Average Price (SAP) of gas decreased by 4% in the week to 10 August 2025, compared with the previous week, and the System Price of electricity decreased by 27% over the same period (National Gas Transmission, Elexon).
• The total number of Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPCs) lodged for new dwellings across England and Wales decreased by 12% in the week to 10 August 2025, compared with the previous week, and was 16% lower when compared with the equivalent week of 2024 (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government).

Notes:

1. Card spending over time increased because of 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.
4. Existing weekly EPC data can show sudden spikes when housing associations lodge multiple expired EPCs at once.

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

• Revolut spending on debit cards dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• Automotive fuel spending dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• Company incorporations, voluntary dissolutions and compulsory dissolutions dataset; updated 30 January 2025.
• Advanced notification of potential redundancies dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• System Average price of gas dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• System Price of electricity dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPC) dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• Weekly shipping indicators dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• Daily UK flights dataset; updated 14 August 2025.

Monthly data release

• Monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount dataset; updated 14 August 2025.
• Textkernel new online job adverts dataset; updated 24 July 2025.
• Value Added Tax (VAT) flash estimates dataset; updated 17 July 2025.
• Renter affordability for new tenancies dataset; updated 7 August 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.