Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 2 October 2025

Data on the UK economy and society. These faster indicators are created using rapid response surveys, novel data sources and innovative methods. These are official statistics in development.

Hwn yw'r datganiad diweddaraf. Gweld datganiadau blaenorol

Cyswllt:
Email Real Time Indicators team

Dyddiad y datganiad:
2 October 2025

Cyhoeddiad nesaf:
8 October 2025

1. Main points

  • Nearly a quarter (23%) of businesses reported that they are currently using some form of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in late September 2025, up 3 percentage points from June 2025; this proportion has been steadily increasing since the question was introduced in September 2023 (9%) (final results from Wave 141 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey).

  • The total number of ship visits to major UK ports increased by 2% in the week to 28 September 2025, compared with the previous week, but decreased by 5% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024 (exactEarth).

  • The seasonally adjusted number of Daily UK Flights increased by 1% in the week to 28 September 2025, compared with the previous week, and increased by 1% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024 (EUROCONTROL).

  • The System Price of electricity increased by 56% in the week to 28 September 2025, compared with the previous week from 5.603 pence per kilowatt hour (p/kWh) to 8.753 p/kWh, and increased by 13% compared with the equivalent week of last year (Elexon).

  • The System Average Price (SAP) of gas increased by 1% in the week to 28 September 2025, compared with the previous week from 2.722 p/kWh to 2.737 p/kWh, but decreased by 11% compared with the equivalent week of last year (National Gas Transmission).

  • The number of Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPCs) lodged for new dwellings in England and Wales decreased by 7% in the week to 28 September 2025, but increased by 4% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024 (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government).

!

These are official statistics in development, and we advise caution when using the data. The data sources used to compile these indicators are regularly reviewed to ensure they are representative and relevant, which may mean indicators change at short notice. Read more in Section 5: Data sources and quality.

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2. Latest indicators at a glance

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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.
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3. Data

System Average Price (SAP) of gas
Dataset | Released 2 October 2025
Daily data showing System Average Price (SAP) of gas, and rolling seven-day average, traded in Great Britain over the On-the-Day Commodity Market (OCM).
These are official statistics in development. Source: National Gas Transmission.

Weekly Shipping Indicators
Dataset | Released 2 October 2025
Weekly data showing ship visits to and from selected UK ports.
These are official statistics in development. Source: exactEarth.

Daily UK flights
Dataset | Released 2 October 2025
Daily data showing UK flight numbers and rolling seven-day average, including flights to, from, and within the UK.
These are official statistics in development. Source: EUROCONTROL.

This section lists a selection of data available in this publication. Please note that because of our data sharing agreement with MRI onLocation, we are unable to provide a dataset for our footfall metric. For the full list of available datasets, please see our accompanying dataset page.

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4. Glossary

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.

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5. Data sources and quality

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

Monthly data release

Quarterly data release

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.

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7. Cite this statistical bulletin

Office for National Statistics (ONS), published 2 October 2025, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 2 October 2025

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Manylion cyswllt ar gyfer y Bwletin ystadegol

Real Time Indicators team
realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk