Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 6 March 2025

• In the week to 2 March 2025, total Revolut debit card spending increased by 9% compared with the previous week and increased by 5% when compared with the equivalent week of 2024; the biggest rises in spending in the latest week were in the services sector (35%) and the utilities sector (16%), while the biggest falls were in the entertainment and restaurant sectors, where spending decreased by 4% (Revolut).

• In the week to 2 March 2025, overall retail footfall was broadly unchanged when compared with the previous week but was 4% higher than the equivalent week of 2024; high street footfall was broadly unchanged when compared with the previous week, whereas retail park footfall increased by 3% and shopping centre footfall decreased by 4% (MRI OnLocation).

• The System Average Price (SAP) of gas in February 2025 increased by 1% when compared with the previous month and by 98% when compared with the equivalent month of 2024; the System Price of electricity decreased by 16% when compared with the previous month but increased by 76% when compared with the equivalent month of 2024 (National Gas Transmission, Elexon).

• In the week to 2 March 2025, the seasonally adjusted number of daily UK flights decreased by 4% compared with the previous week (EUROCONTROL).

• In the week to 2 March 2025, the number of ship visits to major UK ports increased by 4% compared with the previous week and increased by 1% when compared with the equivalent period of 2024 (exactEarth).

• In the week to 2 March 2025, the total number of Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPCs) decreased by 28% for new dwellings when compared with the equivalent week of 2024; for existing dwellings, it increased by 31% over the same period (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government).

• The number of firms reporting an increase in turnover in January 2025, when compared with the previous month, was broadly equal to the number of firms reporting a decrease; this was an increase of 1 percentage point from December 2024 and within normal month-on-month variation (HM Revenue and Customs Value Added Tax returns).

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 datasets are available in this section. Please note that there may be changes to the intended release frequency for different 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 6 March 2025.

• Automotive fuel spending dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

• Company incorporations, voluntary dissolutions and compulsory dissolutions dataset; updated 30 January 2024.

• Advanced notification of potential redundancies dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

• System Average price of gas dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

• System Price of electricity dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

• Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPC) dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

• Weekly shipping indicators dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

• Daily UK flights dataset; updated 6 March 2025.

Monthly data release

• Monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount dataset; updated 20 February 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 6 February 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.