Index of Production, UK: November 2024

• Monthly production output was estimated to have decreased by 0.4% in November 2024; this is the third consecutive monthly fall after decreases of 0.3% and 0.6% in September 2024 and October 2024, respectively.  

• Monthly production output in November 2024 was at its lowest level since May 2020. 

• The fall in monthly output in November 2024 resulted from decreases in "manufacturing" (down 0.3%), "mining and quarrying" (down 1.5%) and "water supply and sewerage" (down 0.3%); these reductions were partially offset by an increase in "electricity and gas" (0.2%). 

• The monthly decrease in manufacturing output in November 2024 saw decreases in 7 of its 13 sub-sectors; the largest negative contributions to manufacturing output in November 2024 came from "other manufacturing and repair" (down 2.1%), "basic pharmaceutical products" (down 1.9%) and "transport equipment" (down 0.9%). 

• Production output for the three months to November 2024 was estimated to have decreased by 0.7% compared with the three months to August 2024; this is the seventh consecutive three-monthly fall since the three months to April 2024. 

• In the three months to November 2024, "manufacturing" (down 1.0%) was the main contributor to the fall: this was partially offset by increases in "electricity and gas" (0.5%) and "mining and quarrying" (0.3%).

The Index of Production (IoP) uses data from a variety of sources. It is calculated by taking turnover and removing the effect of price changes, or by using direct volume estimates.  

Most of these data are collected as "turnover values" through the Monthly Business Survey (MBS). In addition, direct volume series are collected by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the International Steel Statistics Bureau (ISSB) for steel industries.

The MBS is fully online. Business owners can log on from any location and submit their data at an appropriate time.

From January 2018, Value Added Tax (VAT) data have also been included across 64 production industries for small- and medium-sized businesses. More information is available in our VAT turnover data in National Accounts: background and methodology article.

A comprehensive list of the IoP source data can be found in our Gross domestic product (GDP) data sources catalogue.

Response rates for November 2024

For November 2024, MBS response rates were 73.4%, based on forms returned. This accounted for 83.4% of total turnover coverage of the sample population. For further information, see our current and historical MBS (production) response rates dataset.

Quality and methodology  

The data reported in IoP bulletins and datasets are estimates that are subject to uncertainty, such as sampling variability and non-sampling error. More information is available in Section 2 of our Uncertainty and how we measure it for our surveys web page.  

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Index of Production, UK QMI. This was last updated on 7 June 2024.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in April 2014. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".

Revisions to Index of Production

In line with the  National Accounts Revision Policy, this release gives data for November 2024, with October 2024 also open for revision.

We have also included revisions to the monthly data from January 2023 to September 2024 as a result of revisions incorporated in the GDP quarterly National Accounts, UK: July to September 2024 bulletin published on 23 December 2024.