Index of Services, UK: December 2024

• Services output for Quarter 4 (October to December) 2024 was estimated to have increased by 0.2% compared with Quarter 3 (July to September) 2024.

• In Quarter 4 2024, “human health and social work activities” (0.9%) and “professional, scientific and technical activities” (0.9%) provided the largest positive contributions; partially offset by “administrative and support service activities” (down 1.4%).

• Monthly services output was estimated to have increased by 0.4% in December 2024; this follows a decrease of 0.1% in October 2024 and an increase of 0.2% in November 2024.

• There were monthly increases in 11 of the 14 sectors in December 2024, with widespread small increases; the largest positive contribution came from “professional, scientific and technical activities” (1.2%).

• There were monthly decreases in three sectors in December 2024, with the largest negative contribution coming from “information and communication” (down 0.4%).

• Annual services output during 2024, rose by 1.3%, with strength shown across 10 of the 14 sectors most notably from, “professional, scientific and technical activities” (3.2%) and “human health and social work activities” (2.9%).

Response rates for December 2024

The response rates for December 2024 were 72.2% based on forms returned. This accounted for 86.5% of total turnover coverage of the sample population. For further information, see our Current and historical Monthly Business Survey (MBS) (services) response rates dataset.

Data sources and collection

The Index of Services (IoS) is compiled using data from several different sources (share of overall economy based on latest gross value added (GVA) weights). These include the:

• Office for National Statistics (ONS) MBS (34.9%)    
• ONS Retail Sales Inquiry (4.8%)    
• ONS Government Expenditure (15.3%)    
• ONS Households’ Expenditure (11.2%)    
• ONS Finance Expenditure (8.0%)    
• ONS Households and non-profit institutions serving households (1.9%)
• other (3.6%)

The MBS data are published alongside this release in our MBS turnover of services industries dataset.

Data relating to the retail industry are broadly comparable with our Retail sales, Great Britain: December 2024 bulletin, published on 17 January 2025.

For further information on what is included within “other”, please see our Gross domestic product (GDP(o)) data sources catalogue.

The percentage of each data source is based on their gross value added weight. Our IoS methods and sources pages provide more information on the data that underpin these statistics; of particular note is our GDP(o) data sources catalogue.

Value Added Tax (VAT) data are also included for small- and medium-sized businesses to help inform estimates. For more information, see our VAT turnover data in National Accounts: background and methodology.

Quality and methodology

The data reported in IoS bulletins and datasets are estimates that are subject to uncertainty, for example, sampling variability and non-sampling error. For more information on these, see Section 2 of our Uncertainty and how we measure it for our surveys methodology.

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Index of Services Quality and Methodology Information.

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 IoS

In line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy, this release gives data for December 2024 for the first time, with periods from January 2024 to November 2024 also open for revision.