Index of Services, UK: January 2024

• Services output growth is estimated in the three months to January 2024 to be flat (0.0%), when compared with the three months to October 2023.

• The main positive contributing sectors in the three months to January 2024 were "professional, scientific and technical activities" (0.8%) and "arts, entertainment and recreation" (3.6%).

• The main negative contributing sectors in the three months to January 2024 were "education" (down 1.7%) and "wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" (down 0.4%).

• We estimate that monthly services output increased by 0.2% in January 2024, following a decrease of 0.1% in December 2023.

• The Index of Services (IoS) saw monthly increases in 9 of the 14 sectors in January 2024, with "wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" (1.9%) the main positive contributor.

• This monthly rise in January 2024 was partially offset by falls in "professional, scientific and technical activities" (down 0.9%) and "information and communication" (down 0.7%).

• For further and detailed analysis of our monthly IoS estimate, please see our Gross domestic product (GDP) monthly estimate, UK: January 2024 bulletin, published 13 March 2024.

Response rates for January 2024

For January 2024, the response rates were 70.7% based on forms returned, and this accounted for 85.3% 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):

• Office for National Statistics (ONS) MBS (34.1%)     

• ONS Retail Sales Inquiry (4.9%)     

• ONS Government Expenditure (14.8%)     

• ONS Households' Expenditure (11.5%)     

• ONS Finance Expenditure (5.7%)     

• ONS Households and non--profit institutions serving households (1.9%) 

• other (4.4%)

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: January 2024 bulletin, published on 16 February 2024.

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 GDP(o) methods and sources pages provide more information on the data that underpin these statistics; of particular note is the GDP(o) data sources catalogue.

From February 2018, value added tax (VAT) data have also been included across 64 production industries for small- and medium-sized businesses. 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 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 QMI.

Revisions to IoS

In line with the National Accounts Revision Policy, there are no revisions to the Index of Services, with January 2024 open for publication for the first time.

It is important to note that early estimates of GDP are subject to revision (positive and negative). Please see our Why GDP figures are revised article for more information.

Please note that underlying data sources that form the Index of Services are open for revision each period. For instance, our Monthly Business Survey publishes revisions to the previously published 12 months.

Office for Statistics Regulation review of GDP

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) completed a review of the practices around the preparation and release of information about revisions to estimates of GDP in our Impact of Blue Book 2023 article, released on 1 September2023. This covers:

• processes and quality assurance in making revisions to GDP

• potential improvements to early estimates of GDP enabled through enhanced access to data

• communication of revisions to GDP and the story behind the most recent set of revisions, particularly uncertainty in early estimates of GDP

We published a response to the OSR review into GDP in January 2024, which was positively received by the OSR.