Index of Services, UK: May 2024

• We estimate that monthly services output increased by 0.3% in May 2024, following an increase of 0.3% in April 2024 (upwardly revised 0.1 percentage points).

• The Index of Services (IoS) saw monthly increases in 8 of the 14 sectors in May 2024 with the largest contribution to monthly growth coming from "wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" (1.8%); the next largest increases were "professional, scientific and technical activities" (1.0%); and "accommodation and food services activities" (2.4%).

• This monthly rise in May 2024 was partially offset by a fall in "information and communication" (negative 1.4%).

• Services output is estimated to have grown by 1.1% in the three months to May 2024, when compared with the three months to February 2024; this is the strongest three-month on three-month IoS growth since December 2021 (1.6%).

• The IoS saw increases in 10 of the 14 sectors in the three months to May 2024, when compared with the three months to February 2024.

• The main positive contributing sectors in the three months to May 2024 were "professional, scientific and technical activities" (2.5%), and "administrative and support services activities" (3.2%).

All data related to the Index of Services are available on our Related data page.

Response rates for May 2024

The response rates for May 2024 were 71.7% based on forms returned. This accounted for 86.6% 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 (34.1%)     

• 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: May 2024 bulletin, published on 21 June 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 IoS methods and sources pages provide more information on the data that underpin these statistics; of particular note is the 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 QMI. 

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 our National Accounts revisions policy, this release provides data for May 2024 for the first time, with April 2024 also open for revision.

We have also included revisions to the monthly data from January to March 2024, as a result of revisions incorporated in our GDP quarterly National Accounts, UK: January to March 2024 bulletin, published on 28 June 2024.

Early estimates of GDP are subject to revision (positive and negative). Please see our Why GDP figures are revised article for more information.

Underlying data sources that form the IoS are open for revision each period. For instance, our Monthly Business Survey publishes revisions for the previously published 12 months.