Index of Services, UK: November 2023

• Services output growth for the three months to November 2023 was estimated to have been flat at 0.0% when compared with the three months to August 2023.

• The main positive contributing sectors over the three months to November 2023 were "education" (1.5%) and "human health and social work activities" (1.4%), with both sectors being affected by recent industrial action over recent months.

• The main negative contributing sectors over the three months to November 2023 period were "information and communication" (down 0.7%), "arts, entertainment and recreation" (down 3.1%), and "other services activities" (down 2.4%).

• We estimate that monthly services output has increased by 0.4% in November 2023; this follows a fall of 0.1% in October 2023 (upwardly revised by 0.1 percentage points).

• The Index of Services (IoS) saw monthly increases in 9 of the 14 sectors in November 2023; the largest contributing sectors to growth were "information and communication" (1.5%), "wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" (0.5%), and "professional, scientific and technical activities" (0.6%).

• This monthly rise in November 2023 was partially offset by falls in "financial and insurance activities" and "education", which both decreased 0.2%.

• For further and detailed analysis of the effect on our monthly IoS estimate, please see our GDP monthly estimate, UK: November 2023 bulletin, published 12 January 2024.

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

Response Rates for November 2023

For November 2023, the response rates were 70.1% based on forms returned and this accounted for 82.1% of total turnover coverage of the sample population. For further information, see our Current and historical Monthly Business Survey (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) Monthly Business Survey (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 Monthly Business Survey (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: November 2023 bulletin, published on 22 December 2023. 

For further information on what is included within Other, please see our GDP(o) data sources catalogue.     

The percentage of each data source is based on their gross value-added weight. The 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

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

Additional bank holiday in May 2023 for the Coronation of King Charles III

There was an additional bank holiday for the coronation of King Charles III on Monday 8 May 2023. While adjustments are made for regular calendar effects, there was no explicit adjustment for this event. However, the timing of the bank holiday indirectly affects the number of trading days, which could affect GDP estimates positively or negatively, depending on the sector. This should be considered when interpreting monthly and three-month movements over recent months since May 2023.  

Revisions to IoS

In line with the National Accounts revision policy, this release gives data for November 2023, with October 2023 also open for revision.

We have also included revisions to monthly data from January 2022 to September 2023 as a result of revisions incorporated in the GDP quarterly national accounts, UK: July to September 2023 publication, released on 22 December 2023.

Updates to monthly GDP methods and data sources in Blue Book 2023

A number of changes have been made to the methods and data sources used in compiling monthly GDP and output approach to measuring GDP estimates as part of Blue Book 2023. 

For further information on the updates please see Section 10: Measuring the data of our GDP monthly estimate, UK: November 2023 bulletin.

Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) review of GDP

The 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 September 2023. 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 have already started work looking into the recommendations of this review and will set out plans more fully during January 2024.