Consumer trends, UK: April to June 2021

• In Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2021, household spending (adjusted for inflation) growth was positive 7.2% compared with Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2021; when compared with Quarter 2 2020 household spending increased by positive 20.7%.

• When compared with Quarter 1 2021 the largest positive contribution to growth was from restaurants and hotels, which increased by positive 60.9%; when compared with Quarter 2 2020 spending on restaurants and hotels increased by positive 317.6%.

The quarterly consumer trends data are typically published around 90 days after the end of the quarter. 

This release contains data that are consistent with the UK National Accounts, The Blue Book: 2021, which will be released on 29 October 2021. As such, data for all periods within this release are subject to revision in line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy.

The Blue Book is the UK's annual compendium of national accounts data and incorporates several improvements to methods and sources into the UK's National Accounts. Details of improvements introduced in Blue Book 2021 which impact household expenditure and revisions to the previous publication can be found in the User guide to consumer trends.

The reference year and last base year for all chained volume measure estimates is now 2019.

Further information on latest developments and changes implemented in Blue Book 2021 can be found in the article Proposed changes to be implemented in Blue Book and Pink Book 2021.

Household final consumption expenditure (HHFCE) includes spending on goods and services except for:

• buying or extending a house

• investing in valuables (for example, paintings and antiques)

• purchasing second-hand goods

Explanations for these exceptions and the related concepts are available in Consumer trends guidance and methodology.

Quality

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in the Consumer trends QMI.

Household final consumption expenditure revisions and changes

In common with all components of UK gross domestic product (GDP), HHFCE estimates are subject to the revisions policy of the UK National Accounts. This allows revisions to estimates to be made at particular times of the year.

In Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2021, the revisions to total HHFCE have been made in line with the revisions policy for Blue Book 2021. Revisions between the previous edition of Consumer trends (Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2021) and the latest HHFCE estimates are summarised in Table 1. The revisions reflect methodological changes in the compilation of estimates, updated data from suppliers, as well as adjustments to HHFCE as a result of the GDP balancing process. An article showing indicative impacts of Blue Book 2021 changes on current price and chained volume measure estimates of GDP was published on 28 June 2021.

Impact of the coronavirus (COVID 19)

From Quarter 1 2020, estimates of HHFCE, along with other components of GDP, are subject to more uncertainty than usual. This is because of the challenges we faced in collecting the data under government-imposed public health restrictions. In the case of HHFCE, these challenges have been compounded by the suspension of data collection for the International Passenger Survey (IPS) between 16 March 2020 and mid-January 2021 and the temporary suspension of the Living Costs and Food survey (LCF) between 16 March and 14 April 2020.