Index Of Services UK - March 2024 - Up 0.7%

10th May 2024

We estimate that monthly services output increased by 0.5% in March 2024, following a revised increase of 0.3% (up 0.2 percentage points) in February 2024 and a revised increase of 0.4% (up 0.1 percentage points) in January 2024.

The Index of Services (IoS) saw monthly increases in 10 of the 14 sectors in March 2024, with the majority of monthly growth coming from the five largest contributing sectors: "human health and social activities" (1.1%), "administrative and support service activities" (1.6%), "wholesale and retail trade" (0.9%), "accommodation and food service activities" (2.7%), and "professional, scientific and technical activities" (0.9%).

This monthly rise in March 2024 was mainly offset by a fall in "arts, entertainment and recreation" (down 3.1%) and, to a lesser extent, "information and communication" (down 0.2%).

Services output for Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024 is estimated to have grown by 0.7% when compared with Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2023; this is the first positive quarterly services growth since Quarter 1 2023 (0.2%).

The Index of Services (IoS) saw increases in 11 of the 14 sectors in Quarter 1 2024, with the main positive contributing sectors being "transportation and storage" (3.7%) and "professional, scientific and technical activities" (1.3%).

Read the full ONS report HRE