Published:
Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 10 September 2026
ONS publishes another set of experimental “real-time indicators” for the UK, drawing on rapid response surveys and novel data sources across fuel spending, gas and electricity prices, housing and vehicle data, potential redundancies, and retail footfall.
The Office for National Statistics has released an updated set of experimental “economic activity and social change” real-time indicators for the UK. The publication is explicitly built from rapid response surveys, novel data sources and experimental methods, with the aim of giving an early read on developments that traditional economic releases may capture later.
Among the indicators published are weekly data on estimated automotive fuel demand per transaction, plus daily measures including the System Average Price of gas (Great Britain) and the System Price of electricity (Great Britain). On the household demand side, the release also includes housing-related information (including Rightmove housing market insights and Energy Performance Building Certificates activity) and weekly/monthly retail footfall by location category and UK region.
For labour-market context, the indicators include weekly data on potential redundancies based on Insolvency Service HR1 forms and counts of employers proposing redundancies. There are also transport and activity proxies such as UK new vehicle registrations/production data and weekly shipping indicators for ship visits to and from selected UK ports.
What to watch next is how these high-frequency proxies evolve in coming weeks, particularly any shifts in energy-price series, retail footfall, and redundancy signals, as they can affect market expectations for UK growth and inflation dynamics underlying GBP.
Why this matters for FX
These real-time indicators can help traders gauge near-term UK demand and cost pressures via high-frequency proxies: fuel spending, gas and electricity prices, housing market signals, retail footfall, and potential redundancies. They also provide early signals about labour-market stress and household spending conditions, which can feed into expectations for UK growth and inflation—key drivers for GBP.