The monthly GDP data from the ONS showed growth of +0.5% in February, following on from an upwardly revised figure of +0.1% in January. However, the 3-month rolling trend gives a smoother picture and this also shows growth of +0.5% in the 3 months to February. The single month growth rate is the strongest for the UK economy since June 2023 and is driven by the services sector.
We will focus on the rolling 3-month trends in the rest of this article (as we did in the accompanying piece on the manufacturing sector). It is worth noting that while manufacturing accounts for a majority of “production”, there are other elements in this sector. In the three months to February 2026, “electricity, gas, steam, & air conditioning supply” increased by +3.6% and “water supply; sewerage, waste management, & remediation activities” was up +0.1%, but these were partially offset by a fall of -2.1% in “mining & quarrying” activity.
Output in the construction sector is estimated to have fallen by -2.0% in the latest 3-month period; this is concentrated in “new work” group where activity was down by -3.4%, while “repairs & maintenance” was unchanged. Within “new work”, the largest negative contributor was “private housing new work” (-6.5%); for “repair & maintenance”, the largest reduction came from “non-housing repair % maintenance” (-1.9%) while the largest positive contributor was “private housing repair % maintenance” (+2.0%).
The services sector saw output increase by +0.5% in the 3 months to February (compared to the previous period up to November 2025) and, as the largest sector in the economy, was the main contributor to the overall GDP trend. This marks an acceleration in the pace of growth from the period to January 2026 when it was +0.3% (revised up from +0.2% in the January data release).
Within the sector, output rose in 10 of the 14 sub-sectors with largest positive contributions coming from “wholesale & retail trade; repair of motor vehicles & motorcycles” (+1.4% and driven by growth of +3.1% in “wholesale trade, except motor vehicles & motorcycles”), “information & communication” (+1.6%, led by improvements of +9.1% in “publishing activities” +1.4% for “computer programming, consultancy & related activities) and “transportation & storage (+1.9%, with “warehousing & support activities for transportation” at +2.4% and “land transport services & transport services via pipelines, excluding rail transport” up by +2.1%). The main negatives in the services sector were declines in output of -0.8% in “administrative & support service activities” and -1.4% for “arts, entertainment & recreation”.
Consumer-facing services saw output grew by +0.4% in the 3 months to February 2026, with “food & beverage service activities”, “retail trade, except motor vehicles & motorcycles” and “other personal service activities” the main positives, while “wholesale & retail trade, & repair of motor vehicles & motorcycles”, “sports activities & amusement & recreation activities” and “accommodation” had the most significant falls. There are more details in the range of ONS Statistical Bulletins which can be downloaded from their website at https://www.ons.gov.uk/releasecalendar (16 April) or on request from MTA.