The UK economy continued to expand in the three months to July 2026, with GDP increasing by +0.4% compared with the previous three-month period. This marks the eighth consecutive three-month period of growth, following growth of +0.4% in the three months to June and +0.6% in the three months to May.
On a monthly basis, GDP increased by +0.4% in July, following growth of +0.3% in June and no growth in May.
Services continued to drive overall growth, increasing by +0.6% in the three months to July. In contrast, both production and construction output fell by -0.5%.
Within services, output increased in 11 of the 14 subsectors. The strongest growth came from information and communication (+2.5%), professional, scientific and technical activities (+2.1%) and administrative and support service activities (+1.3%). This was partly offset by falls in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-0.5%) and education (-0.3%).
The production sector contracted by -0.5%, with falls in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (-4.0%), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (-1.5%), and mining and quarrying (-2.6%). This was partially offset by manufacturing growth of +0.5%, which is covered in more detail in the next article.
Construction output also fell by -0.5% in the three months to July, with both new work (-0.4%) and repair and maintenance (-0.7%) declining. 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 (11 September) or on request from MTA.