Non-financial business economy, UK and regional (Annual Business Survey): 2020 results

• In 2020, approximate gross value added at basic prices (aGVA) of the UK non-financial business economy was estimated to be £1,194.9 billion; a decrease of £117.9 billion (9.0%) compared with 2019.

• The non-financial services sector, which accounted for over half (56.9%) of total aGVA in 2020, decreased by £67.9 billion (9.1%) to £679.7 billion; transport and storage saw the largest decrease in aGVA of £20.6 billion (22.6%) decreasing from £91.3 billion to £70.7 billion.

• Total turnover and purchases of the UK non-financial business economy were estimated to be £3,580.9 billion and £2,358.3 billion respectively; a decrease of £515.6 billion (12.6%) and £398.4 billion (14.5%) compared with 2019.

• All of the 12 UK regions experienced decreased growth in aGVA; London experienced the largest decrease in aGVA of £34.8 billion to £290.2 billion (10.7%), followed by the South East at £16.1 billion (7.5%).

• The North East and Scotland saw the largest year-on-year aGVA percentage decreases, the North East aGVA fell by £6.9 billion (19.0%), from £36.2 billion to £29.3 billion; the aGVA in Scotland fell by £15.3 billion (15.9%), from £96.1 billion to £80.8 billion.

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

In 2020, 59.3% of sampled businesses were included in the final Annual Business Survey (ABS) results. The average response rate in previous years was approximately 75%. The 2020 rate was lower than usual because the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic made it more difficult to contact respondents in order to process survey returns. This means that the estimates in this release are subject to more uncertainty than usual. Quality measures for the ABS results are available as part of this release.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released a public statement on COVID-19 and the production of statistics. You can email queries to the Media Relations office at media.relations@ons.gov.uk.

Datasets

Please note that the Retail Commodities and the UK size banded tables will not be published in this release. This was because of the need to carry out additional quality assurance on the remaining data tables. We will aim to publish these tables at the end of July.

Employment data

The employment data has been removed from this publication. This can be found from our Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) and downloaded from the Nomis web portal.

Data sources and collection

The Annual Business Survey (ABS) is a sample survey of approximately 73,000 businesses across the UK. The ABS draws its sample from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR).

Quality and methodology

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Annual Business Survey (ABS) Quality and Methodology Information report and ABS Technical Report published on the ABS methodology page.

User consultation

On Monday 20 June 2022 ONS will launch a user engagement exercise to understand more about users’ experiences of the Annual Business Survey (ABS) and the Annual Purchases Survey (APS), and help us answer the following:

• what data are most useful?
• what data gaps currently exist?
• what impact any changes we make may have?

We would be grateful if you could share your views by completing this short survey, or email the team at Annual.Developments@ons.gov.uk. Please note, the link will not be available to view until Monday 20 June 2022.

The ONS has recently published a statement outlining our plans to review, develop and improve the annual and short-term business surveys. This includes further details on our plans to transform the Annual Business Survey.

Accessibility of ABS output datasets

We have reviewed the new accessibility of datasets legislation, and updated all datasets within this release. If you have feedback or questions on the new layout, please email ABAPS@ons.gov.uk.