Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 12 February 2026

• Total UK retail footfall decreased by 2% in the week to 8 February 2026, compared with the previous week, and decreased by 5% when compared with the equivalent week of 2025 (BT Active Intelligence).

• Total Revolut debit card spending increased by 14% in the week to 25 January 2026, compared with the equivalent week of 2025 (Revolut).

• Around 15% of trading businesses reported an increase in their turnover in January 2026 compared with the previous month, up 3 percentage points from December 2025; over the same period, 43% reported that turnover had stayed the same, 32% reported it decreased and 9% were unsure (initial results from Wave 150 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey).

• Around three in five people reported that their cost of living had increased compared with one month ago (59%), while a similar proportion reported that they were spending less on non-essentials because of increases in the cost of living (61%) (initial findings for January 2026 from our Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, publishing on 20 February 2026).

• The System Average Price (SAP) of gas, and the System Price of electricity both decreased in the week to 8 February 2026, by 16% and 14%, respectively, compared with the previous week, and decreased by 37% and 26%, respectively, when compared with the equivalent week of 2025 (National Gas Transmission, Elexon).

• The seasonally adjusted number of UK flights decreased by 1% in the week to 8 February 2026, when compared with both the previous week, and the equivalent week of 2025 (EUROCONTROL).

• The number of Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPCs) lodged in England and Wales for new dwellings increased by 7% in the week to 8 February 2026, compared with the previous week, but decreased by 4% when compared with the equivalent week of 2025 (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government).

These are official statistics in development, and we advise caution when using the data. The data sources used to compile these indicators are regularly reviewed to ensure they are representative and relevant, which may mean indicators change at short notice. Read more in Section 5: Data sources and quality.

Notes:

1. Card spending over time is pushed upwards by the effects of both inflation on value of transactions and cash-to-card conversion.
2. Indicators with “SA” in the title have been seasonally adjusted. Indicators with “NSA” in the title have not been seasonally adjusted but do present seasonality. All other indicators do not present seasonality.
3. Existing EPC data can show sudden spikes when housing associations lodge multiple expired EPCs at once.
4. Some estimates for our debit card spending series are currently unavailable and this includes the latest data compared with the previous period. These estimates will be updated as soon as possible. Please see our accompanying dataset for further detail.

This section lists a selection of data available in this publication. For the full list of available datasets, please see our accompanying dataset page.

Real-time indicator

A real-time indicator provides insights into economic activity using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys, or experimental estimates, which represent useful economic and social concepts.

Seasonal adjustment

Seasonal adjustment is the identification and removal of consistent and systematic variation in time series associated with the time of year. For more information on seasonal variation, and how we implement seasonal adjustment, see Section 2 of our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology article.

Official statistics in development

These statistics are labelled as official statistics in development. Until September 2023, these were called "experimental statistics". Read more about the change in our Guide to official statistics in development.

We are developing how we collect and produce the data to improve the quality of these statistics. Find out more in our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators methodology article.

Once the developments are complete, we will review the statistics with the Statistics Head of Profession. We will decide if the statistics are of sufficient quality and value to be published as official statistics, or if further development is needed. Production may be stopped if they are not of sufficient quality or value. Users will be informed of the outcome and of any changes.

We value your feedback on these statistics. If you would like to get in touch, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Dataset release dates and intended release frequency

Latest release dates and intended release frequency of our associated datasets are available in this section. Please note that there may be some change to the intended release frequency for a variety of reasons, such as data availability. If you would like further information about any of these datasets, or previous release dates, please email realtime.indicators@ons.gov.uk.

Weekly data release

• Revolut spending on debit cards dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• Automotive fuel spending dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• UK retail footfall dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• Advanced notification of potential redundancies dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• System Average Price of gas dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• System Price of electricity dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• Energy Performance Building Certificates (EPC) dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• Weekly shipping indicators dataset; updated 4 December 2025.

• Daily UK flights dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

Monthly data release

• Monthly Direct Debit failure rate and average transaction amount dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

• Textkernel new online job adverts dataset; updated 18 December 2025.

• Value Added Tax (VAT) flash estimates dataset; updated 15 January 2026.

• Renter affordability for new tenancies dataset; updated 15 January 2026.

• SMMT vehicle registration and production dataset; updated 12 February 2026.

Please note, that the Textkernel new online job advert dataset has been temporarily paused. This is because of data availability and additional quality assurance processes.

Strengths and limitations

These statistics have been produced to provide timely indicators of the effect of developing world events on the UK economy and society. We use close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys, or official statistics in development.

The data presented in this bulletin are reviewed and refreshed on a regular basis. Indicators are swapped in and out of the publication based on their suitability and availability.

Seasonality

Seasonal fluctuations are likely to be present in many of these indicators, so caution must be applied when interpreting changes in series that are not seasonally adjusted.