1. Main points

  • The indicative estimates for revisions to Blue Book 2017 for the sector and financial accounts given in the previous National Accounts article have been updated with new tax on dividends data for 1997 to 2015.

  • The impact of the new data is largest in 2015 due to forestalling in advance of an increase in tax on dividends; the dividends revision in 2016 will be published on 29 September 2017.

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2. Changes to article published on 21 August 2017

A National Accounts article Detailed assessment of changes to sector and financial accounts, 1997 to 2015 was published on 21 August 2017. It contained indicative Blue Book 2017 values for the household saving ratio, private non-financial corporation net lending and borrowing, and household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) net lending and borrowing. The full UK Economic Accounts dataset will be published on 29 September 2017 containing the latest quarter of data and the time series consistent with Blue Book 2017.

As previously announced, improvements to the measurement of household dividend income will result in a significant upward revision to household sector gross income. We are able to give further updates to replace the indicative estimates given in Figures 1, 2, 3, 9 and 17 in the previously published article, in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 here respectively, to include improved data on dividends paid to households.

The largest difference is an increase in dividends for 2015, due to forestalling. Consequently, the indicative values given for household sector gross disposable income and gross saving are higher in 2015, and private non-financial corporation net lending borrowing lower in 2015, than published in the previous article.

The revision in 2015 is large, as income was forestalled in anticipation of an increase in tax on dividends, and smaller in the years before 2015. In 2015, the indicative estimate of the household and NPISH saving ratio is 9.2%, revised up from the latest published value of 6.5%. The indicative estimate for growth in real household and NPISH gross disposable income is 5.3%, revised up from the latest published value of 3.6%.

The article published on 21 August contains further detail on Blue Book 2017 methods improvements and the impacts on all other sectors.

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3. Annex

Updated tables for the indicative impact on sector and financial accounts.

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Contact details for this Article

Katherine Kent
sector.accounts@ons.gov.uk 
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 455829