The UK economy grew more quickly than first estimated in the second quarter, with revised figures showing a 0.5% expansion between April and June as household incomes recovered and output increased across services and construction.
The Office for National Statistics had previously estimated quarterly growth of 0.4%. The revision means GDP followed a 0.6% increase during the first three months of 2026, extending the economy’s expansion through the first half of the year.
Services output increased by 0.6% and construction grew by 0.8%, while production declined by 0.1%. Thirteen of the 20 main GDP subsectors recorded growth during the quarter.
Real GDP per head increased by 0.5% and was 1.2% higher than a year earlier. The measure has attracted particular attention during a period in which increases in aggregate output have not always translated into equivalent improvements in output per person.
Household finances strengthened during the quarter. Real household disposable income per head rose by 1.0%, reversing a 0.8% decline in the first quarter, while the household saving ratio increased from 8.6% to 8.8%.
That combination left households with greater real income while retaining a slightly larger proportion as savings. It provides a firmer financial position than the first-quarter figures suggested, although subsequent inflation, borrowing costs and confidence will influence how much of that additional capacity reaches consumer spending.
Expenditure data showed net trade making the largest contribution to quarterly GDP growth. Nominal GDP increased by 0.8% and was 3.8% higher than in the corresponding period of 2025, with gross operating surplus and taxes less subsidies among the main contributors to the increase in nominal output.
Company-sector finances also improved. Private non-financial corporations moved from net borrowing of £1.3bn in the first quarter to net lending of £4.3bn in the second. Across non-financial corporations as a whole, the sector moved to net lending equivalent to 0.6% of GDP.
The national accounts contain revisions in both directions. The ONS now estimates that GDP grew by 1.2% during 2025 as a whole, 0.1 percentage points lower than previously calculated. By contrast, the level of GDP in the second quarter of 2026 is now estimated to have been 2.0% above its level in the final quarter of 2024, compared with the earlier estimate of 1.9%.
Such revisions are a routine part of the national accounts as more complete business surveys, VAT information and other datasets become available. The latest release incorporates updated responses to the Monthly Business Survey, new VAT data, revised seasonal-adjustment models and updated industry weights.
The higher second-quarter estimate therefore provides a more complete measurement of activity during the spring rather than evidence of a fresh acceleration since the summer. Companies are now operating against more recent pressures including energy costs, geopolitical uncertainty, financing conditions and weaker business confidence.
The recovery in disposable income is one of the stronger elements of the release. Greater real household income can support consumption or balance-sheet repair, while higher GDP per head narrows some of the gap between aggregate economic expansion and individual economic experience.
The downward revision to annual growth in 2025 nevertheless underlines the uneven nature of the recovery. Output continued to expand through the first half of 2026, but the pace remains modest against longer-running challenges around investment, productivity and living standards.
The ONS will incorporate the figures into Blue Book 2026, due to be published on 30 October. Its next quarterly GDP release is scheduled for 12 November, providing the first fuller indication of whether the first-half expansion continued into the third quarter.
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