Economic uncertainty was the top reported challenge for trading businesses in August 2026, cited by 29 per cent, according to new Office for National Statistics data.
28 per cent of trading businesses reported their turnover decreased in August 2026 compared with July — that’s more than one in four, based on the ONS’s fortnightly Business Insights and Conditions Survey. Economic uncertainty was the most commonly reported challenge affecting turnover, cited by 29 per cent of businesses.
The figures come from Wave 164 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey, with questions dispatched on 7 September 2026. The ONS classifies BICS estimates as official statistics in development, meaning they should be read as indicators rather than definitive measures of economic output.
The survey draws on a sample of around 38,600 businesses, with response rates of roughly 25.5 to 26 per cent across recent 2026 waves — about 9,800 responses. Results are weighted to represent the wider business population, so the percentages reflect estimated proportions across all trading businesses, not just those that replied.
Worth being clear about what the 29 per cent figure does and doesn’t tell us. It records how many businesses named economic uncertainty as a challenge — it doesn’t measure the actual level of uncertainty in the economy, and BICS doesn’t identify which specific events or policies each business had in mind when answering.
The survey covers financial performance, workforce, prices, trade and business resilience, and asks businesses to compare turnover with the previous calendar month. No specific policy or tax change was identified in the available ONS material as a direct cause of either figure. Analysts and policymakers generally treat BICS results alongside other official economic data rather than in isolation.
Source: @ONS