One in five UK businesses saw turnover fall in July, ONS figures show

The Office for National Statistics reports that 22 per cent of trading businesses recorded a drop in turnover last month, compared with 15 per cent that saw a rise — with both figures broadly unchanged from June.

Twenty-two per cent of UK trading businesses reported falling turnover in July 2026 compared with the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics — outnumbering the 15 per cent that reported an increase by nearly half as many again. The figures come from the ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS), a fortnightly voluntary survey covering around 38,600 to 38,700 businesses per wave, and were published in the “Business insights and impact on the UK economy” bulletin on 6 August 2026.

The ONS described both readings as “broadly stable” compared with June 2026, when 17 per cent of trading businesses reported increased turnover compared with May. That month, around one third of trading businesses cited economic uncertainty as the main challenge affecting their turnover.

The gap between the two figures — more businesses shrinking than growing — has held for several months. Mid-2026 BICS waves consistently show one in six to one in seven trading businesses reporting turnover growth, suggesting no strong upward trend has taken hold across the UK economy.

No Kent-specific breakdown exists within the BICS data, which does not routinely disaggregate to county level. But the national picture is likely to reflect similar pressures on businesses across the county, above all in sectors such as retail, tourism, logistics and manufacturing. Kent’s trade-exposed firms — especially those connected to Dover and the Channel Tunnel — may feel any national shifts in business turnover more sharply than inland areas, given their dependence on cross-border freight and visitor flows.

For Kent households, the figures suggest that job security and local service availability could remain under pressure in sectors where more firms are seeing turnover fall than rise. BICS response rates of around 25 to 27 per cent mean the weighted estimates carry some uncertainty, and the ONS classifies the survey as experimental — intended as a rapid, high-frequency indicator rather than a definitive measure of business health.