ONS Data Show Rise in Consumer Activity in May 2026 as Retail Footfall and Card Spending Increase

UK retail footfall, Revolut debit card spending and average Direct Debit transaction values all rose in May 2026 compared with April 2026, according to official ONS early indicators — with England’s year-on-year footfall decline narrowing sharply from 11.3% to 3.0% between the two months.

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What the ONS Figures Show

The Office for National Statistics reported on Tuesday that consumer activity grew in May 2026 relative to April 2026, pointing to three separate indicators: an increase in UK retail footfall, a rise in seasonally adjusted Revolut debit card spending, and a higher average Direct Debit transaction amount. The findings come from the ONS series on real-time economic indicators, which draws on data from Springboard, Revolut and a major UK payments provider to track short-term shifts in spending and behaviour between standard statistical releases.

The ONS has been clear that these are experimental statistics — useful for timely monitoring, but subject to revision as more complete data become available. Exact percentage increases in Revolut spending and Direct Debit values were not published in the announcement and could not be independently verified from publicly accessible sources; only the direction of change has been confirmed.

The Numbers Behind the Footfall Recovery

The scale of April’s weakness helps explain why May’s improvement looks striking. According to British Retail Consortium–Sensormatic IQ data, total UK retail footfall fell 10.7% year-on-year in the four weeks covering 5 April to 2 May 2026. By May 2026, that year-on-year decline had narrowed to just 2.6%.

Meanwhile, the picture was consistent across retail formats. High street footfall went from a 9.2% year-on-year fall in April to a 1.5% fall in May; retail parks moved from a 9.0% decline to just 0.5%; and shopping centres improved from a 10.1% drop to 2.4%. In England specifically, the year-on-year decline eased from 11.3% in April to 3.0% in May, according to the British Retail Consortium.

The BRC attributed April’s sharp decline partly to low consumer confidence and cost-of-living pressures, alongside geopolitical uncertainty. Its assessment of May was more measured — describing conditions as a “modest improvement” on April, with shopper numbers still below the previous year but the rate of decline markedly reduced.

A Welcome Sign — But Caveats Remain

Not everyone reads the data the same way. Some analysts point out that footfall in May 2026 was still below where it stood a year earlier, meaning high streets and shopping centres remain under pressure despite the month-on-month bounce. There’s also a question over what rising Direct Debit average transaction values actually reflect — whether that’s consumers spending more freely, or simply higher bills for energy, housing and subscriptions driven by inflation.

ONS retail sales data published earlier in 2026 showed the quantity of goods bought in Great Britain rose by just 0.1% in the three months to January 2026 compared with the previous three months — a fragile picture that cautions against reading too much into a single month’s improvement.

Structural pressures haven’t gone away either. Growth in online shopping and ongoing store closures continue to weigh on physical retail footfall, even when short-term month-on-month indicators tick upward.

Reading the Signals on Payment Data

The inclusion of Revolut debit card spending as an ONS indicator reflects how payment technology companies have become useful sources of high-frequency economic data. Revolut’s anonymised transaction data give the ONS a faster read on day-to-day consumer spending on goods and services than traditional surveys allow. Direct Debit data, supplied by a major UK payments provider, add a complementary layer — capturing regular household outgoings such as bills, subscriptions and loan repayments.

But it’s worth keeping the limitations in mind. Revolut’s customer base, while large, is not representative of all UK consumers; and as the ONS itself notes, these indicators may be revised.

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Key Takeaways

• Total UK retail footfall fell 2.6% year-on-year in May 2026, a sharp improvement from the 10.7% year-on-year fall recorded in April 2026, according to British Retail Consortium–Sensormatic IQ data
• Seasonally adjusted Revolut debit card spending and the average value of Direct Debit transactions both increased in May 2026 compared with April 2026, according to ONS real-time indicators — though exact percentage changes were not published
• ONS describes these as experimental statistics intended to provide timely insight; figures may be subject to revision and should not be treated as final

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What This Means for Kent Residents

Kent sits within England, where the BRC recorded a 3.0% year-on-year fall in retail footfall in May 2026 — a material improvement on the 11.3% decline seen in April. That national pattern suggests shopping areas across the county, including town centres in Maidstone, Canterbury and Ashford, as well as Bluewater in Greenhithe, likely saw more shoppers through the door in May than in April, though no Kent-specific figures are separately published and any local conclusions remain indicative. For households, rising Direct Debit average transaction values are a reminder to review standing payments and regular outgoings — chiefly energy tariffs and subscription services — to check whether increases reflect genuine spending choices or simply higher bills. Local businesses and retailers in Kent may cautiously welcome the month-on-month improvement as a sign of stabilisation after a very difficult April, but the data suggest it is too early to call a sustained recovery; Kent County Council and district councils monitoring town centre vitality will likely watch the coming months’ indicators closely before drawing firmer conclusions about the health of the county’s high streets.