The Office for National Statistics will explain how methodological changes in Blue Book 2026 have lifted the estimated level of UK GDP in 2024 to around £2,905 billion, about 0.5 per cent higher than previously recorded.
UK nominal GDP in 2024 is now estimated at roughly £2,905 billion — around 0.5 per cent above the previous figure — following revisions introduced in Blue Book 2026, the annual update to the UK National Accounts. The Office for National Statistics will host a free webinar on 30 September from 09:30 to 10:30 via Microsoft Teams to walk users through what changed and why.
The figures show that revisions run in two directions depending on the period: the Blue Book 2026 changes lower nominal GDP in earlier years and raise it in later years, with the revised series covering data from 1997 to 2024. The same day’s Quarterly National Accounts release will incorporate all of those revisions to historical data.
The single largest methodological shift is the integration of the Annual Survey of Goods and Services (ASGS) into the production measure of GDP for almost all service industries. That change has pushed up gross value added in sectors such as information and communication, while reducing it in manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade.
Two other changes are worth flagging. Blue Book 2026 introduces, for the first time, ONS estimates of own-account electricity production by households — covering energy generated at home, such as from solar panels — within the National Accounts. And estimates of actual and imputed rents for households have been reworked using hedonic-modelled rental prices and improved deflators, affecting household final consumption expenditure figures.
On the financial side, non-money market investment funds statistics will be expanded to include UK Authorised Contractual Schemes fund assets in the National Accounts for the first time.
Industry classifications are also shifting. Coal mining (Standard Industrial Classification Division 05) is being combined with crude petroleum and natural gas extraction (Division 06) in selected datasets, and some smaller industries in the supply and use tables will be aggregated. Monthly GDP releases later in 2026 — including the October publication — will reflect those structural changes.
The webinar follows the publication of Blue Book 2026 impact articles in August 2026, which set out in detail how the new data sources and methods affect GDP and its components. ONS says the event is aimed at helping businesses, analysts, local authorities and academics interpret the revised figures and understand what the changes mean for time-series comparisons.
Key information
- Webinar date and time: 30 September 2026, 09:30–10:30
- Platform: Microsoft Teams — register via the ONS economic statistics events page
- Blue Book 2026 impact articles covering GDP and industry-level changes were published by ONS in August 2026
- Quarterly National Accounts incorporating Blue Book 2026 revisions to data from 1997 to 2024 will be published on 30 September 2026
Source: @ONS
ONS to host webinar on Blue Book 2026 GDP revisions on 30 September Quiz
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