UK consumer confidence down one point

The UK Consumer Confidence Barometer is conducted by GfK on behalf of the European Commission.

The overall index score for October is -10, with two of the five measures increasing, two decreasing and one remaining the same.

The index measuring changes in personal finances during the last 12 months has increased to 0 – three points lower than the same period last year, while the forecast for personal finances over the next year has stayed the same.

The outlook for the general economic situation over the next 12 months decreased to -26, which is nine points lower than this time last year, while the measure had decreased one point to -29 during the last year.

The major purchase index increased two points to +3, which is still 11 points lower than it was in October 2016. Meanwhile, the savings index stayed at +3 this month – 12 points higher than last year.

Earlier this month GfK’s consumer climate report for Europe found that consumer confidence in the continent overall was at its highest level for nine years, but that British expectations had dropped compared to the same period the year before. 

Joe Staton, head of market Dynamics at GfK, said: “The overall index score continues to bump along in negative territory this month. As concerns about the wider economic prospects for the UK economy dampen our outlook, consumers are showing no real ‘get-up-and-go’. The tiny shift up a point in how we view our personal finances over the past year is counter-intuitive given rising living costs, an imminent interest rate rise, and the reality that we earn less in real terms in 2017 than in early 2006."