Business sentiment in the UK deteriorated in January, with manufacturers optimism about both the business situation (-19%) and export prospects (-12%) declining. However, sentiment is now the least negative since July 2024. Confidence is being undermined by falling output and a sharp decline in new orders, as customers delay decisions and limit spending, leaving order books thin. This lack of demand visibility is the main constraint on confidence and is holding back investment plans. Although cost growth has slowed, high wages, energy prices and taxes continue to squeeze margins. With capacity utilisation and employment still falling, confidence remains subdued, highlighting the need for lower business costs and clearer policy to support recovery. source: Confederation of British Industry

Business Confidence in the United Kingdom increased to -19 points in the first quarter of 2026 from -31 points in the fourth quarter of 2025. Business Confidence in the United Kingdom averaged -4.76 points from 1958 until 2026, reaching an all time high of 55.00 points in the third quarter of 1959 and a record low of -87.00 points in the second quarter of 2020. This page provides - United Kingdom Business Confidence - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. United Kingdom Business Confidence - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on February of 2026.

Business Confidence in the United Kingdom increased to -19 points in the first quarter of 2026 from -31 points in the fourth quarter of 2025. Business Confidence in the United Kingdom is expected to be -27.00 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the United Kingdom Business Confidence is projected to trend around -3.00 points in 2027, according to our econometric models.



Calendar GMT Reference Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2025-10-23 10:00 AM
CBI Business Optimism Index
Q4 -31 -27 -29
2026-01-21 11:00 AM
CBI Business Optimism Index
Q1 -19 -31 -27
2026-04-24 10:00 AM
CBI Business Optimism Index
Q2 -19 -23


Related Last Previous Unit Reference
Bankruptcies 1671.00 1850.00 Companies Dec 2025
BRC Retail Sales Monitor YoY 2.30 1.00 percent Jan 2026
CBI Business Optimism Index -19.00 -31.00 points Mar 2026
Car Production YoY 53003.00 65932.00 Units Dec 2025
Car Registrations 144127.00 146249.00 Units Jan 2026
Changes in Inventories 1402.00 1860.00 GBP Million Sep 2025
Composite Leading Indicator 101.07 101.04 points Jan 2026
Corporate Profits 160993.00 160867.00 GBP Million Sep 2025
Corruption Index 70.00 71.00 Points Dec 2025
Corruption Rank 20.00 20.00 Dec 2025
Crude Oil Rigs 3.00 3.00 Jan 2026
Electricity Price 74.72 75.16 GBP/MWh Feb 2026
Electricity Production 49970.00 49485.00 Gigawatt-hour Sep 2025
CBI Industrial Trends Orders -30.00 -32.00 Net Balance Jan 2026
Industrial Production YoY 0.50 2.30 percent Dec 2025
Industrial Production MoM -0.90 1.30 percent Dec 2025
GDP 3-Month Avg 0.10 -0.10 percent Dec 2025
Manufacturing Production YoY 0.50 1.30 percent Dec 2025
Manufacturing Production MoM -0.50 1.90 Percent Dec 2025
Mining Production -0.60 2.10 percent Dec 2025
New Orders 12049.00 10971.00 GBP Million Sep 2025
New Car Sales YoY 3.40 3.90 percent Jan 2026
Business Investment -2.70 1.60 percent Dec 2025


United Kingdom Business Confidence
In the United Kingdom, the Business Optimism Index is published by the Confederation of British Industry's in its Industrial Trends Survey. An average of 400 small, medium and large companies from the manufacturing sector is surveyed each quarter. The Questionnaire accesses the overall sentiment regarding general and export business situation, investment, capacity, order books, employment, output, stocks, prices competitiveness regarding domestic, EU and non-EU markets and innovation and training. For each assessment is computed a sub-index as the percentage of positive answers minus the percentage of negative answers. The composite index is then computed as the weighted average of the sub-indices. An Optimism Index of +100 indicates that all survey respondents are much more confident about future prospects, while -100 suggests that all survey respondents are much less confident about future prospects. An index level of 0 indicates neutrality.
Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
-19.00 -31.00 55.00 -87.00 1958 - 2026 points Quarterly

News Stream
UK Business Optimism Remains Weak
Business sentiment in the UK deteriorated in January, with manufacturers optimism about both the business situation (-19%) and export prospects (-12%) declining. However, sentiment is now the least negative since July 2024. Confidence is being undermined by falling output and a sharp decline in new orders, as customers delay decisions and limit spending, leaving order books thin. This lack of demand visibility is the main constraint on confidence and is holding back investment plans. Although cost growth has slowed, high wages, energy prices and taxes continue to squeeze margins. With capacity utilisation and employment still falling, confidence remains subdued, highlighting the need for lower business costs and clearer policy to support recovery.
2026-01-21
UK Business Optimism Continues to Fall
Sentiment in the UK manufacturing sector fell to -33 in April of 2025 according to the index compiled by the Confederation of British Industry, extending the deterioration of -47 from the previous moving quarter to mark the fourth consecutive quarter of pessimism. Manufacturing output continued to decline (-2 vs -18 in January), and surveyed firms noted that production levels are likely to continue decreasing halfway through the year (-5). Consistently, new orders remained firmly in the negative territory (-13 vs -20) amid lower demand both domestically (-11 vs -23) and from foreign markets (-4 vs -33), driving firms to continue shedding jobs (-16 vs -8). On the price front, input costs accelerated (48 vs 43), and is expected to continue rising through July (53).
2025-04-24