UK Economy Grows 0.7% in Third Quarter as Services Boom

Updated 12 Nov 2026, 07:33 · First published 12 Nov 2026

The UK economy grew by 0.7% between July and September, faster than in the previous three months and powered almost entirely by the services sector, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics said growth picked up from 0.5% in the second quarter, with the economy also growing 0.2% in September alone – better than many economists had expected.

What did the ONS say?

The ONS said the strong quarter was driven by widespread growth in services, which make up the biggest part of the UK economy. Computer programming grew at its fastest rate in three years, a sign of the boost from businesses linked to artificial intelligence.

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Why does it matter?

GDP – gross domestic product – measures the value of everything the economy produces, and is the main way of tracking whether the country is getting richer or poorer. Stronger growth can mean more jobs and higher tax receipts for the government.

Not every sector grew. Construction output fell by 0.7% over the three months, while production, which includes manufacturing, edged up by just 0.1%.

What about the AI boom?

The Bank of England and Bloomberg Economics have each estimated that around a fifth of recent growth has come from investment linked to artificial intelligence, such as data centres and software.

Photo: DaLiu / Shutterstock. Source: Office for National Statistics, GDP first quarterly estimate, July to September 2026.