Each month we publish independent forecasts of key economic and fiscal indicators for the UK economy. Forecasts before 2010 are hosted by The National Archives.

We began publishing comparisons of independent forecasts in 1986. The first database brings together selected variables from those publications, averaged across forecasters. It includes series for Gross Domestic Product, the Consumer Prices Index, the Retail Prices Index, the Retail Prices Index excluding mortgage interest payments, Public Sector Net Borrowing and the Claimant Count. Our second database contains time series of independent forecasts for GDP growth, private consumption, government consumption, fixed investment, domestic demand and net trade, for 26 forecasters with at least 10 years’ worth of submissions since 2010.

We’d welcome feedback on how you find the database and any extra information that you’d like to see included. Email your comments to Carter.Adams@hmtreasury.gov.uk.

Headline findings

• Provisionally, the Digital Sector GVA decreased by an estimated 1.6% between 2022 and 2023, while accounting for inflation. Total UK GVA is estimated to have increased by 0.4% over the same period.
• Provisionally, inflation-adjusted estimated growth for the Digital Sector GVA between 2019 and 2023 was 13.7%.
• Revised, inflation-adjusted, estimated growth for the Digital Sector GVA between 2019 and 2022 was 15.6%. This is 6.5 percentage points higher than the 9.1% growth reported previously in provisional estimates. This update brings Digital Sector GVA figures more in line with National Accounts data.
• The Digital Sector is provisionally estimated to have accounted for 6.5% of total UK GVA in 2023 at £153.5 billion in current prices, decreasing from an estimated 6.8% of total UK GVA in 2022.
• From 2022 to 2023, notable changes to Digital subsector GVA include a 6.7% decrease in the largest Digital subsector ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ and an 8.6% increase in the second largest Digital subsector ‘Telecommunications’.

About this release

This Annual GVA series is our most accurate estimate of Digital Sector GVA. These Economic Estimates are Accredited Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of the Digital Sector and its associated subsectors to the UK, measured by GVA (gross value added).

This is the first release of provisional annual estimates for 2023, and Blue Book 2024 inclusive revisions to 2019 to 2022 annual estimates. The provisional Annual GVA estimates for 2023 for the Digital Sector will be revised in our next release, upon updates to underlying ABS data, and further revised in the following statistical release to include Blue Book 2025 revisions. Our next release is planned to include a full analytical report providing additional analysis on our produced GVA estimates.

This release includes a methodology update to the deflators used to remove the effects of inflation in our chained volume measure estimates. A summary of the revisions to 2019 to 2022 estimates as part of this release can be found in the accompanying revisions report.

This is a continuation of the Digital Sector Economic Estimates: Annual GVA release series, previously produced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Responsibility for Digital and Telecommunications policy now sits with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Data sources and technical information

Findings in this release are calculated based on the published Office for National Statistics (ONS) https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/supplyandusetables/datasets/supplyanduseofproductsandindustrygvaukexperimental" class="govuk-link">Supply and Use Tables, ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/datasets/ukgdpolowlevelaggregates" class="govuk-link">Gross Domestic Product (GDP) low-level aggregates and the ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/methodologies/annualbusinesssurveyabs" class="govuk-link">Annual Business Survey (ABS).

The Supply and Use Tables (SUT) report balanced GVA at the 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code level up to 2022. SUT <abbr title="Gross V

A series for the GDP deflator in index form is produced by the Treasury from data provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The GDP deflator set is updated after every ONS Quarterly National Accounts release (at the end of each quarter) and whenever the OBR updates its GDP deflator forecasts (usually twice a year).

Outturn data are the latest Quarterly National Accounts figures from the ONS, 20 December 2013. GDP deflators from 1955-56 to 2012-13 (1955 to 2012) have been taken directly from ONS Quarterly National Accounts implied deflator at market prices series http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/datasets-and-tables/data-selector.html?cdid=L8GG&dataset=qna&table-id=N" class="govuk-link">L8GG.

Forecast data are consistent with the Autumn Statement, 05 December 2013.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflators: a user’s guide

The detail below aims to provide background information on the GDP deflator series and the concepts and methods underlying it.

GDP deflators can be used by anyone who has an interest in deflating current price nominal data into a “real terms” prices basis. This guide has been written with casual as well as professional users of the data in mind, using language and concepts aimed at as wide an audience as possible.

Overview of GDP deflator series

What is the GDP deflator?

The GDP deflator can be viewed as a measure of general inflation in the domestic economy. Inflation can be described as a measure of price changes over time. The deflator is usually expressed in terms of an index, i.e. a time series of index numbers. Percentage changes on the previous year are also shown. The GDP deflator reflects movements of hundreds of separate deflators for the individual expenditure components of GDP. These components include expenditure on such items as bread, investment in computers, imports of aircraft, and exports of consultancy services.

Uses of the GDP deflator series

The series allows for the effects of changes in price (inflation) to be removed from a time series, i.e. it allows the change in the volume of goods and services to be measured. The resultant series can be used to express a given time series or data set in real terms, i.e. by removing price changes.

Where do the figures come from?

A series for the GDP deflator in index form is produced by the Treasury from data provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Forecasts are produced by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) and are usually updated around the time of major policy announcements, namely; the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, and the Budget.

Rounding Convention

GDP deflators for earlier years (up to and including the most recent year for which full quarterly data have been published) are presented to 3 decimal places. The index for future years has been removed as the forecasts were not as accurate as this detail would suggest. Percentage year-on-year changes are given to two decimal places for earlier years, forecast years are presented to 1 decimal place as published in the Autumn Statement and the Budget.

Updates

• updates to earlier years (up to and including the most recent year for which full quarterly data have been published) shortly after the ONS Quarterly National Accounts release
• when the OBR updates its forecasts, shortly after the Budget and again after the Chancellor’s Autumn statement

Background information on GDP and GDP deflator

What is GDP?

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of the total domestic economic activity. It is the sum of all incomes earned by the production of goods and services within the UK economic territory. It is worth noting that where the earner of the income resides is irrelevant, so long as the goods or services themselves are produced within the UK. GDP is equivalent to the value added to the economy by this activity. Value added can be defined as income

Headline findings

Reported DCMS Sector GVA is estimated to have fallen by 0.4% from Quarter 2 (April to June) to Quarter 3 2022 (July to September) in real terms. By comparison, the whole UK economy fell by 0.2% from Quarter 2 to Quarter 3 2022.

GVA of reported DCMS Sectors in September 2022 was 6% above February 2020 levels, which was the most recent month not significantly affected by the pandemic. By comparison, GVA for the whole UK economy was 0.2% lower than in February 2020.

Released

16 November 2022

About this release

Monthly estimates

These Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the economic contribution of DCMS Sectors in terms of gross value added (GVA), for the period January 2019 to September 2022. Provisional monthly GVA in 2019 and 2020 was first published in March 2021 as an ad hoc statistical release. This current release contains new figures for July to September 2022 and revised estimates for previous months, in line with the scheduled revisions that were made to the underlying ONS datasets in October 2022.

Estimates are in chained volume measures (i.e. have been adjusted for inflation), at 2019 prices, and are seasonally adjusted. These latest monthly estimates should only be used to illustrate general trends, not used as definitive figures.

You can use these estimates to:

• Look at relative indicative changes in GVA over time for DCMS sectors and subsectors

You should not use these estimates to:

• Quantify GVA for a specific month
• Measure absolute change in GVA over time
• Determine findings for DCMS sectors that are defined using more detailed industrial classes (due to the data sources only being available at broader industry levels)

“Summed monthly” Annual GVA

Estimates of annual GVA by DCMS Sectors, based on the monthly series, are included in this release for 2019 to 2021. These are calculated by summing the monthly estimates for the calendar year and were first published for 2019 and 2020 in DCMS Sector National Economic Estimates: 2011 - 2020.

Since August 2022, we have been publishing these estimates as part of the regular published series of GVA data, with data being revised in line with revisions to the underlying ONS datasets, as with the monthly GVA estimates. These estimates have been published, updating what was first published last year, in order to meet growing demand for annual figures for GVA beyond the 2019 estimates in our National Statistics GVA publication. The National Statistics GVA publication estimates remain the most robust for our sectors, however estimates for years after 2019 have been delayed owing to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Consequently, these “summed monthly” annual estimate figures for GVA can be used but should not be seen as definitive.

Data sources

The findings are calculated based on published ONS data sources including the Index of Services and Index of Production.

These data sources provide an estimate of the monthly change in GVA for all UK industries. However, the data is only available for broader industry groups, whereas DCMS sectors are defined at a more detailed industrial level. For example, GVA for ‘Cultural education’ is estimated based on the trend for all education. Sectors such as ‘Cultural education’ may have been affected differently by COVID-19 compared to education in general. These estimates are also based on the composition of the economy in 2019. Overall, this means the accuracy of monthly GVA for DCMS sectors is likely to be lower for months in 2020 and 2021.

The technical guidance contains further information about data sources, methodology, and the validation and accuracy of these estimates.

Revisions

Figures are provisional and subject to revision on a monthly basis when the ONS Index of Services and Index of Production are updated. Figures for the latest month will be highly uncertain.

An example of the impact of these revisions is highlighted in the following example; for the revisions applied in February 2022 the average change to DCMS sector monthly GVA was 0.6%, but there were larger differences for some sectors, in some months e.g. the value of the Sport sector in May 2021 was revised from £1.