<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain\u2019s services sector expanded at its fastest pace in more than a year in August, boosted by a surge in new business and easing concerns over U.S. tariffs, according to a survey from S&P Global<\/strong> released on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK Services PMI<\/strong> rose to 54.2 in August<\/strong> from 51.8 in July<\/strong>, marking its highest level since April 2024<\/strong>. The figure comfortably exceeded the 50.0 threshold separating growth from contraction, as well as an earlier flash reading of 53.6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The composite PMI<\/strong>, which combines services and manufacturing, climbed to 53.5<\/strong>, a 12-month high, compared with 51.5 in July and an initial reading of 53.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The upbeat data offers some relief for Finance Minister Rachel Reeves<\/strong> as she prepares her autumn budget. Reeves has faced criticism for higher employer social security contributions in the previous budget, which businesses say increased costs and weighed on demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the growth, inflation pressures persisted. Service providers raised prices in August at the fastest pace since April, coinciding with higher National Insurance Contributions<\/strong> and a minimum wage hike<\/strong> earlier this year. Input costs recorded their sharpest increase in three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employment remained a weak spot. Job cuts continued for the 11th consecutive month<\/strong>, marking the longest continuous stretch of staff reductions outside the 2008\u20132010 downturn<\/strong> and the COVID-19 pandemic<\/strong> period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The survey highlighted the biggest monthly gain in new business since March 2021<\/strong>, driven by stronger domestic demand and the first rise in exports since April<\/strong>. Optimism was further supported by lower borrowing costs and reduced fears of U.S. tariffs, helping improve expectations for future business volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the UK outpaced its G7 peers in economic growth during the first half of 2025, much of that momentum came from higher government spending<\/strong> and businesses front-loading exports<\/strong> ahead of tariffs. The PMI figures suggest consumer demand and services remain crucial to sustaining growth,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Britain\u2019s services sector expanded at its fastest pace in more than a year in August, boosted by a surge in new business and easing concerns over U.S. tariffs, according to a survey from S&P Global released on Wednesday. Strong Services Performance The UK Services PMI rose to 54.2 in August from 51.8 in July, marking …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[6863,6835],"class_list":["post-118397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-market-updates","tag-covid-19-2","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118398,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118397\/revisions\/118398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Strong Services Performance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Policy Implications and Inflation Pressures<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Labour Market Weakness Persists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Demand Outlook Improves<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Economic Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n