Government · UK · Office for National Statistics
UK Annual Business Survey 2024: aGVA Up 3.7% to £1.7trn
The UK non-financial business economy generated £1,725.2 billion in approximate gross value added in 2024, a 3.7% rise on 2023, with administrative and support services posting the strongest sectoral growth at 8.6%.
Source published Summarised
Key findings at a glance
- £1,725.2bn UK non-financial business economy approximate gross value added in 2024
- +3.7% Year-on-year aGVA growth, 2023 to 2024
- £62.4bn Absolute aGVA increase on the revised 2023 figure
- 59.2% Share of total aGVA generated by the non-financial services sector
- £1,021.6bn Non-financial services sector aGVA in 2024
- +6.0% Year-on-year aGVA growth for the non-financial services sector
- +8.6% aGVA growth for administrative and support service activities, the largest sectoral gain
- £169.5bn Administrative and support service activities aGVA in 2024, up from £156.1bn
- £5,089.0bn Total turnover of the UK non-financial business economy in 2024
- +0.8% Year-on-year change in total turnover
- £3,346.7bn Total purchases in 2024, down 0.9% on 2023
- 69.9% Final response rate from sampled businesses for the 2024 ABS
What the report covers
The Office for National Statistics released the Annual Business Survey 2024 results on 26 May 2026. The ABS is the ONS's core measure of size and growth across the UK non-financial business economy, covering turnover, approximate gross value added, and purchases by industry. It is the single most authoritative sector-by-sector view of the UK economy that marketers and CFOs have at their disposal.
The 2024 results show the UK non-financial business economy producing £1,725.2 billion in approximate gross value added, up £62.4 billion on the revised 2023 figure. Total turnover reached £5,089.0 billion. The non-financial services sector accounted for 59.2% of all aGVA and added £57.8 billion of growth in a single year. Administrative and support service activities, which include facilities management, recruitment, security, and business support, led every other sectoral group with 8.6% aGVA growth.
Sister releases this week from ONS sketch in the wider context: UK input costs hit a three-year high for 40% of businesses, while retail sales rose 0.5% with the online share dipping to 28.1%.
What this means for UK marketers
For UK marketers, the ABS is a planning document, not a press release. Sector-level aGVA and turnover figures are how agencies and in-house teams should size their addressable market before committing media budget or content investment. A 6.0% gain in services aGVA means UK service businesses have more cash to spend on demand generation than they did 12 months ago, and the 8.6% jump in administrative and support activities flags exactly where that growth is concentrated. If you sell to B2B services brands, that is your tailwind.
The flip side is operating cost pressure. Total purchases fell 0.9% to £3,346.7 billion while turnover rose 0.8%, which on a like-for-like basis suggests UK businesses are squeezing input costs even as the top line trades higher. Marketing budgets sit inside the purchases line for most companies, which means more scrutiny on cost per lead, ROAS, and content output per pound. Expect procurement to ask harder questions in the next planning cycle.
Three actions for UK marketers. First, refresh your ideal customer profile weighting. If your service mix has been balanced across sectors, the 2024 ABS suggests overweighting professional and administrative services where the growth signal is clearest. Second, recalibrate proposal economics. Clients are looking at cost-per-outcome harder than they were last year, so lead with measurable outcomes rather than activity metrics. Third, treat ONS as a citable source. Buyers respond to UK-data-backed claims more than US sector averages, and ABS gives you a defensible baseline for sector sizing in any UK pitch. Our UK digital marketing service uses this kind of sector data when building media plans.
How they got the data
The ABS is a sample survey of approximately 73,000 UK businesses drawn from the Inter-Departmental Business Register, the official register of UK firms maintained by the ONS. The 2024 results included 69.9% of sampled businesses after collection, with quality measures published as a companion dataset. Source classifications follow Standard Industrial Classification 2007 sections, broken down to four-digit detail.
Approximate gross value added at basic prices (aGVA) is an ONS-specific measure that strips taxes and subsidies from turnover, giving a cleaner view of the value created by each sector. ONS publishes year-on-year revisions alongside the latest year so analysts can track methodology changes back into the time series. The full ABS methodology documentation sits separately to the bulletin.
Government · UK
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From Office for National Statistics · published 26/05/2026