UK confidence stabilises after rocky February, two reports agree, but one’s more optimistic on spending

UK consumer confidence hardly registered a move in March after February’s record low, two sets of findings from GfK and The British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed. But there are signs of optimism from one of them

The BRC said at least some Britons are showing signs of positivity about the wider UK’s outlook, with Gen Z (18-27) leading the way, expecting to spend more than the previous three months across all categories. Not so with Gen X (44-59) though, who are planning the biggest cuts to spending for most items, excluding food.

According to BRC-Opinium data, consumers generally expect the state of the economy to improve over the next three months, to -35 in March, up from -37 in February.

Their personal financial situation has also improved slightly to -10 in March, up from -11 in February. 

Their personal spending on retail rose to 0 in March, up from -5 in February and their personal spending overall rose to +11 in March, up from +4 in February. But personal savings fell to -5 in March, down from -3 in February.
 
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Consumer confidence stabilised this month after February’s record low. This was coupled with an increase in spending expectations for the three months ahead, both for retail spending and spending more generally.”

She added that the government’s Spring statement “is an opportunity… to inject some confidence back into the economy.”

For GfK’s long-standing index, confidence inched up to -19 in March, from -20 in February and -21 in March last year. But the index remains below its long-term average, it noted.

Views on personal finances for the past year were slightly down, from -7 to -9, while perceptions of the wider economy over the last 12 months and looking ahead a year are each up two points at -42 and -29 respectively.

“If consumer confidence were a patient languishing in a hospital bed, a doctor would say there is little evidence of a recovery as yet,” Neil Bellamy, Consumer Insights director, NIQ GfK, said.

“The current stability is to be welcomed but it won’t take much to upset the fragile consumer mood,” he added.