UK real GDP fell by 0.1% in April 2026, breaking a two-month run of growth and delivering the first monthly decline since August 2025. The setback came even as the economy still expanded over the broader three months to April.
That latest monthly drop is the figure businesses, investors and households will be checking first because it shows how quickly momentum can shift from one release to the next. In March, real GDP grew by 0.3%, and in February it rose by 0.4%, so April marked a clear pause after a short but steady run of improvement.
Over the three months to April 2026, real GDP was estimated to have grown by 0.7% compared with the three months to January 2026. That was the fifth consecutive three-month period of growth, after gains of 0.5% in the three months to February and 0.6% in the three months to March. The broader trend still points to an economy that has been edging higher, even with the latest monthly dip.
Services output rose by 0.8% over the three months to April, while construction output increased by 1.6%. Production output fell by 0.1% over the same period. In April itself, however, services output fell by 0.2%, production showed no growth and construction rose by only 0.1%, a mix that helps explain why the monthly reading turned negative.
The Office for National Statistics said there were no periods open for revision in this release. It also said figures will be open to revisions from Quarter 1 2024 in the next quarterly national accounts publication on 30 June 2026, with those revisions then flowing into the GDP monthly estimate bulletin on 16 July 2026. Gross domestic product measures the value of goods and services produced in the UK, and this release also included improvements to the coverage of government health output, allowing estimates for prescription drugs, mental healthcare and community health services to be included.
The unresolved question is not whether the economy is still growing over the medium term, but what specifically drove the April fall in monthly uk gdp. That answer may shift again when the figures are revised next month and then updated in the monthly bulletin in July.
