Consumer confidence in the UK deteriorated sharply in October 2026, with GfK’s index falling by 11 points to -24, according to results reported by The Guardian. Excluding the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the biggest monthly decline since July 2016, following the referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
The deterioration extended to consumers’ assessments of both their own finances and the outlook for the British economy. The survey therefore points to weakening sentiment not just about household finances, but also about the country’s wider economic prospects.
Consumers also became markedly less willing to make major purchases. The index measuring that sentiment fell by 14 points to -22. That is a significant indication of consumers’ attitudes, but it does not mean their actual spending fell by a comparable amount: GfK’s index measures reported sentiment, rather than the value of purchases made in shops.
GfK’s Neil Bellamy linked the worsening mood to continuing cost-of-living pressures and regional conflicts affecting inflation. That is GfK’s assessment of the causes; the survey results alone do not establish that these factors were the sole drivers of October’s decline.
The historical comparison reported by The Guardian on 23 October puts the change into perspective. The index’s record monthly fall was 25 points in March 2020. October’s decline was therefore considerably smaller than that pandemic-era collapse, but, outside the pandemic, there had been no equally sharp deterioration for more than a decade.
