---
id: "lib-2026-10-08-business-insights-and-impact-on-the-uk-economy"
type: "library"
title: "Business insights and impact on the UK economy (BICS), 8 October 2026"
lang: "EN"
org: "ONS"
source_type: "Other"
date: "2026-10-08"
week: "2026-W42"
url: "https://nosov.ai/library/lib-2026-10-08-business-insights-and-impact-on-the-uk-economy/"
original_url: "https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/bulletins/businessinsightsandimpactontheukeconomy/8october2026"
tier: "A"
tier_name: "Strong evidence"
tier_reason: "Office for National Statistics fortnightly business survey with a published sample of about 38,600 firms, response rates, weighting and a three-year AI time series; official statistics in development, short on analysis."
summary_basis: "full-text"
original_minutes: "8"
tags: ["workforce", "ai adoption", "headcount", "uk firms"]
---

# Business insights and impact on the UK economy (BICS), 8 October 2026

Tier A (Strong evidence): Office for National Statistics fortnightly business survey with a published sample of about 38,600 firms, response rates, weighting and a three-year AI time series; official statistics in development, short on analysis.

Summary based on the full text.

## In short

The ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey bulletin for 8 October 2026 (Wave 165, fieldwork 21 September to 4 October). Three in ten UK businesses now use some AI, more than triple the 2023 level, and adoption rises with firm size. Among AI users with 10 or more staff, 6% say AI cut their headcount and under 1% say it raised it, shares broadly unchanged for a year. Administrative and clerical roles are the ones most often reported as affected, and that share is rising.

## Key numbers

- 30%: UK businesses using at least one AI technology in September 2026, up from 9% in September 2023
- 38%: AI use among businesses with 10 or more staff
- 6%: AI-using businesses with 10 or more staff reporting lower headcount as a result
- Fewer than 1%: AI-using businesses with 10 or more staff reporting higher headcount
- 38%: AI users with 10 or more staff naming administrative and clerical roles as most affected

## What it reports

- 30% of all businesses use at least one AI technology, stable on June 2026 and up 20 points since September 2023 (9%).
- Firms with 10 or more staff: 38%, up 3 points from June and 26 points since 2023. Firms with fewer than 10 staff: 29%. Largest firms: 51%.
- Most used technologies (10+ staff): LLM text generation 21%, visual content creation 19%, up 16 and 15 points since 2023.
- Information and communication has the highest industry adoption, about 60%.
- Roles most affected (AI users, 10+ staff): administrative and clerical 38% (up 9 points since December 2025), creative or design 24%.
- Headcount: 6% reduced, fewer than 1% increased because of AI.
- The same bulletin reports energy-price concern at 72% and fuel-price concern at 73% of businesses.

## How they got it

Voluntary fortnightly survey of private-sector businesses drawn from the Monthly Business Survey frame. Wave 165 sampled 38,592 businesses with 9,933 responses (25.7%). Estimates are weighted by business count; confidence intervals are published separately. Questions on AI roles began in December 2025.

## Limits

- Official statistics in development; ONS advises caution.
- About a quarter of sampled firms respond, so non-response bias is possible.
- Weighted by count of businesses, not employment, so small firms dominate the headline.
- Finance and insurance, energy, agriculture and public services are excluded, which leaves out sectors with high AI exposure.
- The bulletin gives 51% for firms with 250 or more staff in its main points and for 100 or more staff in the body text.

## Why it matters for companies

This is the cleanest public UK benchmark for AI adoption by firm size and a useful check on vendor surveys that report far higher rates. The headcount question shows that, a year on, very few firms attribute job cuts to AI, while more of them say clerical roles are changing. That gap fits a pattern of tasks shifting before headcount moves. Firms can use these series to calibrate their own adoption against peers of the same size and sector.

Original: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/bulletins/businessinsightsandimpactontheukeconomy/8october2026