Business insights and impact on the UK economy (BICS), 8 October 2026
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·Original: about 8 minutes to read
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
As reported by the source.
English·Web page·opens ons.gov.uk
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.
Summary based on the full text. Read the original for the full argument and data.Read the original on ons.gov.uk
- Tags
- Workforce, AI adoption