Most “state of UK SMEs” pieces recycle the same survey everyone else quotes. This one doesn’t. The numbers below come from live enquiry volume across the service platforms we operate — a real-time signal of what UK businesses and households are actually trying to buy, two to three weeks ahead of when it shows up in official statistics.
This is the first edition. We’ll publish it on the first working day of every month.
The headline
Service enquiry volume rose 6.4% month-on-month in May, the third consecutive monthly rise and the strongest reading since the index began. Demand is broadening: where growth in March and April was concentrated in reactive trades, May saw planned and discretionary work return.
Where the movement is
Drainage and emergency trades remained the largest category by volume but grew most slowly, up 2.1% — consistent with these being non-discretionary, weather-and-fault driven services that don’t swing much with confidence.
Commercial cleaning enquiries jumped 11.3%, the sharpest monthly move in the index. Recurring-contract enquiries (rather than one-off cleans) drove most of it, which tends to signal businesses planning ahead rather than reacting — a confidence indicator worth watching.
Waste and clearance sat in the middle at 5.8%, with a clear regional story underneath the national figure.
The regional split
London and the South East accounted for the largest absolute volume, but the fastest growth came from the North West and Yorkshire — both up double digits month-on-month. That pattern, faster growth outside the South East, has now held for two months.
What we read into it
Three consecutive monthly rises, led by discretionary and recurring categories rather than emergencies, is the profile of cautiously returning business confidence rather than a one-off bounce. The regional spread suggests it isn’t a London-only effect.
We’d caveat heavily: one quarter does not make a trend, and our data over-represents service sectors with an online enquiry path. We’ll be transparent every month about what the index can and can’t tell you.
Methodology
The index aggregates anonymised enquiry volume across the UK service platforms operated by our publisher and partners, indexed to a January 2026 baseline of 100. It measures demand signals (enquiries), not completed transactions or revenue. Figures are seasonally unadjusted. No personal or business-identifying data is used or published.