With another quarter of growth, it seems safe to say that UK consumer sentiment is showing both a short and long-term upward trend.

Consumers are still cautious, but there is a building sense of optimism about the future. If this trend continues 2026 may be a very positive year for consumer sentiment, and that implies a stronger economic outlook.

With fieldwork conducted on our consumer panel in January there’s no impact here from recent military action in the Middle East, which may start to show in future trends.

Key findings from the latest report include:

• The Index of Consumer Sentiment has increased 4 points to 75.1

• Consumer sentiment in the EU has remained stable, while US consumer sentiment remains very low

• While US consumer sentiment has increased this quarter, the gap has now grown to 18.7 points, a record margin in the history of our index

• Younger people have significantly higher sentiment, and the overall increase is driven by the optimism of younger consumers

• 25-34 year olds have by far the highest sentiment score

• Sentiment correlates positively with household income, but those on a household income of £40,000 to £49,999 have significantly declined in optimism since the beginning of 2025