UK Q1 GDP growth confirmed at 0.8%; household incomes decline 0.2%

The UK economy grew 0.8% in the first quarter, according to figures released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics, in line with the initial estimate.

This was down from 1.3% growth in the fourth quarter of 2021.

On an annual basis, GDP growth for the first quarter was confirmed at 8.7%, up from 6.6% in the final quarter of last year.

ONS director of Economic Statistics, Darren Morgan, said: "Our latest estimate for economic growth in the first quarter is unrevised as a whole, showing the UK economy continued to recover from the pandemic."

ONS data also showed that household incomes fell for the fourth quarter in a row in the first three months of the year - the longest run of declines since 1955. Adjusted for inflation, disposable incomes fell 0.2%, leaving incomes down 1.3% on the year even before the increase in energy bills and National Insurance in April.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said the decline in household incomes - CE has been expecting a 0.2% increase - "leaves households with a slightly smaller buffer than we expected to cope with the much bigger falls in real incomes that are going to hit in Q2 and Q3 due to the surge in inflation".

"In 2022 as a whole, we think real incomes will decline by around 2.0%," he said.