Decision Maker Panel Survey - March 2026 Price and Inflation Data

Bank of England News

Published April 2nd, 2026

Detected April 2nd, 2026

Summary

The Bank of England published March 2026 Decision Maker Panel survey results based on 2,004 responses from UK business CFOs. Realised annual own-price growth was 3.7%, down 0.1pp from February, while year-ahead own-price inflation expectations increased to 3.5%. Overall business uncertainty rose to 57% reporting high or very high uncertainty, up 10 percentage points from February.

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What changed

The Bank of England's Decision Maker Panel released its March 2026 survey results covering 2,004 responses from UK businesses between 6-20 March 2026. Key findings include realised annual own-price growth of 3.7% (down 0.1pp from February), year-ahead own-price inflation expectations of 3.5% (up 0.1pp), and three-year-ahead CPI inflation expectations of 2.7% (down 0.1pp). Business uncertainty increased significantly, with 57% of firms reporting high or very high uncertainty, a 10 percentage point increase from February, attributed partly to recent energy price increases. Employment growth expectations remained subdued at 0.1% for the year ahead.

This is an informational data release with no compliance requirements. No regulatory action is required from surveyed businesses or other parties. The data reflects current economic conditions and business sentiment as monitored by the Bank of England for monetary policy purposes. Financial institutions and businesses may reference these indicators for internal economic forecasting.

Source document (simplified)

Monthly Decision Maker Panel data - March 2026

The Decision Maker Panel (DMP) is a survey of Chief Financial Officers from small, medium and large UK businesses. We use it to monitor developments in the economy and to track businesses’ views.

Published on

02 April 2026 The March 2026 DMP survey was conducted between 6-20 March 2026 and received 2,004 responses.

Firms reported that their realised annual own-price growth was 3.7% in the three months to March, down 0.1 percentage points from the three months to February. Note that the DMP covers own prices from firms across the whole economy, not just consumer-facing firms.

Year-ahead own-price inflation was expected to be 3.5% in the three months to March, 0.1 percentage points higher than in the three months to February. The single month data increased from 3.4% to 3.7% between February and March, pointing to firms adjusting their expectations as a result of the recent increases in energy prices.

Expectations for year-ahead CPI inflation remained unchanged in the three-month averages. However, in the single month data they increased by 0.5 percentage points to 3.5% in March 2026, pointing to firms adjusting their expectations as a result of the recent increases in energy prices. The corresponding measure for three-year-ahead CPI inflation expectations was 2.7% in the three months to March 2026, which is 0.1pp lower than the three months to February 2026. Three-year-ahead CPI inflation expectations rose by 0.1pp in the single month data.

In March 2026, overall uncertainty rose, with 57% of firms reporting that the overall level of uncertainty facing their business was high or very high, up by 10 percentage points from February. Uncertainty around year-ahead prices also increased in the March 2026 single month data.

Firms reporting that realised annual employment growth was -0.3% in the three months to March, down from -0.2% in the three months to February. Expectations for employment growth over the next year were unchanged at 0.1% in the three months to March.