B2B Sentiment Tracker: Businesses lack confidence in the UK economy – but back themselves to succeed

YouGov’s new quarterly B2B sentiment tracker polled over 2,000 business decision makers about their confidence, their major concerns, and technological adoption – among other things.

British businesses are confident in their own prospects, according to new quarterly YouGov data – but this optimism doesn’t extend to the wider economy.

Our first B2B Sentiment Tracker ran between 1 January – 31 March 2026 and captures the opinions and feelings of the nation’s enterprises at a moment of high external pressure. It will also provide a baseline against which future quarters can be measured.

The tracker asked 2,085 decision makers at UK enterprises about their outlook for the economy, their particular industry, and their specific organisation [JW4] over the next 12 months. Responses are converted into a sentiment score on a scale from 0 to 200: 0 represents an extremely negative outlook, 50 represents a neutral sentiment, and 200 represents an extremely positive outlook.

How confident are British businesses in 2026?

Amid escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran, and the corresponding impact on inflation, businesses register a score of 43.5 for our economic outlook metric. Confidence is higher among larger businesses with 250+ employees, with a score of 52.9, but markedly lower among SMEs (enterprises with under 250 employees), with a score of 37.4.

However, British businesses are more bullish about their own fortunes. When asked about the next 12 months, decision makers are broadly positive, with a score of 71. Again, SMEs areless enthusiastic (64.7), while larger businesses arein a sunnier frame of mind (80.7).

Digging deeper into specific industries, our data shows that IT and telco companies report the highest economic outlook scores (83.2), and the highest levels of positivity around their individual business outlook (105.9). This could reflect recent levels of AI-related investment in the sector, particularly in areas such as data centre spending. At the other end of the scale, legal firms are more cynical about both the economy (34.5), and their own fortunes (62.2), as are businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector (Economic outlook: 33.9; Individual outlook: 62.6).

Tracking pain points: British businesses are most concerned with costs and interest rates 

We also asked enterprises about the most pressing concerns they are currently facing. More than half (56%) cite costs and interest rates, and nearly as many are worried

Regulation and government policy came in third (46%), with geopolitical issues ranking fourth (43%). Building financial resilience rounded out the top five (39%). Global tensions are affecting sentiment – data from earlier this month showed that volatility is particularly impactful at the moment – but everyday considerations such as expansion and keeping the lights on are currently weighing more heavily on the nation’s decision makers.

Concerns varysignificantly from the average depending on the industry. IT & telco companies, for example, are more worried about technological change (49% vs. 30% of all businesses), achieving growth (65% vs. 53%), geopolitical issues (54% vs. 42%), and accessing finance (31% vs. 19%) than the average. Legal companies are also disproportionately concerned about achieving growth (66% vs. 53%), and securing access to finance (25% vs. 19%).

For all the concern around growth, our data shows that UK businesses are more likely to expect a rise in revenue rather than a decline. Some 46% expect to see either slight (<10%) or significant (>10%) increases inrevenue during the next 12 months, with 25% expecting the opposite. The proportion expecting revenue gains rises to 56% among larger businesses and falling to 39% of SMEs.

Which factors will impact British business outlook over the next 12 months?

When we asked businesses about the factors that would have the most influence over outlook in the next 12 months, the most-cited concerns – among those who did not have a neutral outlook are domestic demand for products and services (38%), and inflation and input costs (38%).

Consumer confidence ranks third (35%) – our most recent consumer confidence index fell to the lowest levels since December 2023 – while regulation/policy (27%) and technological change round out the top five (23%).