ONS survey finds firms increasingly worried about cyber attacks, AI and energy costs

UK businesses are more worried about cyber attacks and artificial intelligence disrupting their supply chains than at any point since the question was first asked in September 2024, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday.

In late October, 21% of businesses with 10 or more employees said they were worried about cyber attacks affecting supply chains over the next year, up 5 percentage points from September.

That figure is also 9 percentage points higher than in September 2025, the ONS said.

Around 1 in 9 firms of that size (12%) were concerned about artificial intelligence, up 7 percentage points from 5% in September 2026.

The figures come from wave 167 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey, which ran from 19 October to 1 November 2026. The ONS describes the results as official statistics in development and advises caution when using them.

Almost 7 in 10 businesses (69%) expressed some degree of concern about energy prices in late October, up 6 percentage points from August.

Among firms with 10 or more employees the share was higher, at 77%, and broadly stable compared with early October.

Some 70% of all businesses were concerned about fuel prices, up 8 percentage points from August, and the figure was 76% for the larger firms.

The August reading was lower: in the earlier bulletin, just over three in five businesses (61%) were concerned about energy prices in early August.

Of larger businesses that reported on supply chain concerns, 64% expected the cost of sourcing materials to be affected, up 9 percentage points from September.

A further 60% expected transport costs to be hit, up 9 points from September 2026 and 27 points from September 2025.

International conflict was a concern for 31% of larger businesses, broadly stable since June but below the 38% peak in April 2026.

Shipping disruption worried 21%, up 14 percentage points from December 2025 but below the 25% recorded in May 2026.

Increased barriers to trade concerned 15%, down from a May peak of 19%, while climate change worried 12%, up from 4% in March 2026.

Over a third (36%) of larger firms said they were not concerned about any of these factors, down from 57% when the question was introduced in September 2024.

The share of businesses trading in late October was 95%, with 86% fully trading and 9% partially trading, for example with reduced hours or staff numbers.

Some 3% said they had temporarily paused trading and 2% said they had permanently ceased trading.

In late September, 21% of trading businesses with 10 or more employees reported exporting goods, services or both in the previous 12 months.

Of those exporters, 40% said their exporting costs had risen compared with a year earlier, broadly stable with June 2026 and the highest proportion since the 43% recorded in June 2023.

The wave 167 sample was 38,542 businesses, and 9,628 responded, compared with 9,862 in wave 166 and 9,933 in wave 165.

The survey is voluntary and runs twice a month, drawing on a sample of approximately 39,000 businesses, with 95% confidence intervals published alongside each dataset.

This wave also asked about exporting and importing, including rules of origin, UK Conformity Assessed markings and domestic trade.

The next release is due on 19 November 2026.