{"id":2181798,"date":"2026-10-30T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/?p=2181798"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:49:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T10:49:59","slug":"north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases","title":{"rendered":"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Business confidence in the North West rose by seven points in October to 56%, according to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">North West firms\u2019 confidence in their own trading outlook remained unchanged month-on-month at 57%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, up 13 points to 54%, this gives a headline confidence reading of 56% (vs. 49% in September 2026).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their optimism in the economy was driven by stronger customer or market demand (43%), better economic data or news (40%) and industry-specific improvements (41%).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A net balance of 50% of businesses in the region expect to increase staff levels over the next year, up 18 points on last month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Business confidence in the North West now sits above the 12-month average of 50%, with its highest figure this year of 59% in August.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Looking ahead to the next six months, North West businesses identified their top target areas for growth as investing in sustainability (48%), investing in their team, for example through training (45%) and entering new markets (44%).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly and which has been running since 2002, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jenny France, area director for the North West at Lloyds, said: \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see that confidence levels in the North West have increased again this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cConfident firms create exciting new opportunities across the region, for example with more businesses now expecting to increase their staffing levels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She added: \u201cConfidence sitting above the 12-month average is a positive sign as we start to approach the end of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAnd with businesses signalling clear priorities on how to drive growth, we\u2019ll continue to support them to bring these plans to life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Overall, UK business confidence rose six points to 47% in October, sitting above the long term average of 30%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The rise follows September\u2019s reading of 41%. October has also seen an improvement in firms\u2019 own trading outlook and economic optimism, despite continued uncertainty from the Middle East conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Optimism in the wider economy rose nine points to 40%, compared with a 12-month average of 37%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The drivers that led to the increase included stronger customer demand, better economic news, and improving financial conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Businesses\u2019 own trading outlook increased five points to 55%, compared with a 12-month average of 56%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nearly two thirds of firms (63%, up six points from September) expect an increase in activity over the year ahead, while those expecting a decrease in activity rose by one point to eight per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Among firms expecting stronger activity, the main drivers were stronger customer demand, increased investment in technology and improved supply chain conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fiamma Morton, SME Banking at Lloyds managing director, said: \u201cI hear from business owners every day about their determination to keep moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThere are still challenges, but increasingly the conversation is about what comes next: where new customers will come from, how technology can make the business better, and where investing today might create an opportunity tomorrow?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThere are careful choices to make. Cost pressures haven\u2019t gone away, so investment needs to work hard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cBut the ambition is absolutely there. Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217725,"featured_media":2124948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782],"coauthors":[46761],"class_list":["post-2181798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-featured-story","tag-northwest"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&#039;Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move&#039;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#039;Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North West\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-30T06:00:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-29T10:49:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1668\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1113\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Neil Hodgson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Neil Hodgson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases\",\"name\":\"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-30T06:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-29T10:49:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#\/schema\/person\/fa48fb423602cb1966a9a546cfe09356\"},\"description\":\"'Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move'\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg\",\"width\":1668,\"height\":1113,\"caption\":\"Jenny France\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/\",\"name\":\"North West\",\"description\":\"Regional business news for North West\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#\/schema\/person\/fa48fb423602cb1966a9a546cfe09356\",\"name\":\"Neil Hodgson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/25f0ca12630eea7c4ef70e0e79410230\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4f4bd7490f3eb3a48232a5106ce659a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4f4bd7490f3eb3a48232a5106ce659a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Neil Hodgson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/author\/neilhodgson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases","description":"'Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move'","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases","og_description":"'Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move'","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases","og_site_name":"North West","article_published_time":"2026-10-30T06:00:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-29T10:49:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1668,"height":1113,"url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Neil Hodgson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Neil Hodgson","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases","url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases","name":"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg","datePublished":"2026-10-30T06:00:05+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-29T10:49:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#\/schema\/person\/fa48fb423602cb1966a9a546cfe09356"},"description":"'Businesses are continuing to find ways to grow, adapt and make their next move'","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/nov_23\/Jenny-France-Lloyds-Bank-e1701257189950.jpg","width":1668,"height":1113,"caption":"Jenny France"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2181798-north-west-business-confidence-rises-as-economic-optimism-increases#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"North West business confidence rises as economic optimism increases"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/","name":"North West","description":"Regional business news for North West","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#\/schema\/person\/fa48fb423602cb1966a9a546cfe09356","name":"Neil Hodgson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/25f0ca12630eea7c4ef70e0e79410230","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4f4bd7490f3eb3a48232a5106ce659a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4f4bd7490f3eb3a48232a5106ce659a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Neil Hodgson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/author\/neilhodgson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2181798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2181799,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181798\/revisions\/2181799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2124948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2181798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2181798"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2181798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}