Consumer Optimism Tracker
The weekly read on UK consumer optimism –
how Britain feels, who feels it, why, and what brands should do next.
28 Aug 2026Published 28 Oct 2026Konfidant Week 34Read time: 2 min
UK Consumer Optimism reaches +30 as summer ends on a high
An easy end to the holidays leaves us in a good mood, and we’re looking forward to the change of pace that autumn brings
Net optimism, four-week rolling · 4 Sep 2021 to 28 Aug 2026
Four-week headline +30 · 2 points higher than last year
Latest weekly signal +35 · 7 points higher than last year
Four-week headline +30
2 points higher than last year
What's changing
Summer | Unexpectedly good – we braced for the worst, the weather gave us a good one |
Holidays | Small joys – swapped big days for cheap thrills |
Weather | Sun picked up the tab – free fun and easy days |
Burnham | On the right track – feeling like he gets us, for now |
September | Looking forward – easy summer makes change exciting |
Autumn | Bubble to cocoon – less dread, no more hope, me and mine first |
Summer ends on a high and we’re excited for autumn
The summer holidays ended on a high, as net enjoyment of getting out of the home has risen 12 points in the last week. We’ve been swapping the big thrill days out for smaller wins, meaning the proportion of us with £2k+ in savings has risen to 52%.
The mood is also staying light when it comes to politics, and Burnham’s TikTok vibes are helping us feel like he is in touch with the nation – sentiments that he is in touch with real people are still climbing into Week 7 of his premiership, whereas the same thoughts about Starmer started slipping after Week 5.
With an easy summer behind us now, more of us this year are looking forward to September and especially anticipating the A/W events such as Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas. However, hope for the next 12 months hasn’t changed and remains at 58%, the same as 2024 and 2025, although the feeling of dread has fallen by 2 points on last year. Our focus is still very much on protecting ourselves and those closest to us.
“We’re riding high after an easy summer where the sunshine did the work for us. Just because life is starting again soon, doesn’t mean we should lose the lightness we feel right now.”
Laura Gillespie, Co-Founder, Konfidant
Brand actions: be a helping hand as we begin the reset
Energy is still high and will carry through, but back to school means life begins again:
- Keep it a choice – frame the smart swap as savvy, not sacrifice
- Hold on to the good-summer glow – protect the lightness we’re still feeling
- Sell sorted, not transformed – no 'new me' talk, we’ve done this before
About the data
- The measure
- Every week we ask around 2,000 people across the UK how optimistic they feel about life – not only about money. Consumer Optimism subtracts the share who feel pessimistic from the share who feel optimistic. Alongside the survey we follow a community of 50 UK households, which is where the why comes from. The headline is a four-week rolling score, so one noisy week can't move the story.
- Sample and method
- Around 2,000 UK adults aged 18+, surveyed online and weighted by age, gender, region and social grade.
- Current wave
- n=9,211. Fieldwork: 26 Aug 2026.
- Question
- “Please click below to indicate how optimistic you are feeling about life in general at the moment.” The question scale includes the following responses: Very optimistic (Optimistic) Quite optimistic (Optimistic) Neither optimistic nor pessimistic (Neutral) Quite pessimistic (Pessimistic) Very pessimistic (Pessimistic) The Optimism net score is calculated as percentage optimistic minus percentage pessimistic.
- Headline score
- Four-week rolling average, around 8,000 interviews. Percentage-point change against the same four weeks last year.
- History
- Weekly since March 2020.
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