| Britain’s economy grew more quickly than previously thought in the last three months of 2021 as a surge in activity in the health sector around the onset of the Omicron wave of COVID-19 cases masked the inflation hit to household incomes.
The largest contributors to the increase came from health and social work, including increased visits to doctors at the start of the quarter, a large increase in coronavirus testing and tracing and the extension of the vaccination programme. Households dipped into their lockdown savings to finance their spending. The saving ratio fell to 6.8 per cent of disposable income from 7.5 per cent, heading back towards its level of 6 per cent immediately before the pandemic, the ONS said.
The dip in the third quarter reflected the increased impact of inflation on household budgets and a revision down of pension contributions.