Consumer confidence picks up

UK consumer confidence jumped in August according to an official poll, despite the government's austerity drive and fears a double-dip recession could be around the corner.

This is the first rise in five months, according to the GfK/NOP index, and suggests a significant number of people expect conditions to improve not slide backwards.

Those surveyed said they felt more confident in both their personal finances and the country's economy over the last and the next 12 months.

However, consumers are still cautious and still not keen to splash out on big ticket items.

"Overall consumer confidence has been in constant decline for the last five months and a further fall would have made a double-dip recession seem a very real prospect. The government will undoubtedly read these figures with a great deal of relief," said Nick Moon, managingdirector of GfK NOP social research.

"The single biggest improvement has been in confidence in the economy over the next 12 months and this looks particularly encouraging on first sight," said Moon.

But he countered saying this gain merely reverses a similarly large drop in July.

He said: "In reality, confidence in the economy's future prospects remains below its June level and similar to May 2009 when we were still in the grips of a recession."