By Ruby Watson, Raquel Ortega-Argilés
The Productivity Lab has released the 2025 edition of The Productivity Institute’s UK International Territorial Level 3 (ITL3) Regional Productivity Scorecard series, which assesses productivity performance across regions and devolved nations in the UK.
The 2025 TPI UK ITL3 Productivity Scorecards facilitate comparisons both between and within regions and the ITL1 and ITL3 geographical levels. This new series incorporates data from various sources, including the latest revised release of ONS sub-national productivity data, and provides detailed information on productivity drivers for the most recent year available. The scorecards cover the 12 UK ITL1 sub-national areas and the 182 UK ITL3 sub-regional areas.
UK ITL3 Scorecard series – Main Productivity Drivers and Metrics
The scorecards examine four regional productivity drivers: business performance, skills and training, health and well-being, and investment and infrastructure. This analysis aids in the development of strategic initiatives and objectives at the national, regional and local levels.
Figure 1. Productivity Drivers TPI UK ITL3 Scorecard Series
The scorecards are organised into five main blocks, utilising the latest data available.
For productivity performance, the scorecards include the most recent data from the ONS on regional productivity, specifically focusing on ITL3 output per hour worked. “Output” refers to Gross Value Added (GVA), which estimates the volume of goods and services produced by an industry within a specific geographic area, as well as in aggregate across industries in that area. Additionally, the scorecards incorporate regional taxonomies related to the entire UK (reflecting interregional variation) and their own ITL1 categories (indicating intraregional variation).
- Business performance and characteristics are represented by export intensity and the creation of new businesses.
- Regional skills are evaluated based on the percentages of low-skilled and high-skilled individuals within the local workforce.
- Regional health and well-being are assessed using metrics such as the percentage of the active working population in the current year, the share of individuals inactive due to illness, and the regional average working age. The data on skills and work-related values are derived from new calculations based on the ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS). This survey, which is a household survey, has been reweighted to enhance the accuracy of labour market information. This reweighting accounts for demographic changes – such as changes in population age, gender or regional composition – in the UK, which have affected employment, unemployment and economic activity across the country.
- Investment, infrastructure and connectivity are illustrated using metrics such as regional investment in 5G, fibre, Gross Fixed Capital Formation per job, ICT per job and Intangibles per job.
The 2025 UK ITL3 Productivity Scorecards incorporate information on ITL1 regions’ productivity drivers and disaggregate these regions at the ITL3 level. For more details on the indicators’ descriptions and data sources, can see our Figshare data repository.
Using these indicators is essential for understanding productivity performance in the United Kingdom, including its diverse regions, devolved nations, and local communities. These indicators allow for a thorough assessment of relative strengths and weaknesses compared to other areas within the UK and their specific regions.
When a region shows indicators of poor performance, it may suggest the presence of a bottleneck that hinders productivity growth in that area. Such situations can uncover underlying issues that need to be addressed, potentially highlighting specific policy areas that require further investigation and targeted interventions to boost regional productivity and economic competitiveness. Engaging in this in-depth analysis can lead to more informed decision-making and tailored strategies for improving productivity across different geographical levels.
There will be ITL1 regions that may underperform in certain indicators, and the explanation could be found in the uneven performance of their ITL3 areas, with only a few of them responsible for the lower (ITL1) regional performance. The opposite can also be observed; London and the South East are areas that overperform in many of the scorecard indicators, but this overperformance may eventually hide the severe underperformance of some of their ITL3 areas.
Key factors
Improving productivity in sub-national areas is a complex challenge that requires a multifaceted approach. It involves identifying and addressing the key factors that drive productivity, such as infrastructure, education, research and development, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Achieving overall performance necessitates strong performance in most of these areas.
For example, investing in infrastructure can enhance connectivity and accessibility, leading to increased productivity by lowering transportation costs and improving market access. Likewise, investing in education, research, and development can cultivate a more skilled workforce and foster innovative ideas, ultimately boosting productivity over time.
To boost performance in sub-national areas effectively, it is crucial to implement a comprehensive strategy that tackles all major drivers of productivity. This holistic approach will ensure sustainable improvement and drive success.
2025 TPI UK ITL3 Scorecard series
The 2025 TPI UK ITL3 Productivity Scorecards are based on the latest productivity data available, specifically from the ONS sub-regional productivity data release of June 2025. It is worth noting that the ITL3 data might be affected by unmeasured differences in regional prices and smaller samples. Figure 2 illustrates the taxonomy used in our scorecards to categorise UK ITL areas according to their productivity performance. Each category of the taxonomy (Steaming Ahead, Losing Ground, Catching Up and Falling Behind) is defined based on Gross Value Added (GVA) per hour worked in 2023 and the productivity growth change from 2008 to 2023. By comparing ITL areas to the UK average productivity values, they are assigned to a taxonomy category. We provide the taxonomy for ITL1 areas in Figure 2 for their comparative analysis based on the same productivity data used in the ITL3 scorecards. Similarly, ITL3 sub-regions within each ITL1 area can be categorised in this taxonomy to provide a more detailed analysis and comparison within- and between ITL1 regions.
Figure 2. UK Subnational Productivity Performance, 2023
The TPI ITL3 regional productivity scorecards reveal significant variations in productivity across the different UK regions. By comparing areas within the ITL3 regions, we can gain valuable insights into the factors contributing to these productivity differences. For instance, we illustrate this with an example from the North West, as shown in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3. 2025 UK ITL3 Productivity Scorecard.
In 2023, the North West ITL1 area was classified as a Catching Up region. This classification is based on its higher percentage growth from 2008-2023 compared to the UK regional average. However, the region had a lower GVA per hour worked in 2023 than the average UK ITL1 region, as shown in Figure 3. Additionally, there are notable differences in productivity and the factors driving productivity when examining the subregional areas (ITL3).
In the North West, the Manchester area is classified as a Steaming Ahead region, having outperformed the UK regional average in productivity during 2023 and showing growth since the recession. As Figure 3 indicates, the region ranks above or equal to the national regional average in all productivity drivers.
In contrast, Cheshire East as well as Cheshire West and Chester, also exceeded the UK regional average productivity for 2023 but are categorised as Losing Ground due to their slower growth in productivity performance since the 2008 economic recession. Apart from the working-age population and the number of new businesses, these regions excel in many productivity drivers compared to the UK regional average.
In 2023, the North West ITL1 area was categorised as a Catching Up region. This designation is based on its higher percentage growth in productivity from 2008-2023 relative to the UK regional average but a lower GVA per hour worked in 2023 than the average UK ITL1 regions, as shown in Figure 3.
There is a significant group of areas categorised as Catching Up in the North West. These areas show lower productivity rates in 2023 compared to the UK regional average but have demonstrated higher productivity growth rates since the 2008 recession. This group includes Greater Manchester South East, Lancaster and Wyre, East Lancashire, Greater Manchester North West, Blackburn with Darwen and Greater Manchester North East.
Lastly, areas that require major attention are those classified as Falling Behind. These regions include Greater Manchester South West, Mid Lancashire, East Merseyside, Warrington, Chorley and West Lancashire, Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, Cumberland and Blackpool. This region present lower productivity in 2023 and a falling growth rate since the recession, they also underperformance in almost all the productivity drivers when compared to the UK regional average and the North West region. In conclusion, the 2025 Edition of the TPI UK ITL3 Scorecards represents a comprehensive assessment of the current landscape of productivity performance in the UK. This data tool and the complementary information not only highlight key performance metrics and benchmarks but also provides valuable insights into areas for improvement and policy attention.
Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the expert advice and suggestions received from several members of our Regional Productivity Forums and the TPI Productivity Lab experts group members in different editions.
Note:
iThe TPI UK ITL1 and ITL3 Scorecards are adapted and methodologically modified from Jordan and Turner’s The Northern Ireland Productivity Dashboard 2022, inspired by the CBI/KPMG Scottish Productivity Index 2021.
Dataset citation
McKeogh, N; Menukhin, O; Ortega-Argilés, R; Sarsfield, W; Silva Ruiz, A; Watson, R (2025). TPI UK ITL3 Scorecards, 2025 Edition. University of Manchester.