Measures of monthly UK inflation data including CPIH, CPI and RPI. These tables complement the consumer price inflation time series dataset.

Comprehensive database of time series covering measures of inflation data for the UK including CPIH, CPI and RPI.

Inflation is an important measure of any country’s economy, and the Retail Price Index (RPI) is one of the most widely used indicators in the United Kingdom, with the rate expected to be 4.1 percent in 2025, compared with 3.6 percent in 2024. This followed 2022, when RPI inflation reached a rate of 11.6 percent, by far the highest annual rate during this provided time period. CPI vs RPI Although the Retail Price Index is a commonly utilized inflation indicator, the UK also uses a newer method of calculating inflation, the Consumer Price Index. The CPI, along with the CPIH (Consumer Price Index including owner occupiers' housing costs) are usually preferred by the UK government, but the RPI is still used in certain instances. Increases in rail fares for example, are calculated using the RPI, while increases in pension payments are calculated using CPI, when this is used as the uprating factor. The use of one inflation measure over the other can therefore have a significant impact on people’s lives in the UK. High inflation falls to more typical levels by 2024 Like the Retail Price Index, the Consumer Price Index inflation rate also reached a recent peak in October 2022. In that month, prices were rising by 11.1 percent and did not fall below double figures until April 2023. This fall was largely due to slower price increases in key sectors such as energy, which drove a significant amount of the 2022 wave of inflation. Inflation nevertheless remains elevated, fueled not only by high food inflation, but also by underlying core inflation. As of February 2025, the overall CPI inflation rate was 2.8 percent, although an uptick in inflation is expected later in the year, with a rate of 3.7 percent forecast for the third quarter of the year.

The inflation rate for the Retail Price Index (RPI) in the United Kingdom was 4.5 percent in April 2025, up from 3.2 percent in the previous month. From 2021 onwards, prices in the UK rose rapidly, with the RPI inflation rate peaking at 14.2 percent in October 2022. Although inflation fell in subsequent months, it wasn't until July 2023 that inflation fell below double digits, and as of late 2024, the RPI rate was still above three percent. The CPI and CPIH While the retail price index is still a popular method of calculating inflation, the consumer price index (CPI) is the current main measurement of inflation in the UK. There is also an additional price index, which includes some extra housing costs, known as the Consumer Price Index including homer occupiers' costs (CPIH) index, which is seen by the UK's Office of National Statistics as the official inflation rate. As of December 2024, the CPI inflation rate stood at 2.5 percent, while the CPIH rate was 3.5 percent. Core inflation down in 2024 Another way of measuring inflation is to strip out the volatility of energy and food prices and look at the underlying core inflation rate. As of December 2024, this was 3.2 percent, slightly higher than the overall CPI rate, but more aligned with the overall figure than it was in 2022 and 2023. When inflation peaked at 11.2 percent in October 2022, for example, core inflation stood at just 6.5 percent. After energy prices in 2023 fell relative to 2022, the overall inflation rate in the UK declined quite rapidly, with core inflation overtaking the overall rate in July 2023. During the most recent period of high inflation, core inflation peaked at 7.1 percent in May 2023, and while taking longer to fall than the overall figure, has generally been declining since then.

The consumer price inflation detailed briefing note contains details of the items contributing to the changes in the CPIH (and RPI), details of any notable movements, a summary of the reconciliation of CPIH and RPI, and the outlook, which looks ahead to next month’s release.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure the changes from month to month in the cost of a representative 'basket' of goods and services bought by consumers within the UK. This involves weighting together price changes in the indices according to household spending patterns for different categories of goods and services so that each takes its appropriate share. At the beginning of each year the weights used to compile both the CPI and RPI are updated using the latest available information on household spending. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Updating Weights

(CDID: CZXA) Year - Consumer price inflation time series Time series data for public sector finances and important fiscal aggregates, based on the new European System of Accounts 2010: ESA10 framework.

The Prices Survey Microdata include the underlying price data used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to produce the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), the Retail Prices Index (RPI) and associated price indices. The CPI has become the main domestic measure of inflation for macroeconomic purposes in the UK. Since December 2003 it has been used for the inflation target that the Bank of England is required to achieve. The RPI is the most long-standing measure of inflation in the UK, and its uses have included the indexation of pensions, state benefits and index-linked gilts. The study also includes the data underlying the Producer Prices Index.

There are four levels of sampling for local price collection: locations/shopping areas; outlets/shops within locations; representative items/goods and services; and products and varieties (price quotes).

There are two basic price collection methods: local and central. Local collection is used for most items; prices are obtained from outlets in about 150 locations around the country. Some 110,000 quotations are obtained by this method. Normally, collectors must visit the outlet, but prices for some items may be collected by telephone. Central collection is used for items where all the prices can be collected centrally by the ONS with no field work. These prices can be further sub-divided into two categories, depending on their subsequent use: 1) central shops, where the prices are combined with prices obtained locally, and 2) central items, where the prices are used on their own to construct centrally calculated indices. There are about 130 items for which the prices are collected centrally.

The retail price data include the locations containing the shopping outlets from which the price quotes were obtained. These locations are intended to be broadly representative of a central shopping area and the areas where the local shopping population tend to live. The data also include the regions in which those shopping areas are located.

Linking to other business studies
The producer prices data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

Latest edition information
For the thirty-fifth edition (May 2024), monthly Item Indices and Price Quotes data files for January to March 2024 have been added to the study.

There are a number of differences between the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and Retail Prices Index (RPI), including their coverage, population base, commodity measurement and methods of construction. Combined, these differences have meant that, for most of its history, the CPI has been lower than the RPI. One of the main reasons to this difference is the method of construction at the lowest level, where different formulae are used in the CPI and RPI to combine individual prices. This difference is usually referred to as the formula effect. This article will investigate similar formula effects present in the inflation measures of other countries, and where necessary will attempt to explain why the magnitude of the formula effect experienced by other countries differs from that of the UK.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: International Comparison

The purpose of this article is to give the estimated effects on the Consumer Prices Index and Retail Prices Index resulting from duty and taxation changes announced in the Budget.

This article is simply a helpful guide to users of the CPI and RPI. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) accepts no liability whatsoever for losses of any kind arising as a result of reliance on this note.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Budget

The 'shopping basket' of items making up the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and Retail Prices Index (RPI) are reviewed every year. Some items are taken out of the basket, some are brought in, to reflect changes in the market and to make sure the CPI and RPI are up to date and representative of consumer spending patterns. This article describes the review process and explains how and why the various items in the CPI and RPI baskets are chosen.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Basket of Goods

(CDID: SGUC) Year - Consumer price inflation time series Time series data for public sector finances and important fiscal aggregates, based on the new European System of Accounts 2010: ESA10 framework.

An analysis of trends in inflation since 1947 as measured by the Retail Prices Index (RPI).

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Consumer inflation

In 2024, the annual inflation rate for the United Kingdom was 2.5 percent, with the average rate for 2025 predicted to rise to 3.2 percent, revised upwards from an earlier prediction of 2.6 percent. The UK has only recently recovered from a period of elevated inflation, which saw the CPI rate reach 9.1 percent in 2022, and 7.3 percent in 2023. Despite an uptick in inflation expected in 2025, the inflation rate is expected to fall to 2.1 percent in 2026, and two percent between 2027 and 2029. UK inflation crisis Between 2021 and 2023, inflation surged in the UK, reaching a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent in October 2022. Although inflation fell to more usual levels by 2024, prices in the UK had already increased by over 20 percent relative to the start of the crisis. The two main drivers of price increases during this time were food and energy inflation, two of the main spending areas of UK households. Although food and energy prices came down quite sharply in 2023, underlying core inflation, which measures prices rises without food and energy, remained slightly above the headline inflation rate throughout 2024, suggesting some aspects of inflation had become embedded in the UK economy. Inflation rises across in the world in 2022 The UK was not alone in suffering from runaway inflation over the last few years. From late 2021 onwards, various factors converged to encourage a global acceleration of prices, leading to the ongoing inflation crisis. Blocked-up supply chains were one of the main factors as the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed by energy and food inflation skyrocketing after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Central bank interest rates were raised globally in response to the problem, possibly putting an end to the era of cheap money that has defined monetary policy since the financial crash of 2008.

This article describes the new RPIJ measure of Consumer Price Inflation. RPIJ is a Retail Prices Index (RPI) based measure that will use a geometric (Jevons) formula in place of one type of arithmetic formula (Carli). It is being launched in response to the National Statistician's conclusion that the RPI does not meet international standards due to the use of the Carli formula in its calculation. The accompanying Excel file includes a back series for RPIJ from 1997 to 2012.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: New RPIJ measure of Consumer Price Inflation

(CDID: CZDS) Quarter - Consumer price inflation time series Time series data for public sector finances and important fiscal aggregates, based on the new European System of Accounts 2010: ESA10 framework.

(CDID: CZBZ) Quarter - Consumer price inflation time series Time series data for public sector finances and important fiscal aggregates, based on the new European System of Accounts 2010: ESA10 framework.

(CDID: CBWZ) Year - Consumer price inflation time series Time series data for public sector finances and important fiscal aggregates, based on the new European System of Accounts 2010: ESA10 framework.

(CDID: CDJT) Year - Consumer price inflation time series Time series data for public sector finances and important fiscal aggregates, based on the new European System of Accounts 2010: ESA10 framework.

Inflation Rate in the United Kingdom increased to 3.50 percent in April from 2.60 percent in March of 2025. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Inflation Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.