UK inflation data showing CPI by category, historical trends, and CPI/CPIH comparisons. Data from Office for National Statistics November 2025.

In 2026, the average annual inflation rate for the United Kingdom is expected to be 2.3 percent, with the average rate for 2027 predicted to fall to two percent. Inflation in the UK increased at a faster rate than expected in 2025, with the rate revised upwards from earlier predictions at the start of that year. Like many countries, 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 the recent uptick in 2025, the inflation rate is expected to fall within the Bank of England's target rate of two percent between 2027 and 2030. 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.

In February 2026, the Consumer Price Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) inflation rate of the United Kingdom was *** percent, unchanged from the previous month. The CPIH rate rose sharply between spring 2021 and autumn 2022. After peaking at *** percent in October 2022, CPIH inflation declined throughout 2023 and into 2024, falling to *** percent by September of that year before increasing again recently. Cost of living problems persist in late 2025 Although the 2021-2023 inflation crisis has passed, the issues caused by it have lingered into 2025. While the share of households experiencing living cost rises has fallen from ** percent in August 2022, to ** percent in July 2024, this share rose in 2025, reaching ** percent in April. Even with lower inflation, overall consumer prices have already increased by around ** percent in the last three years, rising to almost ** percent for food prices, which lower income households typically spend more of their income on. The significant increase in people relying on food banks across the UK, is evidence of the magnitude of this problem, with approximately **** million people using food banks in 2023/24. Other measures of inflation While the CPIH inflation rate displayed here is the preferred index of the UK's Office of National Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is often more prominently featured in the media in general. An older index, the Retail Price Index (RPI) is also still used by the government to calculate certain taxes and rail fares. Other metrics include the core inflation rate, which measures price increases without the volatility of food and energy costs, while price increases in goods and services can also be tracked separately. The inflation rate of individual sectors can also be measured, and as of December 2025, prices were rising fastest in the education sector, at ****percent, with costs falling in the clothing, and furniture sectors.

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

Representative items within the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs, Consumer Prices Index and Retail Prices Index for the basket of goods and services.

Historical price index data for the United Kingdom from 1751 to 2025, compiled from the ONS Composite Price Index (1751-1948) and Retail Price Index (1949-present), measuring changes in the cost of living over 275 years of British economic history.

Cost of food in the United Kingdom increased 3.30 percent in February of 2026 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Food Inflation - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the inflation rate for food prices in the United Kingdom was measured at 4.6 percent. A period of continuous deflation between March 2015 and January 2017 preceded a return to a sustained rise in the cost of food from February 2017 onwards. While food prices were deflating between September 2020 and July 2021, they started increasing rapidly from August 2021 to March 2023. The inflation rate started to decline in April 2023 but is picking up again in 2025.Inflation rate and consumer price indexInflation is commonly measured via the consumer price index, which illustrates changes to prices paid by consumers for a representative basket of goods and services. An annualized percentage change in the price index constitutes a measure of inflation. In order to maintain an inflation rate at a stable level to enable the general public and businesses to plan their spending, the Government set a two percent inflation target for the Bank of England. The discounter boom The increase in food prices in the United Kingdom has shifted shopping behaviors amongst consumers. Value is now key and shoppers are changing their retailer loyalties. Aldi, the German discount supermarket retailer, overtook Morrisons as Great Britain's fourth largest supermarket in September of 2022. Aldi's market share reached double digits for the first time in April 2023. It is yet to be seen if Lidl, Aldi's discounter competitor, can also continue to rise up in the ranks and eventually take over Morrisons as the fifth leading food retailer.

In the three months to January 2026, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 3.8 percent. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was three percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. Average salaries in the UK In 2025, the average salary for full-time workers in the UK was just over 39,000 British pounds a year, up from 37,500 in the previous year. For London, the average annual salary was far higher than the rest of the country, at almost 50,000 pounds per year, compared with just 34,400 in North East England. There also still exists a noticeable gender pay gap in the UK, which was almost seven percent for full-time workers in 2025, down from 17.4 percent in 1997. Lastly, the monthly earnings of the top one percent in the UK was 16,212 pounds as of September 2025, far higher than even that of the average for the top ten percent, who earned 5,784 pounds per month, while pay for the lowest 10 percent of earners was just 855 pounds per month. Waves of industrial action in the UK One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes. Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors. Many of the workers who took part in strikes were part of the UK's public sector, which saw far weaker wage growth than that of the private sector throughout 2022. Widespread industrial action continued into 2023, with approximately 303,000 workers involved in industrial disputes in March 2023. There was far less industrial action by 2024, however, due to settlements in many of the disputes, although some are ongoing as of 2025.

Construction Output Price Indices (OPIs) from January 2014 to September 2025, UK. Summary

Energy Inflation in the United Kingdom decreased to -1 percent in February from 0.20 percent in January of 2026. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Energy Inflation.

Building materials made of steel, copper and other metals had some of the highest price growth rates in the U.S. in the first half of 2025 in comparison to the previous year. The growth rate of the cost of several construction materials was slightly lower than in late 2024. It is important to note, though, that the figures provided are Producer Price Indices, which cover production within the United States, but do not include imports or tariffs. This might matter for lumber, as Canada's wood production is normally large enough that the U.S. can import it from its neighboring country. Construction material prices in the United Kingdom Similarly to these trends in the U.S., at that time the price growth rate of construction materials in the UK were generally lower 2024 than in 2023. Nevertheless, the cost of some construction materials in the UK still rose that year, with several of those items reaching price growth rates of over **** percent. Considering that those materials make up a very big share of the costs incurred for a construction project, those developments may also have affected the average construction output price in the UK. Construction material shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic During the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, there often were supply problems and material shortages, which created instability in the construction market. According to a survey among construction contractors, the construction materials most affected by shortages in the U.S. during most of 2021 were steel and lumber. This was also a problem on the other side of the Atlantic: The share of building construction companies experiencing shortages in Germany soared between March and June 2021, staying at high levels for over a year. Meanwhile, the shortage of material or equipment was one of the main factors limiting the building activity in France in June 2022.

From 2015 to 2024, the construction output prices of public and private housing increased by ***** percent in the United Kingdom (UK). Meanwhile, the prices of industrial buildings increased by ***** percent during that period, and infrastructure prices by ***** percent. Housing and industrial are the segments that increased the most during that period. Balfour Beatty ranked in the past years as the construction firm with the largest revenue in the UK.

The average house price in England started to increase in August 2024, after falling by over three percent year-on-year in December 2023. In November 2025, the house price index amounted to 101.9 index points, suggesting an increase in house prices of 2.2 percent since the same month in 2024 and roughly 1.9 percent rise since January 2023 - the baseline year for the index. Among the different regions in the UK, Northern Ireland and North East have experienced the strongest growth since 2023.