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In May 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.