Survey time period: January 2015 to September 2026
The UK inflation rate was percent in September 2026, up from percent in the previous month. Between September 2022 and March 2023, the UK experienced seven months of double-digit inflation, which peaked at percent in October 2022. Due to this long period of high inflation, UK consumer prices have increased by over percent in the last three years. As of the most recent month, prices were rising fastest in the education sector, at percent, with prices increasing at the slowest rate in the clothing and footwear sector.
The Cost of Living Crisis
High inflation is one of the main factors behind the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis in the UK, which, despite subsiding somewhat in 2024, has continued into 2026. In March 2026, for example, percent of UK households reported their cost of living was increasing compared with the previous month, up from percent in February, but still far lower than at the height of the crisis in 2022. Along with soaring food costs, high energy bills have hit UK households hard, especially lower-income ones that spend more of their earnings on housing costs. As a result of these factors, UK households experienced their biggest fall in living standards in decades in 2022/23.
Global inflation crisis caused a rapid surge in prices
The UK's high inflation and cost of living crisis in 2022 had their origins in the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the initial waves of the virus, global supply chains struggled to meet the renewed demand for goods and services. Food and energy prices, which were already high, increased further in 2022. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 brought an end to the era of cheap gas flowing to European markets from Russia. The war also disrupted global food markets, as both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of cereal crops. As a result of these factors, inflation surged acrossEurope and in other parts of the world but typically declined in 2023 and approached more usual levels by 2024.