The latest figures from the ONS show that UK inflation is now at its highest rate in more than a year.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices rose by 3.4% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 3.0% in the 12 months to March, with upward effect coming from meat, mineral water, bread and cereals, and sugar and jam.

Downward effects came from vegetables, and from milk, cheese and eggs.

On a monthly basis, food and non-alcoholic beverages prices rose by 0.7% in April, up from 0.3% a year before.

The rise in the monthly rate of inflation saw its largest upward contributions from housing and household services, transport, and recreation and culture, with the ONS reporting the later Easter and Easter travel having an impact, with flights departing in the Easter holidays more expensive than those outside the Easter break.

ONS Acting Director General Grant Fitzner said significant increases in household bills caused inflation to climb steeply.

“Gas and electricity bills rose this month compared with sharp falls at the same time last year due to changes to the Ofgem energy price cap,” he said.

“Water and sewerage bills also rose strongly this year as did vehicle excise duty, which all pushed the headline rate up to its highest level since the beginning of last year.

“This was partially offset by falling prices for motor fuels and clothing, driven by heavy discounting for children’s garments and women’s footwear.”

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Tobacco was a downward driver, with prices rising by less than the same time last year, as were hotels, with prices falling by 1.9% in the month, compared with a rise of 3.1% a year ago.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that a small downward effect also came from food and non-alcoholic beverages, with prices rising by 2.0% in December, unchanged from November last year.

Downward contributions in the annual rate of inflation between November and December last year came from two of the 11 food and non-alcoholic beverage classes, namely bread and cereals, and mineral waters, soft drinks and juices.

Meanwhile, upward contributions came from fruit, and sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate and confectionery.

ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner said the inflation rate was “partly offset by the cost of fuel and also second-hand cars, which saw their first annual growth since July 2023”.

Within alcoholic beverages and tobacco, there was a large downward effect on the all-items 12-month rate change due to tobacco, but was partially offset by wine, where prices overall fell this year by less than a year ago. Meanwhile, in tobacco prices overall rose this year by less than a year ago, particularly for packs of 20 king size cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco.

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Inflation rose by 2.3% in the 12 months to October 2024, up from 1.7% in September and well below its recent peak of 11.1% in October 2022.

Electricity prices rose by 7.7% in October 2024, having fallen by 7.5% between the same two months last year, while gas prices rose by 11.7% in October 2024.

ONS Chief Economist, Grant Fitzner said: “Inflation rose this month as the increase in the energy price cap meant higher costs for gas and electricity compared with a fall at the same time last year. These were partially offset by falls in recreation and culture, including live music and theatre ticket prices.

“The cost of raw materials for businesses continued to fall, once again driven by lower crude oil prices,” he added.

Looking more specifically at food and non-alcoholic beverage prices, these rose by 1.9% in the year to October, up from 1.8% to September 2024. The annual rate of 1.9% is down from a recent high of 19.2% in March 2023.

Vegetables (including potatoes) was the only one of the 11 food and non-alcoholic beverage classes to provide an upward contribution to the change in the annual rate of inflation between September and October 2024. This occurred because prices rose between September and October this year, but fell between the same two months last year.

Meanwhile, downward contributions came from fish, oils and fats, and coffee, tea and cocoa.

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According to the latest inflation data for April from the Office for National Statistics, there was another large fall in annual inflation led by lower electricity and gas prices. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 2.3% in the 12 months to April 2024, down from 3.2% in the 12 months to March.

“The prices of goods leaving factories have risen a little over the last year,” said ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner.

“Meanwhile, the prices of raw materials and fuels grew in the last month, though they remain below where they were a year ago.”

Large downward effects came from food and non-alcoholic beverages, where prices overall rose by 0.3% between March and April 2024, compared with a monthly rise of 1.4% a year ago. Prices have been relatively high but stable since early summer 2023, rising by around 2% between May 2023 and April 2024. This compares with a sharp rise of around 22% seen between March 2022 and May 2023.

The main downward effects came from a combination of bread and cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetables and soft drinks. Overall, downward effects came from eight of the 11 food and non-alcoholic beverages classes, the exceptions being oils and fats, fish and hot beverages.

There were also large downward effects from alcoholic beverages and tobacco, where prices overall were little changed between March and April 2024, compared with a rise of 3.6% a year ago.

The main downward contribution came from tobacco, where prices rose by 0.8% in the month to April 2024, compared with a larger rise of 6.9% in April 2023. The rise in April 2023 was influenced by an increase in tobacco duty, while there was no rise in duty in April 2024.

Responding to the latest CPI inflation figures, Kris Hamer, Director of Insight at the British Retail Consortium said that retailers are playing a key part in bringing inflation down, but added it was vital that government policy supports this also.

“Retail plays a key role in every part of the country, from the smallest village to the largest city, employing millions of people and serving millions more,” said Kris Hamer.

“As the cost burden of new policies rise – from business rates to packaging taxes – this affects not just the businesses, but the customers too. With an election looming, it is vital that parties outline their support for customers and retailers through the upcoming manifesto.”

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On a monthly basis, CPIH fell by 0.4% in January 2024, the same rate as in January 2023.

The annual rate of food and non-alcohol beverages has fallen from 8.0% in December 2023 to 7.0% in January 2024, which is the lowest annual rate since April 2022. The fall to 7.0% means the annual rate has eased for the 10^th consecutive month, from a recent high of 19.2% in March 2023, which was the highest annual rate seen for over 45 years.

Monthly prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages fell by 0.4% between December 2023 and January this year, compared with a rise of 0.6% a year ago. Monthly prices for food (excluding non-alcoholic beverages) also fell by 0.4%. This was the first fall in monthly prices since September 2021, and the largest fall since July 2021.

The easing in the annual rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages was driven by bread and cereals, where prices fell by 1.3% on the month, compared with a rise of 0.2% a year ago.

The monthly fall was the largest since May 2021, some of the items providing larger negative contributions in this class were cream crackers, sponge cake, and chocolate biscuits.

Although the bread and cereals class provided the largest negative contribution, the slowing in the annual rate was fairly widespread across the division. Of the 11 classes, seven provided a downward contribution, while the others were unchanged.

The items that provided larger negative contributions include potato crisps, cooking sauces and instant coffee.

Commenting on the inflation figures for January, ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner said: “Inflation was unchanged in January reflecting counteracting effects within the basket of goods and services.”

“The price of gas and electricity rose at a higher rate than this time last year due to the increase in the energy price cap, while the cost of second-hand cars went up for the first time since May.

“Offsetting these, prices of furniture and household goods decreased by more than a year ago and food prices fell on the month for the first time in over two years.”

“All of these factors combined resulted in no change to the headline rate this month.”

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