CPI rises by 10.1% in last 12 months 

On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.5% in September 2022, compared with a rise of 0.3% in September 2021.

The consumer prices index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) rose by 8.8% in the 12 months to September 2022, up from 8.6% in August and returning to July’s recent high.

The largest upward contributions to the annual CPIH inflation rate in September 2022 came from housing and household services (principally from electricity, gas and other fuels, and owner occupiers’ housing costs), food and non-alcoholic beverages, and transport (principally motor fuels).

Rising food prices made the largest upward contribution to the change in both the CPIH and CPI annual inflation rates between August and September 2022, shooting up by 0.13 percentage points.

Motor fuel prices have continued to fall, making the largest, partially offsetting, downward contribution to the change in the rates, with the rate of transport inflation falling -0.16 percentage points from August to September.

For historical context, Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the biggest drivers of inflation for most of the period between 1950 and the late 1970s, while it also had the biggest weight of any division.

Additionally, between 1989 and 2022, housing and household services were typically a bigger driver of inflation than food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Paul Heywood, chief data & analytics officer at Equifax UK, said: “The Government’s fiscal U-turn may have steadied the markets, but it has done little to balance the books for households across the UK. 

“Prices for everyday items continue to rise, and while the cost of keeping homes lit and warm has been capped until April next year, they are still 96% higher than last winter, and are one of the biggest costs eating away at real wages. Our data show that millions of households are already struggling to keep up with utility bills, and the weather has yet to turn.

“The Government has taken welcome steps to help people with spiralling utility bills, but we must acknowledge that millions will still struggle over the months to come, especially when the economic winter blows in. 

“Demand for credit is already rising, especially for credit cards and Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL), and as credit applications rise, lenders are going to need to keep a careful eye on credit affordability if they hope to provide consumers and businesses with the support they need, to survive and to grow, without storing up problems for everyone down the line.”