Official UK inflation measures - CPI, CPIH, and RPI - alongside real wages. What the headline number doesn't always tell you, and why it matters for your clients.
Annual rates for CPI, CPIH, and RPI - the three main official measures. Each captures slightly different aspects of price change. Hover to inspect individual months.
2% Bank of England target
Average Weekly Earnings from ONS - nominal (what's paid) and real (adjusted for inflation). The gap between the two lines is the purchasing-power squeeze.
The same story as a rate race: annual price inflation (CPI, CPIH, RPI) against the annual growth in nominal pay. When a price line sits above the pay line, inflation is outrunning wages; when pay is on top, real earnings are recovering. Click a legend label to show or hide a series.
The headline rate is an average. The ONS Household Costs Indices measure inflation as different households actually pay it - and unlike CPI, they include mortgage interest. Pick a view to see how each group's rate has moved against headline CPI.
Where do you sit? Approximate decile bands, by equivalised disposable household income (adjusted for household size - a couple needs more than a single person for the same standard of living): decile 1 under £16,900 a year; decile 2 to £22,400; decile 5 £31,900-£36,700; decile 9 £56,500-£71,100; decile 10 above £71,100. Source: ONS effects of taxes & benefits, FYE 2024 (Table 3 decile points; indicative - the HCI's own decile allocation uses its survey-year incomes).
The headline rate prices an average basket that no real household buys. This calculator weights each official CPI category by what you spend, giving the inflation rate for your basket - now, and back through time. It uses the same method and the same data as the ONS's own calculator (Living Costs & Food Survey expenditure weights against official price indices) with fresher weights - and a history view no other UK tool offers.
History holds your current weights constant - it answers "what would my current basket's inflation have been", not "what was I spending then".
Each bar is that category's weight in your basket multiplied by its current 12-month price change - together they sum to your personal rate.
CPI, CPIH, and RPI all measure inflation, but they answer slightly different questions. Which one applies depends on your client's situation.
The headline measure used by the Bank of England to set interest rates. Covers a basket of goods and services but excludes housing costs (mortgage interest, council tax). The 2% inflation target refers to CPI.
Used for: BoE monetary policy, many index-linked contracts, state benefits uprating (from 2011).
CPI extended with owner-occupiers' housing costs using rental equivalence. ONS's preferred measure since 2017. Generally runs slightly above CPI.
Used for: ONS preferred headline, broader cost-of-living analysis, Scottish Government comparisons.
The oldest measure. Uses a different formula (arithmetic vs geometric mean) whose construction alone pushes it roughly 1pp above CPI over the long run - though the gap in any given month moves with mortgage rates and housing costs, and can be far smaller (compare the live cards above). No longer a National Statistic but still widely used in practice.
Still used for: student loan interest, rail fares, index-linked gilt coupons, some DB pension uprating - making it highly relevant to advisers.
Related guides: How to calculate your personal inflation rate - the method behind this section, with a worked example. Has your pay kept up with inflation? - which measure to use for your own salary and how to check whether a pay rise is really a real-terms cut.
Data: ONS (OGL v3.0) · Data to Jun 2026 · This tool presents publicly available data. It is not financial advice.