Inflation To Hit 40-Year High As Unemployment Rate Rises

Last month’s painful gas and electricity bill rises are expected to send UK inflation surging to a fresh 40-year high in today’s official figures, but experts predict this is likely to mark the peak in the cost of living crisis.

- Holly Williams

Most economists forecast that the latest data from the Office for National Statistics ONS) will show Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation jumping to 10.7 per cent last month from 10.1 per cent in September. It would mark the highest level of inflation since January 1982.

The government promised in September that no household in the UK would pay more than 34p per unit of electricity and 10.3p for every unit of gas that they used. For the average family, this would mean bills would reach around 2,500 per year, but households that used a lot of energy could pay more and people could reduce their bills by using less.