UK inflation rate jumps to highest in more than a year

A rise in the cost of household bills has pushed UK inflation to its highest rate in more than a year.

Inflation was 3.5% in April, up from 2.6% in March, according to official data.

Water, gas and electricity prices all went up on 1 April along with a host of other bills, pushing inflation further above the Bank of England’s target of 2%.

The largest upward contributors to the rise were from “housing and household services, transport, and recreation and culture,” the Office for National Statistics said.

April’s rate of inflation is higher than economists had predicted.

The pace of price rises was forecast to be around 3.3%.

The Bank of England has previously said it expects inflation to spike at 3.7% between July and September 2025 before dropping back to its 2% target.

The rise means the Bank of England governor – whose job is to keep inflation at its target of 2% – will have to write a letter to the chancellor.

One of the Bank’s key tasks is to keep inflation at 2% and it cuts or raises interest rates to achieve that.

They will need to explain why inflation has risen more than 1% over this and what the plan is to get the inflation rate back to 2%.

Grant Fitzner, acting director general of the ONS, said: “Significant increases in household bills caused inflation to climb steeply.

“Gas and electricity bills rose [in April] compared with sharp falls at the same time as last year due to changes to the Ofgem energy price cap.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was “disappointed” with the figures and cited April’s minimum wage rises and the decision to freeze fuel duty as helping pepole with the cost of living pressure.

Mel Stride, shadow chancellor, said the figure “is worrying for families”.

“We left Labour with inflation bang on target, but Labour’s economic mismanagement is pushing up the cost of living for families,” he added.