Consumer price inflation UK - April 2025 - All Indicators Up

21st May 2025

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) rose by 4.1% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to March.

On a monthly basis, CPIH rose by 1.2% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.5% in April 2024.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 2.6% in the 12 months to March.

On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 1.2% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.3% in April 2024.

The largest upward contributions to the monthly change in both CPIH and CPI annual rates came from housing and household services, transport, and recreation and culture; the largest, partially offsetting, downward contribution came from clothing and footwear.

Core CPIH (CPIH excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 4.5% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 4.2% in the 12 months to March; the CPIH goods annual rate rose from 0.6% to 1.7%, while the CPIH services annual rate rose from 5.4% to 5.8%.

Core CPI (CPI excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 3.8% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to March; the CPI goods annual rate rose from 0.6% to 1.7%, while the CPI services annual rate rose from 4.7% to 5.4%.

1.Main points
The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) rose by 4.1% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to March.

On a monthly basis, CPIH rose by 1.2% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.5% in April 2024.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 2.6% in the 12 months to March.

On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 1.2% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.3% in April 2024.

The largest upward contributions to the monthly change in both CPIH and CPI annual rates came from housing and household services, transport, and recreation and culture; the largest, partially offsetting, downward contribution came from clothing and footwear.

Core CPIH (CPIH excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 4.5% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 4.2% in the 12 months to March; the CPIH goods annual rate rose from 0.6% to 1.7%, while the CPIH services annual rate rose from 5.4% to 5.8%.

Core CPI (CPI excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 3.8% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to March; the CPI goods annual rate rose from 0.6% to 1.7%, while the CPI services annual rate rose from 4.7% to 5.4%.

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2.Consumer price inflation rates

Table 1: CPIH, OOH component and CPI index values, and annual and monthly rates
UK, April 2024 to April 2025
CPIH Index
(UK,
2015=100) CPIH 12-
month
rate (%) CPIH 1-
month
rate (%) CPI Index
(UK,
2015=100) CPI 12-
month
rate (%) CPI 1-
month
rate (%) OOH Index
(UK,
2015=100) OOH 12-
month
rate (%)
2024 Apr 132.2 3.0 0.5 133.5 2.3 0.3 124.6 6.6
May 132.7 2.8 0.4 133.9 2.0 0.3 125.3 6.7
Jun 133.0 2.8 0.2 134.1 2.0 0.1 126.1 6.8
Jul 132.9 3.1 0.0 133.8 2.2 -0.2 126.9 7.0
Aug 133.4 3.1 0.4 134.3 2.2 0.3 127.7 7.1
Sep 133.5 2.6 0.1 134.2 1.7 0.0 128.5 7.2
Oct 134.3 3.2 0.6 135.0 2.3 0.6 129.5 7.4
Nov 134.6 3.5 0.2 135.1 2.6 0.1 130.5 7.8
Dec 135.1 3.5 0.3 135.6 2.5 0.3 131.3 8.0
2025 Jan 135.1 3.9 0.0 135.4 3.0 -0.1 131.8 8.0
Feb 135.6 3.7 0.4 136.0 2.8 0.4 132.4 7.5
Mar 136.1 3.4 0.3 136.5 2.6 0.3 132.9 7.2
Apr 137.7 4.1 1.2 138.2 3.5 1.2 133.2 6.9
Source: Consumer price inflation from the Office for National Statistics

Download this tableTable 1: CPIH, OOH component and CPI index values, and annual and monthly rates
.xls .csv

Figure 1: Annual CPI inflation rate rises above 3% for the first time since March 2024
CPIH, owner occupiers' housing (OOH) costs component and CPI annual inflation rates, UK, April 2015 to April 2025
CPIHCPIOOHApr 2025Apr 2024Apr 2023Apr 2022Apr 2021Apr 2020Apr 2019Apr 2018Apr 2017Apr 2016Apr 2015-2.502.557.51012.5%
Jan 2020
● CPIH: 1.8
● CPI: 1.8
● OOH: 1.3
Source: Consumer price inflation from the Office for National Statistics
Annotations:
Download this chartFigure 1: Annual CPI inflation rate rises above 3% for the first time since March 2024
Image .csv .xls
The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) rose by 4.1% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to March (Figure 1).

On a monthly basis, CPIH rose by 1.2% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.5% in April 2024.

The owner occupiers' housing (OOH) costs component of CPIH rose by 6.9% in the 12 months to April 2025, down from 7.2% in the 12 months to March. OOH costs rose by 0.2% on the month, compared with a 0.6% increase a year earlier.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 2.6% in the 12 months to March.

On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 1.2% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.3% in April 2024.

The main drivers of the annual inflation rate for CPIH and CPI are the same where they are common to both measures. However, the OOH component accounts for approximately 17% of the CPIH and is the main driver for differences between the CPIH and CPI inflation rates. This makes CPIH our most comprehensive measure of inflation.

Housing and household services
The 12-month inflation rate for housing and household services was 7.0% in April 2025, up from 5.1% in March. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 1.8% in April 2025, compared with a fall of 0.1% a year ago.

The rise in the annual rate reflected large upward effects from gas and electricity, which resulted from the raising of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) energy price cap in April 2025, described on the Ofgem website. Ofgem estimated that for an average household paying by direct debit for dual fuel, this equates to £1,849, a rise of £111 over the course of a year.

Prices of electricity, gas and other fuels rose by 6.7% in the year to April 2025. Gas prices rose by 7.5% on the month, compared with a fall of 15.8% a year ago. Electricity prices rose by 2.9%, compared with a fall of 10.2% a year ago.

Prices of water and sewerage rose by 26.1% in the month to April 2025 compared with a rise of 8.1% a year ago. This is the largest rise since at least February 1988.

Partially offsetting the upward contributions was a small downward effect from owner occupiers' housing (OOH) costs, which rose by 6.9% in the year to April 2025, compared with a rise of 7.2% in the year to March.

Transport
Overall prices in the transport division rose by 3.3% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 1.2% in the 12 months to March. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 3.8% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 1.7% a year ago.

The rise in the annual rate reflected a rise in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), which old and new electric cars became eligible to pay from April 2025. However, the main rise in VED occurred because some of the rates paid by new petrol and diesel cars doubled.

Airfare prices rose by 27.5% on the month, up from 6.5% a year ago. This is the second-highest monthly rise for an April since records began. Flights departing in the Easter holidays tend to be more expensive than flights not departing in the Easter holidays. Therefore, if the outbound flight (which leaves on index day) departs in the Easter holidays, or if the inbound flight returns in the Easter holidays, the flight will tend to be more expensive.

Index day occurred during the Easter holidays in 2025, which made every flight more expensive. However, in 2024 index day occurred after the Easter holidays, meaning no inbound or outbound flights flew during the Easter holidays. This may help explain why monthly prices rose by 6.5% in April 2024 but rose by 27.5% in April 2025.

The rise in the annual rate was counteracted by a downward effect from motor fuels. The average price of petrol fell by 3.0 pence per litre between March and April 2025 to stand at 134.5 pence per litre, down from 148.1 pence per litre in April 2024. Diesel prices fell by 3.1 pence per litre in April 2025 to stand at 141.7 pence per litre, down from 157.1 pence per litre in April 2024. These movements resulted in overall motor fuel prices falling by 9.3% in the 12 months to April 2025, compared with a fall of 5.3% in the 12 months to March.

Recreation and culture
Overall prices in the recreation and culture division rose by 3.1% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 2.4% in the 12 months to March. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 1.2% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.5% a year before.

A major reason for the rise in the annual rate was because of higher inflation for foreign holidays, where index day fell during the Easter holidays in 2025 and outside the Easter holidays in 2024.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages
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. The upward effects came from meat, mineral water, bread and cereals, and sugar and jam. The 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 2025, up from 0.3% a year before.

Clothing and footwear
The overall increase in the inflation rate was partially offset by a downward effect from clothing and footwear. Prices fell by 0.4% in the 12 months to April 2025, compared with a rise of 1.1% in the 12 months to March (Figure 4). On a monthly basis, prices fell by 1.1% in April 2025, compared with a rise of 0.4% a year ago.

The largest downward effects came from garments for women, garments for infants, and footwear for women. In some of the categories that saw the largest downward effects the percentage of items that were on sale were much higher than usual. It's possible that the larger proportion of items on sale was a consequence of index day coinciding with the Easter holidays in April 2025, while occurring after the Easter holidays in 2024.



Read the full ONS report HERE