Consumer price inflation, UK - May 2025 3.4% Same As April

18th June 2025

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) rose by 4.0% in the 12 months to May 2025, compared with 4.1% in the 12 months to April.

On a monthly basis, CPIH rose by 0.2% in May 2025, compared with a rise of 0.4% in May 2024.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.4% in the 12 months to May 2025, compared with 3.5% in the 12 months to April.

On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.2% in May 2025, compared with a rise of 0.3% in May 2024.

The largest downward contribution to the monthly change in both CPIH and CPI annual rates came from transport; the largest, partially offsetting, upward contributions came from food, and furniture and household goods.

Core CPIH (CPIH excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 4.2% in the 12 months to May 2025, down from 4.5% in the 12 months to April; the CPIH goods annual rate rose from 1.7% to 2.0%, while the CPIH services annual rate slowed from 5.8% to 5.3%.

Core CPI (CPI excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to May 2025, down from 3.8% in the 12 months to April; the CPI goods annual rate rose from 1.7% to 2.0%, while the CPI services annual rate slowed from 5.4% to 4.7%.

The CPIH and CPI inflation rates and indices were each overstated in April 2025 as a result of an error in the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) component; in line with our revisions policy, the April figures have not been amended but the corrected VED information has been used when producing the May index.

Transport
Overall, prices in the transport division rose by 0.7% in the 12 months to May 2025, down from 3.3% in the 12 months to April. On a monthly basis, prices fell by 1.8% in May 2025, compared with a rise of 0.7% a year ago.

The slowing in the annual rate reflected falls in air fares and the price of motor fuels, together with the correction of an error in the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) series. The latter was overstated in April and the series corrected from May. As is standard practice, the April figure has not been revised. This means that transport had a contribution of 0.36 percentage points to the published CPIH annual rate in April but, without the error, the contribution would have been 0.26 percentage points. In terms of the contribution to change between April and May, transport has a downward contribution of 0.28 percentage points, which would be downward 0.18 percentage points without the error.

Air fares fell by 5.0% between April and May 2025, compared with a large rise of 14.9% between the same months in 2024. These movements were influenced by the timing of Easter and the associated school holidays. In 2025, Easter fell in the middle of April, possibly contributing towards relatively high fares, which then fell in May. In 2024, Easter fell in late March, before the April pricing period, which may have contributed to a relatively low April figure, followed by a rise into May.

There were also downward effects, albeit smaller, from sea, rail and road transport, where again the timing of Easter may have influenced price movements.

The average price of petrol fell by 2.1 pence per litre between April and May 2025 to stand at 132.4 pence per litre, down from 148.8 pence per litre in May 2024. Diesel prices fell by 2.6 pence per litre in May 2025 to stand at 139.1 pence per litre, down from 156.3 pence per litre in May 2024. These movements resulted in overall motor fuel prices falling by 10.9% in the 12 months to May 2025, compared with a fall of 9.3% in the 12 months to April.

Housing and household services
The 12-month inflation rate for housing and household services was 6.9% in May 2025, down from 7.0% in April. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.3% in May 2025, compared with a rise of 0.4% a year ago.

The easing in the 12-month rate between April and May 2025 principally reflected a downward effect from owner occupiers' housing (OOH) costs, which rose by 6.7% in the year to May 2025. This was down from 6.9% in the year to April 2025, and was the lowest 12-month rate seen since May 2024, when the rate was also 6.7%.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages
The downward contributions from other divisions were partially offset by an upward effect from food and non-alcoholic beverages, where prices rose by 4.4% in the 12 months to May 2025, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to April. The May 2025 figure was the highest recorded since February 2024, when the rate was 5.0%.

There were upward effects to the change in the rate from 7 of the 11 food and non-alcoholic beverages classes, with the largest coming from the sugar, jam, syrups, chocolate and confectionery class. Within this, prices of chocolate, confectionery and ice cream rose between April and May this year but fell between the same two months a year ago. There was also a small upward effect from meat, where, on a monthly basis, prices rose by more in May 2025 than May 2024.

The main upward contributions to the rise in the 12-month rate came from household appliances, and furniture and furnishings. In the former class, prices of items such as fridge freezers and vacuum cleaners rose in May 2025 but fell a year ago. The movement relates to the timing of sales, with the prices of some products recovering from sale this year but entering a sales period a year ago. In the furniture class, prices of bedroom furniture rose by more in May 2025 than May 2024. Again, the movement relates to recoveries from sale though there were also some general price rises for these products.

Furniture and household goods
Prices of furniture and household goods overall rose by 0.8% in the 12 months to May 2025. This is the highest rate since December 2023, but it is well below the peaks seen in 2022 (Figure 4). The latest rate compares with a fall of 0.5% in the 12 months to April 2025. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 1.5% in May 2025, compared with a rise of 0.2% a year ago.

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