UK inflation slowed to 2.8% in April, figures reveal, as a reduction in the household energy price cap helped soften the sharp rise in fuel costs since the start of the Iran war.<\/p>\n
The Office for National Statistics<\/a> (ONS) said the consumer prices index measure of inflation eased from March\u2019s reading of 3.3%, suggesting the impact of the Iran war has not yet hit UK households as much as feared.<\/p>\n The reading beat economists\u2019 forecasts of a decline to 3%. The fall was partly down to Ofgem\u2019s lower energy price cap<\/a>, which reduced the typical annual dual-fuel bill in Great Britain to \u00a31,641 from April compared with \u00a31,849 a year earlier.<\/p>\n Grant Fitzner, the chief economist at the ONS, said: \u201cThere was a notable fall in annual inflation led by lower electricity and gas prices. This was due to the government\u2019s energy bill support package reducing variable and fixed tariffs, along with lower global wholesale energy prices before the conflict in the Middle East, which fed through to the reduction in the Ofgem cap.\u201d<\/p>\n The slowdown in inflation will be welcome news for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves<\/a>, after she shifted some green energy costs away from household bills and into general taxation in her November budget to help ensure bills fell from April.<\/p>\n Water bills and vehicle excise duty also increased by less in April this year compared with 2025, when they both rose sharply<\/a>, while the early Easter affected prices such as package holidays as well as air fares, which fell by 3.3% in April, compared with a rise of 27.5% a year earlier.<\/p>\n Reeves said: \u201cThe war in Iran is not our war but one we will need to respond to, and the decisions I took in the budget last year have kept inflation down as we deal with global instability. We have the right economic plan, and to change course now would risk our economic stability and leave working people worse off.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have already taken \u00a3117 off energy bills, frozen rail fares, and lifted the two-child limit, and over today and tomorrow I\u2019ll set out the next phase of how we will support UK households.\u201d<\/p>\n However, economists believe the drop in inflation is unlikely to last as petrol and diesel prices have soared since the start of the Middle East conflict, reflecting a jump in the global oil price to more than $110 a barrel as the closure of the critical strait of Hormuz affects energy supplies.<\/p>\n Suren Thiru, the chief economist at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said April\u2019s slowdown in inflation was likely to be \u201ca last interlude before the Iran war-induced inflation storm hits\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThis decline could be the final fall in inflation this year, with surging fuel and food costs set to push it to 4% this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n The ONS said there was a 23% rise in motor fuel prices in the year to April compared with a rise of only 4.9% in the year to March.<\/p>\n On a monthly basis, inflation rose by 0.7% in April, the same level as March. Core inflation, which strips out more volatile measures, such as energy and food, rose 2.5%, down from 3.1% in March.<\/p>\n The drop in the inflation rate comes after ONS data released on Tuesday showed wage growth slowed and unemployment rose<\/a> in March. The figures are likely to reduce the likelihood of the Bank of England raising interest rates at its next meeting on 18 June.<\/p>\n