Rising prices have hit consumers and businesses even as economic growth has ground to a halt,with the economy contracting slightly in the third quarter. The higher cost of living has increased pressure on wages and resulted in strikes by nurses,railway workers,Royal Mail postal workers and university lecturers over pay as inflation eats into their earning power.
Data from the ONS showed that wage growth was outstripped by inflation.
The dramatic rise in the cost of living came despite the British government’s energy price guarantee,which capped bills for gas and electricity at £2500 ($4394) for a household with average consumption of both fuels.
Food price inflation rose sharply to 16.5 per cent on an annual basis,the highest for 45 years,according to the ONS. It has been rising since last year as pandemic restrictions were eased and demand for oil,raw materials and food outstripped supply.
Core inflation,which excludes volatile food and energy prices,held steady at 6.5 per cent in October,the same rate as in September.
Grant Fitzner,chief economist at the ONS,said rising gas and electricity prices drove headline inflation to its highest level in more than 40 years,with gas prices having climbed nearly 130 per cent while electricity has risen by around 66 per cent.
“Increases across a range of food items also pushed up inflation,” he said.