Statistics on consumer prices are among the most fundamental indicators of the state of the UK economy and thus among the most closely watched of all official statistics. They are used as the inflation target of the Bank of England and for uprating benefits, to index income tax thresholds, for index-linked gilts, wage bargaining and inflation clauses in commercial contracts. Some of these uses are enshrined in legislation and so too are some aspects of the production and dissemination of the statistics themselves. They thus sit slightly to one side of the normal conventions for the oversight and management of UK official statistics.

Monitoring Brief 7/2010 – Communicating Inflation