UK CPI Inflation November 2026

UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for October 2026 is released on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, at 7:00am London time (2:00am ET) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The report covers price changes for October 2026 and is the headline measure the Bank of England and HM Treasury use to judge whether the cost of living is rising too quickly. Full background, past readings and the release schedule are on the UK CPI report hub page.

What is UK CPI inflation?

The Consumer Prices Index tracks how much prices for a fixed basket of goods and services, such as food, fuel, rent and clothing, have changed compared with a year earlier. The ONS collects tens of thousands of prices each month from shops, websites and service providers, weights them according to how much households actually spend on each category, and combines them into a single percentage figure known as the annual inflation rate.

Alongside the headline CPI figure, the ONS also publishes core CPI, which strips out the most volatile categories (energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) to give a clearer read on underlying price pressure, and CPIH, a broader measure that includes owner occupiers’ housing costs.

Markets watch this release closely because the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets interest rates partly on the basis of where inflation is heading relative to its 2% target. A higher-than-expected reading tends to reduce the chance of interest rate cuts, while a lower reading can open the door to easier policy. Because the pound trades on interest rate expectations, this data also moves the value of sterling against the dollar and the euro, with knock-on effects for importers, exporters and anyone travelling abroad.

When is the October 2026 CPI report released?

The ONS publishes the October 2026 UK CPI Inflation bulletin on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, at 7:00am London time, which is 2:00am ET for readers in New York and Washington, and roughly mid-afternoon in Sydney and Tokyo the previous day. The figures are released on the ONS website as part of its regular monthly consumer price inflation bulletin, alongside detailed tables breaking the headline number down by category, region and household type.

What is the consensus forecast?

A consensus forecast for the October 2026 CPI print has not yet been published. Economist surveys, such as those run by Reuters and Bloomberg, are typically compiled in the days immediately before the release, so a City consensus is unlikely to appear until closer to November 18, 2026. Readers can check back on this page as that date approaches, or watch for coverage from Reuters and Bloomberg once their polls are published.

The most recently confirmed official reading at the time of writing was for July 2026, when CPI rose by 2.9%, up from 2.6% in June 2026, according to the House of Commons Library’s inflation briefing, which draws on ONS data. The most recent confirmed core CPI figure (excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) was 2.5% in the year to April 2026, down from 3.1% in March 2026, according to the ONS April 2026 bulletin. The September and October 2026 prints, due before this report, will have been published in the interim and readers should check the ONS release calendar for the latest confirmed figures.

What the result could mean

These are possibilities discussed by analysts, not predictions of how the data or markets will actually move.

Why does this release matter right now?

UK inflation has been on an uneven path through 2026. It eased sharply from 3.3% in March to 2.8% in April and stayed at that level in May, according to the ONS, before slipping to 2.6% in June and then rising again to 2.9% in July, as reported by the House of Commons Library. The Bank of England has said it expected CPI inflation to run “a little under 3% in 2026 Q3” and “a little over 3¼% in Q4,” according to guidance cited in the same briefing, partly reflecting higher energy costs linked to conflict in the Middle East.

The MPC continues to weigh a slowing labour market and softer wage growth against inflation that remains above its 2% target. Every CPI print between now and the November 18 release will feed directly into how many further rate cuts, if any, the Bank delivers before the end of 2026, and into how the European Central Bank and US Federal Reserve view relative currency strength against the pound.

What It Means for Your Money

• Mortgages: If inflation surprises to the upside, lenders may be slower to cut fixed mortgage rates, since these are priced off expectations for Bank of England policy. A downside surprise could see cheaper fixed-rate deals appear over the following weeks.
• Savings: Higher-than-expected inflation tends to support higher savings rates for longer, while a soft reading can see banks trim the interest paid on cash savings and ISAs as they anticipate rate cuts.
• Jobs and wages: The ONS also reports separately on pay growth, but CPI matters here because real wage growth, the increase in pay after inflation, determines whether household budgets are actually improving or falling behind.
• Prices and household budgets: The headline rate is a broad average. Food, energy and housing costs often move by more or less than the overall number, so the category breakdown in the ONS release matters as much as the headline for someone doing a weekly shop.
• Investments, pensions and currencies: UK gilts, the FTSE 100 and the pound can all move on this release. A hotter print tends to lift sterling against the dollar and euro but can weigh on bond prices, while pension funds that hold index-linked gilts are directly affected by the inflation figure used to calculate payouts.

Related events

• The previous UK CPI release, covering September 2026 data, published in mid-October 2026.
• The Bank of England’s next Monetary Policy Committee interest rate decision, which will take this CPI print into account.
• UK labour market and average earnings data, published separately by the ONS, which feeds into the same inflation and rates debate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What time is the UK CPI report for October 2026 released?

The Office for National Statistics publishes the report at 7:00am London time on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, which is 2:00am ET.

How should I read the headline CPI number?

The headline figure is the annual percentage change in prices compared with October 2025. A higher number means the general cost of living has risen faster over the past year, while a lower number means price growth has slowed, not that prices have fallen outright.

How does this data affect UK interest rates?

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee uses CPI, alongside other data, to decide whether to raise, hold or cut its base rate, which in turn affects mortgage, loan and savings rates across the UK.

Where can I find the official release?

The full bulletin and data tables are published on the ONS release calendar and the ONS inflation and price indices section of its website.

When is the next UK CPI report after this one?

The next release will cover November 2026 data and is typically published in mid-December 2026, following the ONS’s usual monthly schedule.