Measuring household inflation in the UK: Introducing the Household Cost Indices

Introducing the Household Cost Indices, 22 February 2018 (3.30 to 5 pm)

Members may know that RSS recently called for fairer use of inflation indices when submitting evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, during its inquiry into student loans. As part of facilitating discussions between users and ONS, we are therefore delighted to be hosting a meeting of the RPI/CPI User Group on the new measures of household inflation.

ONS recently published its first estimates of Household Costs indices, which aim to capture households' experience of changing prices and costs. The paper is on the ONS website at:

www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/householdcostsindices/preliminaryestimates2005to2017

The RPI/CPI User Group has long been calling for a measure of inflation that better captures households true expenditures, which it believes could be used for uprating pay and benefits.

It is therefore hosting a public meeting to discuss the new indices and look to provide feedback to the ONS on user views.

The meeting includes:

• An introduction by Nick Vaughan, Chief Economic Adviser and Director, National Accounts & Economic Statistics, ONS
• A presentation by the ONS Prices Division on the indices
• A response from Jill Leyland
• A question and answer session.

The meeting will be held at the Royal Statistical Society offices (the nearest Tube stations are Moorgate, Barbican and Liverpool Street). Please pre-register if you plan to attend the meeting.

For those who may not be able to attend or would like to submit a question in advance please email rpicpiusergroup@gmail.com with the comments you would wish us to raise.

The meeting is open to all so please circulate to all interested parties/organisations.

RPI CPI User Group Committee