What is inflation?
Inflation is a measure of how much the price of goods, such as food or televisions, and services, such as haircuts or train tickets, has changed over time.
The rate of inflation is published each month by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and this measures how much prices have changed on average over the past year.
So if an item of clothing cost £10 a year ago and inflation is now at 6.2%, then the price of that item would now be £10.62 as it has risen by 6.2%, or 62p.
If you apply this to everything you pay for, the extra cost can really start to add up.
It means you’re spending more of your money on essentials, and you’ll have less cash to spare and many people are feeling the squeeze.
