Inflation Rates Circular

Circular No. NP/205/10/MC

18^th November 2010

TO: ALL BRANCHES, REGIONAL ORGANISERS, REGIONAL COUNCILS, & COUNCIL OF EXECUTIVES.

Dear Colleagues,

Inflation Rates Circular

The October rates of RPI and CPI were published by the Office for National Statistics on the 16^th November 2010. The October 2010 retail prices index rate is 4.5%. This is down from 4.6% in September. The Government’s preferred measure of inflation, CPI, is at 3.2%, up from 3.1% in September. The next publication date is the 14^th December 2010.

The largest upward pressures to the change in inflation came from:

• fuel and lubricants where prices, overall, rose by 1.8 per cent between September and October this year compared to a fall of 0.7 per cent a year ago. This largely reflects a rise of 2.1 pence per litre in the price of petrol between September and October this year compared with a fall of 0.8 pence per litre a year ago. The rise in fuel prices this year includes the impact of the increase in road fuel duty, which took effect from 1 October 2010
• financial services where prices, overall, fell by less than a year ago. There were significant reductions in bank overdraft charges and mortgage arrangement fees between September and October last year which have not been repeated this year
• games, toys and hobbies where prices, overall, rose by 1.9 per cent this year compared to an increase of 0.4 per cent a year ago. The main upward effect this year came from computer games bought on the high street (rather than via the internet) where prices rose sharply
• alcoholic beverages and tobacco where prices, overall, rose by 0.8 per cent between September and October this year but fell by 0.2 per cent a year ago. No one component drove the upward contribution but there were small upward effects from wine, beer and tobacco

The largest downward pressure to the change in inflation came from:

• food where there were widespread downward effects. The most significant downward pressures came from vegetables and meat. Within vegetables the largest downward effects came from potato crisps and cauliflowers. The main downward effects in meat came from pig related products where it has been reported that healthy stock levels have helped push prices down

In pay submissions the RMT will continue to emphasise that your financial commitments have increased at a much greater rate than inflation and your living standards have suffered as a result.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Crow

General Secretary