ONS admits April UK inflation figure was too high after tax data error

The UK’s headline inflation figure was 0.1 percentage points too high for April due to an error in the vehicle tax data collected, the Office for National Statistics, ONS, has said.

Official data published last month showed Consumer Prices Index, CPI, inflation rose to 3.5% in April, up from 2.6% in March.

But the ONS said on Thursday that it has since spotted an error in the vehicle excise duty data provided to the ONS by the Department for Transport, which is part of the information used to calculate inflation.

The number of vehicles subject to the tax in the first year of registration was too high in the data given, according to the statisticians.

This meant CPI, as well as Retail Prices Index, RPI, inflation, were overstated by 0.1 percentage points in April.

The ONS said it would not be revising the official published figures and no other periods were affected by the error.

By Anna Wise, PA Business Reporter

Press Association: Finance

source: PA

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