The Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme helped drive a record surge in inflation this year, new figures suggest.
The UK inflation rate rose to 3.2% in the year to August – the highest level in nine years, since March 2012.
The new figures mark a 1.2% rise from July when inflation was at 2% – the biggest increase since records began in 1997.
Food prices jumped after Rishi Sunak’s 2020 summer scheme to give diners 50% off restaurant bills came to an end, researchers said.
There is also likely to have been some impact from the supply chain crisis on inflation last month, which contributed to pushing up the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks.
The rate now once again exceeds the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target.
The Office For National Statistics, which produced the figures, has warned against reading into August’s price increases too much, saying they are likely to be ‘temporary’.
Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, said: ‘August saw the largest rise in annual inflation month on month since the series was introduced almost a quarter of a century ago.
‘However, much of this is likely to be temporary as last year restaurant and cafe prices fell substantially due to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, while this year prices rose.
‘Food and non-alcoholic drink prices rose by more than last year, which also helped push up the rate.’
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