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Stats office rejects RPI change
The way that the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation is calculated will be left unchanged, the Office for National Statistics has said.
Following a three-month consultation over how RPI is calculated, Jil Matheson, the government’s top statistical adviser, said that the existing RPI index did not meet current international standards but it would be easier to create a new index rather than to fundamentally change RPI.
It means that RPI, which will continue to be used for long-term indexation and for index-linked gilts and bonds, will not be brought in line with the lower Consumer Prices Index.
Instead, the expected newer techniques will be applied to an index dubbed RPIJ that will appear from March onwards alongside RPI and CPI.