Household Costs Indices bulletin for January to March 2026 published

Overall UK household costs, as measured by the Household Costs Index (HCI), rose by 3.6 per cent in the year to March 2026, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a bulletin published on 28 May 2026. That is the same rate as in the year to December 2025¹. The HCI is a separate measure from the Consumer Prices Index, which rose 3.3 per cent over the same 12 months, against 2.6 per cent in the year to March 2025¹.

By tenure, private renter households and social and other renter households each had the highest annual rate, at 3.7 per cent in the year to March 2026. Both fell since December 2025, from 3.8 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively. Mortgagors and outright owner occupiers each had the lowest rate, at 3.6 per cent; mortgagors fell from 3.7 per cent while outright owner occupiers rose from 3.4 per cent¹.

Source: ONS, Household Costs Indices, Table 1¹

Costs for low-income households (decile 2) rose 3.7 per cent and for high-income households (decile 9) 3.5 per cent in the year to March 2026. Non-retired households saw a higher rate (3.7 per cent) than retired households (3.6 per cent). Households with children recorded 3.5 per cent and households without children 3.7 per cent¹.

The ONS said the bulletin uses updated 2025 weights, which it said "improves the accuracy of comparisons within the Household Costs Indices (HCIs) for UK household groups"¹. It also said it has not been possible to update the weights for 2026 because of delays in processing the underlying survey data and the need for further quality assurance, so the most recent estimates use weights for February to December 2025¹. Scanner data for approximately 50 per cent of the grocery market was introduced with the February 2026 index, published on 25 March 2026¹.

The HCI includes changes in mortgage interest rates, stamp duty and other costs related to the purchase of a dwelling, which are omitted from CPI¹. Within housing and household services, Council Tax and other rates contributed 0.22 percentage points more to the HCI annual rate than to the CPI¹. The ONS describes the HCIs as "official statistics in development" and advises caution, as estimates may be revised¹.

Why it matters for households

The HCI is designed to show how price changes land differently across household types, rather than a single national average. In the year to March 2026 the spread between the highest and lowest tenure rates was narrow: renters at 3.7 per cent against owner occupiers at 3.6 per cent¹. That contrasts with the position a year earlier, when the ONS reported private renters at 3.6 per cent and outright owner occupiers at 1.8 per cent in the year to March 2025².

Contributions shifted between December 2025 and March 2026. Motor fuels contributed 0.14 percentage points to the all-household annual rate, up from 0.02, and electricity, gas and other fuels rose from 0.10 to 0.20 percentage points. Food and non-alcoholic beverages fell by 0.11 percentage points, to 0.56, and alcoholic beverages and tobacco fell by 0.06, to 0.19¹. For mortgagor households, mortgage interest payments contributed 0.37 percentage points in March 2026, down from 0.50 in December 2025¹.

The ONS cautions that the figures are experimental and may be revised. It previously identified errors in the Q1 2025 HCI, including a chain-linking issue affecting stamp duty and interest on debt that understated the all-households annual rate for March 2025 by 0.1 percentage points, published as 2.6 per cent instead of 2.7 per cent².

What happens next

The next HCI release is scheduled for 28 August 2026¹. The ONS has not reported when the 2026 weights will be introduced. Latest UK inflation figures and when they are published sets out the wider release schedule.