Inflation, Gift Cards and Energy Deals

The Office for National Statistics has published the first of a new quarterly set of figures designed to reflect how inflation is experienced by households. They are called the Household Costs Indices and include things like mortgage costs, interest and insurance. It showed that overall UK household costs rose by 8.2% in the 12 months to September. How does it compare to other measures and what impact could it have? Are you thinking of buying a gift card as a present for Christmas? There's a warning that people looking to use gift cards this Christmas need to be on the look out for scams and fraud.

And from 1st January the cost of heating and lighting your home and cooking your food will rise in England, Scotland, and Wales. The average increase in energy bills will be just over 5% adding £94 a year to the typical bill. As some suppliers begin offering deals to fix your costs we'll ask what should you do?

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 16th December 2023)