The Office of National Statistics has reported that inflation for July has risen to 2.2%. This is the first rise of 2024 after inflation fell during the early part of the year and then settled at 2% for May and June.
A rise was expected because energy prices are now falling by less than they were doing a year ago.
This means that inflation has now gone back above the Bank of England’s target. However, the Bank themselves expected this, and many economic forecasters are predicting that inflation will stay above 2% for the rest of the year.
Encouragingly, inflation for services dropped from 5.7% to 5.2% in July. This was a larger drop than expected and is primarily due to a fall in inflation on restaurant and hotel pricing. It seems this may be due to the temporary effect on pricing brought about by Taylor Swift’s concerts, as well as increases to cover the minimum wage uplifts now levelling off.
The increase suggests that there is still pressure on prices and so business owners need to continue careful budgeting of costs as well as reviewing pricing to ensure profit margins.
See: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/latest
The government has launched its Small Business Plan which it believes will help small businesses to grow and encourage entrepreneurs to start businesses.
From 18 November 2025, identity verification will become a legal requirement for all company directors and people with significant control (PSCs). This is part of a wider reform under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and it’s set to impact millions of individuals connected to UK companies.