Pasta, bread, and crisps are among the budget food stapes to have seen the biggest price surges within the past year.
With the rising cost of living crisis continuing to make its impact felt across the UK, and with inflation having now hit the record 40-year high of 9%, campaigners are warning that the rise in cost for the cheapest supermarket staples could leave the country’s poorest families disproportionately hit.
New experimental data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today showed prices for some low-cost groceries increased at a much faster rate than general inflation.
They were up by an average of 6-7% from April 2021 to April 2022.
With prices rising for many UK households, we’ve released experimental analysis showing how the lowest priced grocery items have changed in price between Apr 2021 & Apr 2022 https://t.co/MCnUQxYDQ8
Our research is based on supermarket website data for 30 basic grocery items🛒 pic.twitter.com/6sRfok9SBf
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) May 30, 2022
The ONS said that it decided to compile the data by tracking price changes for the lowest-cost everyday groceries sold by supermarkets online after the anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe highlighted the increase in price of essential items and drew attention to the fact that value ranges had even disappeared from some shelves completely.
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Monroe argued that this meant the true cost of living hasn’t been reflected in inflation figures.
The ONS found that the prices of five items from a basket of 30 basics compiled by government statisticians had shot up by 15% or more – with the price of pasta jumping the most and recording an increase of 50% from a year earlier.
The price of the cheapest 500g packet of pasta was 53p last month, which is compared to 36p a year ago.
The ONS figures also highlighted above-average-inflation price rises for other staple food items including crisps (17%), bread (16%), minced beef (16%), and rice (15%).
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While there has been increases in some staples, the ONS did however say it discovered “considerable variation” among the 30 items it looked at, with potatoes having gone down in price by 14% on last year, as well as a 7% drop in the price of cheese, pizza (4%), and chips and sausages (3%).
Jack Monroe – who worked with the ONS on the data compilation – has taken to Twitter today to give her reaction on the figures, saying “it is far more expensive to be poor”.
Her tweet read: “The ONS have released new data today tracking the price rises of the lowest-cost grocery items over the last year, and – backing up my own research and evidence from January – the hikes in the value brands and basics have been much higher than average inflation stats.
The @ONSfocus@ONS have released new data today tracking the price rises of the lowest-cost grocery items over the last year, and – backing up my own research and evidence from January – the hikes in the value brands and basics have been much higher than average inflation stats..
“As I have said for 10 years now, and as many others have pointed out before and alongside me, it’s FAR more expensive to be poor, and now the literal experts in data gathering and statistics are helpfully, methodically, forensically backing that up.
“This feels like huge progress.”
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Monroe said that she is “very grateful to have been a part of this process”, and added that she hopes going forward, “MPs who set the uprating figures for benefits, and also discussions around a real living wage, will take this disparity into account”.
An eye-opening new study has found that only 5% of Mancs still use cash as their preferred method of payment nowadays.
It comes as no surprise that cash is less of a ‘king’ nowadays than it used to be, but now a new report by global financial technology company SumUp has suggests that only 5% of people in Manchester prefer to pay with cash, while 59% choose debit and credit cards, so that leaves one question… is Manchester on its way to becoming a cashless city?
To discover how payment preferences are evolving, SumUp conducted a nationwide survey to gather insights from UK consumers about their payment habits.
The company was particularly intrigued to not only discover payment methods people prefer, but what their concerns around certain payment methods, alongside how they feel about businesses that don’t accept digital payments.
95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’ / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash) | Pexels
Firstly, before we go any further, it’s important to note that almost two thirds (63%) of Manchester residents said they have changed the way they make payments over the past year.
Unsurprisingly, debit and credit cards remain the top choice for the majority of Mancs, with over half (59%) saying it was their preferred method of payment, followed by mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay at 24% – which is likely thanks to their ease of use and the ability to have multiple cards on one device.
While a third (31%) of Mancs said that they ‘don’t mind’ cash and still opt to carry it for situations where digital payments aren’t an option, a growing number of people in the city are feel that digital payments are more favourable, with 25% thinking that businesses should adapt to modern payment methods and whilst 28% finding it ‘inconvenient’ when a business doesn’t accept digital payments.
A further 11% of people even say that cash-only businesses wouldn’t be an option they’d consider, and would actually avoid them wherever possible.
Only 5% use cash as their preferred method of payment / Credit: Rawpixel
When it comes to concerns around digital payment methods, where do Mancs stand then? Well, the survey found that a third (33%) of people are worried about their reliance on technology, especially being unable to pay if their phone dies, for example, while an additional 32% of people are concerned about security risks such as hacking, fraud, or stolen card details.
Among other things, 26% of survey respondents also said they worry about the privacy aspect of digital banking and the tracking your data.
“While debit and credit cards continue to dominate as the preferred payment method, it’s clear that cash is slowly declining in use, particularly among younger generations,” Corin Camenisch, who is the Marketing & Growth Lead at SumUp, commented on the report.
“Looking ahead, we can anticipate a rise in innovative payment methods like digital wallets, especially as younger consumers increasingly embrace the convenience and flexibility they offer.”
Featured Image – Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)
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Met Office predicts UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year.
Fresh off-the-back of the news that 2025 is already the hottest spring on record, with a recorded 630 hours of sunshine from 1 March until 27 May, beating out the previous sunniest spring in 2020 by just four hours, the Met Office is now predicting that the UK is on the verge of a summer that’s ‘hotter than usual’.
According to its three-month outlook, the Met Office has predicted that it’s 2.3 times more-likely than ‘normal’ that it will be hot in the UK between 1 June and 31 August.
The average temperatures during those months are set to range from 10-17°C.
🌡️ ☀️ The UK has recorded its warmest and sunniest spring on record, according to provisional Met Office statistics.
Spring 2025 is now the 4th sunniest season overall for the UK, with only 3 summers sunnier since 1910.
Details in release below, or read this short thread 👇🧵
After it was revealed that this has also been the UK’s driest spring in more than a century, meteorologists are warning Brits that there could heatwave conditions could be reached at various times throughout the summer.
The release of the long-range forecast – which gives an indication of possible temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed over a period as a whole – comes after temperatures soared to 8°C (46F) above the average for this time of year this Saturday just gone (31 May).
It is important to note, however, that the Met Office thinks these predicted temperatures are similar to those in recent years, and it does not guarantee ‘prolonged’ hot weather.
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer this year / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)
The Met Office said in a statement: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.
“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.
“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”
Emily Sergeant -
30th May 2022 
