The Digester

ONS adds alcohol-free beer, houmous and motorhomes to inflation basket

Mar 16th 2026

The Office for National Statistics has revised the 760-item inflation basket to reflect changing consumer habits and will use supermarket scanner data for much of grocery pricing, a move that could affect official inflation readings used to set benefits and interest rates.

  • ONS updated the consumer basket by adding 27 items and removing 19, leaving 760 products and services used to measure inflation.
  • New additions include alcohol-free beer, houmous, motorhomes, dashcams and pet grooming, reflecting health, tech and lifestyle trends.
  • The ONS will use supermarket scanner data for more than half of the grocery market, replacing many manually collected prices.
  • Millions of prices will be collected automatically from supermarket tills, increasing data volume and timeliness.
  • Official inflation figures affect benefits, pensions and Bank of England interest rate decisions.
  • Forecasters now see year-end UK inflation closer to 3 percent rather than the earlier 2 percent forecast, citing the economic fallout from the war in Iran.

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