The Authority’s Statement published on 10 January 2013 set out that the Board of the Statistics Authority had asked for a statutory re-assessment of Retail Prices Index (RPI) statistics to be undertaken. This re-assessment has now concluded and an Assessment Report has today been published.(1)
In January, the National Statistician completed a work programme and public consultation to address the differences between the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and the RPI, and found that the formulation of the RPI fails to meet international standards.
The Authority’s statutory re-assessment of RPI statistics has confirmed this view, and the Authority has concluded that RPI statistics will no longer be designated as National Statistics. This will be explained to users in all statistical releases and relevant publications containing RPI statistics.(2)
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1. Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics
2. The RPI will continue to be compiled, maintained and published by ONS on a consistent, monthly basis.