The Wall Street Journal

U.K. Statistics Body Says it Found Inflation-Data Error in Fresh Blow to Credibility

The mistake comes at a torrid time for the agency, which was placed under government review earlier this year

The U.K.’s statistics agency said it found an error affecting calculations of consumer-price inflation.
The U.K.’s statistics agency said it found an error affecting calculations of consumer-price inflation. Photo: benjamin cremel/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The U.K.’s statistics agency said it has identified an error affecting calculations of consumer-price inflation, raising new questions about the reliability of its data amid similar concerns in the U.S.

The mistake was found in data provided by the country’s transportation ministry, and concerns the number of vehicles subject to certain taxes, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement Thursday. The error meant annual inflation for April was overstated by 0.1 percentage points, the ONS said. The official data, which had calculated April’s inflation rate at 3.5%, won’t be amended and no other periods are affected, the agency said.

WSJ Logo