FOI reference: FOI-2026-3796
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request access to the following recorded information, where held by the Office for National Statistics:
1. Historical UK CPI First Release Dates (2004–2025)
For each monthly UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) announcement relating to reference months from January 2004 to December 2025, I would like to request:
The exact date (day, month and year) on which the CPI figures were first publicly released.
The corresponding CPI reference month.
The original publication time, if recorded.
Any existing historical release calendars, archived publications, or datasets containing this information.
I specifically require the actual first publication dates, rather than CPI reference months, price collection dates, or revised statistical series.
2. Historical Consensus Inflation Forecasts (2004–2025)
I would also like to know whether ONS holds any historical records of pre-announcement consensus forecasts for the UK headline CPI annual inflation rate (year-on-year), particularly Reuters Poll median forecasts.
If such records are held, I would be grateful for access to the available information, including the forecast value, corresponding CPI reference month, and forecast date, where recorded.
I understand that Reuters forecasts are produced by a third-party provider and may not be held by ONS.
We said
Thank you for your request.
1. Historical UK CPI First Release Dates
The associated download named FOI-2026-3796 - CPIH, CPI, and RPI publication dates 1981 to 2026 provides the final monthly publication date for CPI back to 1981. Note that there is a month lag between the publication month and reference month, so the CPI reference month is always one month prior to the publication month. For example, the CPI published on 21 October 2026 is for the September CPI reference month, the CPI published on 16 September 2026 is for the August CPI reference month, and so on.
Historically, the CPI was published at 9.30am on the day of publication. However, this was changed to 7am on 25 March 2020 and has remained at 7am since. There is a consultation taking place on the time of publication for market sensitive releases, which may be of interest.
The CPI publication can be accessed via the ONS website, for releases back to 2015.
Prior to 2015, you will need to access the information via The National Archives website: National Statistics Online - Product - Consumer Price Indices
2. Historical Consensus Inflation Forecasts (2004–2025)
We do not receive pre-announcement consensus forecasts for the UK headline CPI annual inflation rate from Reuters. However, we do subscribe to the Bloomberg Terminal to obtain this information. This is a service provided by Bloomberg for a charge, so we are unable to share the information we've obtained from them, as this would prejudice their ability to obtain income for the information in the future.
If we were to prejudice Bloomberg in this way, the ONS's commercial interests would also be prejudiced. Disclosure of commercially prejudicial information about the third parties we work with would make this supplier and others unwilling to work with us in the future. It would also jeopardise our existing commercial relationships, as they are unlikely to want to continue working with us over concerns that we would disclose commercially prejudicial information. As such, s.43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. Whilst we recognise the desirability of information being freely available, we must acknowledge the importance of maintaining the trust and customer confidence of the companies with whom we work. Damage to this trust would impact our own capability to compete and negotiate in a commercial environment. This would lead to a reduction in the choice of quality services offered and also a reduction in competitive incentive amongst suppliers to offer us a good price. This would be detrimental to the preservation of public funds and the quality of service received by members of the public. Therefore, this hinderance to our capability to compete effectively in a commercial environment would directly and negatively impact the public interest. On balance the public interest falls in favour of withholding this information.
You may be able to obtain this information directly from Bloomberg yourself via a licence subscription.