Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The Prices Survey Microdata include the underlying price data used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to produce the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), the Retail Prices Index (RPI) and associated price indices. The CPI has become the main domestic measure of inflation for macroeconomic purposes in the UK. Since December 2003 it has been used for the inflation target that the Bank of England is required to achieve. The RPI is the most long-standing measure of inflation in the UK, and its uses have included the indexation of pensions, state benefits and index-linked gilts. The study also includes the data underlying the Producer Prices Index. There are four levels of sampling for local price collection: locations/shopping areas; outlets/shops within locations; representative items/goods and services; and products and varieties (price quotes). There are two basic price collection methods: local and central. Local collection is used for most items; prices are obtained from outlets in about 150 locations around the country. Some 110,000 quotations are obtained by this method. Normally, collectors must visit the outlet, but prices for some items may be collected by telephone. Central collection is used for items where all the prices can be collected centrally by the ONS with no field work. These prices can be further sub-divided into two categories, depending on their subsequent use: 1) central shops, where the prices are combined with prices obtained locally, and 2) central items, where the prices are used on their own to construct centrally calculated indices. There are about 130 items for which the prices are collected centrally. The retail price data include the locations containing the shopping outlets from which the price quotes were obtained. These locations are intended to be broadly representative of a central shopping area and the areas where the local shopping population tend to live. The data also include the regions in which those shopping areas are located. Linking to other business studies The producer prices data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research. Latest edition informationFor the thirty-fifth edition (May 2024), monthly Item Indices and Price Quotes data files for January to March 2024 have been added to the study.
Main Topics:
The Prices Survey Microdata include both retail and producer prices. The retail data include the following files:'backdata' or background information fileslocally collected filescentrally collected item filesitem indices filesprice quote filesClassification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) level maps and weights filesThe 'backdata' background information files include:COICOP descriptions and identification codesdescriptions and identification codes for each item (goods and services)location descriptions and identification codes (and the region of the UK)shop codes for each item and locationThe pre-2007 data also include postcodes for the shops. The retail prices data span from 1996 to 2009 (centrally collected item indices), from 1996 to 2013 (annual item indices), from 1st quarter 1996 to 3rd quarter 2016 (quarterly item indices and quarterly price quote data), from October 2016 to July 2023 (monthly item indices and monthly price quote data), and from 1996 to 2013 (locally collected data). The producer prices files span from 1998 to 2021 and include:item and index number codesInter-Departmental Business Register Reporting Unit reference numbers, allowing the data to be matched to other ONS business survey dataindex descriptionsprices for each item/index numberAdditional producer prices files spanning 1996 to 2019 provide only the Producer Prices Indices and summary tables.
Other
Face-to-face interview
Telephone interview
Postal survey
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