Full list of bills that have risen under Rachel Reeves | Personal Finance | Finance

UK inflation jumped to its highest level in over a year in April, as households were hit by a wave of price hikes dubbed “Awful April,” official figures show. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to 3.5%, up from 2.6% in March – the sharpest monthly increase since October 2022, during the height of the energy crisis.

It also marks the highest inflation rate since January 2024. Economists had forecast a smaller rise to 3.3%, but inflation was pushed higher by several major cost increases. These included a 6.4% rise in the energy price cap, as well as a string of tax changes introduced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Autumn Budget, which took effect in April. Here’s a rundown of the key bill hikes that hit households last month.

Energy bills

Energy bills for customers on variable tariffs increased by 6.4% as Ofgem’s new price cap took effect, bringing the average annual bill for a typical dual-fuel household from £1,738 to £1,849.

The increase added around £9.25 a month or £111 to the annual bill. The energy regulator Ofgem reviews the price cap every three months. It attributed last month’s hike to increasing wholesale gas costs.

Water bills

Households in England and Wales saw their water bills rise by around £123 annually, or about £10 per month in April. This brought the average annual bill up to around £603.

The water regulator Ofwat has allowed companies to raise average bills by £31 a year, or £157 in total, over the next five years to £597 by 2030 to help finance a £104 billion upgrade for the sector.

How much your bill increased depends on your water supplier, but this is not something you can change. This means some households saw even steeper rises than the average. Here’s the full list.

Council tax

Millions of households across saw a jump in their annual council tax bills from April, with most local authorities in England increasing a typical band D bill by 5%. This marked an annual increase of around £109 to £2,280 from the previous year, although some local councils had permission to impose hikes of up to 9.99%.

In Wales, council tax increased by 4.5% to 9.5%, while in Scotland, the bill rose by at least 8%. Click here for the map of increases.

TV licence

The cost of a standard colour TV licence increased by £5 to £174.50 a year, while the price of the black and white licence rose to £58.50. Every household in the UK that watches live TV or BBC iPlayer must have a licence.

The fee increases yearly in line with inflation until 2027, when the framework is set to be reviewed.

Mobile and broadband tariffs

Broadband prices for those on inflation-linked contracts increased by an average of £21.99 annually, with some newer plans seeing hikes of up to £42. Mobile users faced similar increases, with an average rise of £15.90 for inflation-linked contracts and up to £48 for newer deals. Click here for the full list by provider.

Business cost increases and food prices

From April, larger businesses were landed increased employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs), with thresholds dropping from £9,100 to £5,000 and tax rates rising from 13.8% to 15%. According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), this change will cost British retailers £2.33billion a year.

Retailers also had to manage a £2.73 billion increase from the minimum wage hike and a £2 billion cost tied to a new packaging levy taking effect in October 2025.

Businesses said these increases will force them to pass on some costs to consumers, hire fewer people or make less profit.

A joint letter from 81 major retailers, including Tesco, Amazon, and John Lewis, stated: “The sheer scale of new costs and the speed with which they occur create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable, and higher prices a certainty.”

According to ONS, food and non-alcoholic beverages prices rose by 3.4% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 3% in the 12 months to March.

Overall prices in the “recreation and culture” division rose by 3.1% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 2.4% in the 12 months to March. Meanwhile, prices in the transport division rose by 3.3% in the 12 months to April 2025, up from 1.2% in the 12 months to March.

Stamp Duty

The Government removed the temporary Stamp Duty discount in April, making it even more expensive to buy a property. For the past few years, first-time buyers paid no stamp duty on homes priced up to £425,000. However, this threshold dropped back to its usual £300,000 in April.

For everyone else, the tax-free threshold dropped back down to £125,000 instead of £250,000.

Vehicle Excise Duty

April brought one of the biggest road tax shake-ups in nearly a decade, leaving millions of drivers facing higher costs to keep their cars on the road. Labour raised the standard road tax rate for vehicles registered after April 2017 by £5, bringing it to £195 this year.

Even electric, zero, and low-emission vehicles weren’t safe. For the first time, drivers of these greener options were also hit with road tax, with the lowest rate set at £10 for the first year, rising to £195 in subsequent years.

ONS acting director-general Grant Fitzner said: “Significant increases in household bills caused inflation to climb steeply. Gas and electricity bills rose this month compared with sharp falls at the same time last year due to changes to the Ofgem energy price cap.

“Water and sewerage bills also rose strongly this year, as did vehicle excise duty, which all pushed the headline rate up to its highest level since the beginning of last year.”