Inflation Hits Hard

This is despite some improvements in median pay deals as reported to LRD’s Payline. April marked the first month in some time that the median pay deal has increased. But while pay deals have improved slightly, RPI inflation was 4.5% in April 2025, up from 3.2% the month before. One of the main drivers is energy, with the Ofgem price cap up 6.4%, leading to a jump of 16.4% and is a significant contributor to inflation.

Unfortunately, the falling costs of petrol and diesel is the other side of energy that has helped dampen inflation. Cheaper diesel and petrol will not help the argument that we need to move away from fossil fuels and will not convince those on stretched budgets that it is affordable.

On other kinds of transitions, our main feature shows how the gender pay gap is still taking too long to close. More optimistically though, the feature highlights the prevalence of information and tools that unions can use to accelerate greater equality.

Our second feature, based on an interview with UNISON’s Kevin Russell, shows how cost pressures can impact on bargaining and give the question of what is affordable even more urgency.