moneysupermarket.com: April RPI and CPI figures

Commenting on the RPI and CPI figures announced today, Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, said: "The RPI fell to minus 1.2 per cent in April, its lowest rate in over 50 years, but not everyone will feel the benefit of a falling cost of living.

"Many pensioners are still seeing their cost of living rise, while the return on their savings has fallen significantly. The RPI has fallen further into negative territory, but this measure of inflation includes mortgage payments, which have fallen recently because of interest rate cuts. However, most of those in retirement don't have mortgages and therefore won't have benefited from this. Instead, they are seeing their income fall because savings rates have been slashed and they have pensions linked to inflation - yet the cost of many things they buy is still going up. CPI, the other measure of inflation, is still falling but remains in positive territory at 2.3 per cent."