The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released the Consumer Price Indices for December 2010, showing that inflation recorded by both the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and Retail Prices Index (RPI) rose at the end of the year.

Annual inflation stood at 3.7% at the end of December, up from 3.3% the month before. Annual inflation as recorded by RPI stood at 4.8 per cent in December, up from 4.7 per cent in November.

Transport, housing and household services, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and clothing and footwear were cited as the main drivers behind the rise.

Whilst the main factors influencing the CPI also affected the RPI, the smaller increase was mainly attributed to air transport, car insurance, and house depreciation.

Meanwhile, Age UK has released figures that it says demonstrate those in later life are disproportionately hit by inflation due to their spending patterns.

Age UK has launched ‘Silver RPI’, which it developed in partnership with Fathom Consulting to “become the most complete measure of cost increases in later life.” The index uses information from the Living Costs and Food Survey to re-weight the 78 items that comprise the RPI to better reflect the expenditure patterns of over 55s.

According to Age UK, the index shows that since 2008 those aged 55 to 59 have experienced inflation at a rate 1.8% above the official RPI figure.

The increase is more acute for the higher age bands, according to Age UK. The gap between RPI and Silver RPI is 2.6% for those aged 60 to 64, and 3.3% for 65 to 69 year olds.

The gap widens to 3.8% for 70 to 74 year olds, and 4.1% for those over 75.

Managing director of Age UK Enterprises Gordon Morris said those in later life are disproportionately affected by inflation, particularly in recent times.

“The impact of inflation on over 55s has been substantially underestimated and it worsens as you age, with over 75s experiencing cost rises on average four per cent above official measures. For a typical over 60 year old, it means they are on average more than £620 a year worse off than previously thought,” he said.

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