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Impact of inflation on you and your business

ended 14. December 2021

Tomorrow morning @ 07:00, the Office for National Statistics is publishing the latest official inflation data. It's currently more than twice the 2% target and is predicted to rise above 5% in the months ahead. All in all, a proper sh!tshow. We want to know:

  • How is inflation affecting you and/or your business in the real world? After all, times are tough enough for many people as it is, and now everything is costing more - in the shops and for raw materials.
  • Are you having to increase your prices to reduce the impact of the rising cost of living, or would that risk sales? It's a delicate balancing act.
  • Has Brexit (remember that?) compounded the inflation problem? 
  • Should the Bank of England raise rates on Thursday to contain inflation or sit tight given the uncertainty created by the Omicron variant?

As ever, soundbites, not In Search of Lost Time. Journalists like short and punchy comments, not elongated essays! If you're a Premium user, your response will be edited by Marcel Proust.

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
An interest rate rise might not be popular, but it could be the answer to stabilise the monumental surge in property prices we've seen so far this year. As ever, it's a delicate balancing act to get right, but we know interest rates are very low, and inflation is soaring, so a rate shift in base rate to 0.25% might be wise.
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Malcolm Baker
Breeder at Halo Dart Frogs
The poor get poorer, the rich continue to party at cheese & wine business meetings..... The absolute reality is that low income families with young children dependant on universal credit are facing having to choose between heat & eat this Christmas/Winter. It's Christmas and amazingly unfair to the children if Santa doesn't bring that present they asked for.. What does that say to a child who for the past 2 years have already lost out on so much.. Inflation has to level out or drop because raising interest rates will force many people into poverty... Unfortunately either way many families will be relying on food Banks.. I know we will be.
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Keith Budden
Managing Director at Ensurety
"Inflation is having a material impact on businesses in all sectors, including our own. For now, we have taken the decision to absorb the increased prices we are experiencing across the board but we will not be able to do this indefinitely. We had contemplated increasing prices from January but the emergence of Omicron has scuppered that so we are now holding our prices steady until April 2022. Without the arrival of Omicron, the Bank of England would almost certainly have increased interest rates this week but given the amount of uncertainty surrounding another potential lockdown, and the possibility of a Conservative leadership contest, Threadneedle Street will likely sit on its hands for now. An interest rate rise will likely be seen as a bridge too far for now."
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Graham Cox
Director at Bridging Hub
House prices have been on a tear since last year, fuelled by Rishi Sunak's stamp duty holiday and the cut in interest rates. With double-digit house prices in some areas, many first time buyers have been completely priced out of the market. If it helps cool property prices and bring soaring inflation under control, a small rate hike to 0.25% wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
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Eddie Young
Director at Eddie Young Magic
Brexit is a mess, Inflation is a mess, Interest Rates going to cause a mess, COVID is a mess and Conservatives are an utter mess Well, this is another fine mess you have got us in Boris.
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Maddy Alexander-Grout
CEO at My VIP Rewards
It’s a big mess, and I don’t have any faith in what the government are doing. Inflation means consumers have less money to spend, their cost of living is massively impacted, it could either have a really negative effect on My VIP Rewards, or positive because more people will want to save money on their everyday living expenses. We know the small businesses we work with are all feeling the pinch with rising costs! It’s tough times for everyone. We won’t be raising our prices! We are here to support not compound the problem
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Dr Jackie Mulligan
Founder at ShopAppy
"High inflation coupled with decreasing footfall due to the current Covid situation is deflating the recovery of our local high streets at what should be peak festive trading. Many local shops, pubs and cafes are not passing on the higher costs they are facing to customers either so will be earning less, too, just at a time when many of them are also holding five and a half times more debt than they had pre-pandemic. Local businesses have done so much for their communities over the past 21 months so I hope customers rally around small businesses during the weeks ahead, as they are being squeezed on all sides. The Government needs to step in and offer financial support, otherwise there will be a far longer road to recovery for our town and city centres."