Why does your weekly shop feel like financial punishment these days? While fast fashion brands storm India's small towns with budget promises, British families are living through the opposite story: everything costs more, and the numbers prove it.

The Consumer Price Index, which tracks the cost of everything from housing to food, has climbed to 201,118 this year. That's a 24% jump since 2021, when it sat at 162,574. (Source: ONS, CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including Housing))

Put simply: what cost £100 in 2021 now costs £124. Your rent, your groceries, your energy bills. All of it.

The steepest climb happened in 2022, when prices rocketed 9.5% in a single year. That's when families first felt the squeeze. By 2023, prices had risen another 7.2%. Even last year's 'cooling' inflation still pushed costs up 2.3%.

This isn't abstract economic theory. It's the reason a family's £80 weekly shop became £100. Why a £1,200 monthly rent became £1,488. Why pensioners are choosing between heating and eating.

The data tells the story of four brutal years. In 2021, Britain was emerging from Covid lockdowns with prices relatively stable. Then came the perfect storm: supply chain chaos, energy price explosions, and a cost-of-living crisis that politicians are still promising to fix.

The index has more than doubled since 1988, when it stood at 93,166. But the recent acceleration is unprecedented. The four years from 2021 to 2025 delivered the same price increases that used to take a decade.

For young adults, this timing couldn't be worse. Those starting their careers in 2021 have watched their purchasing power evaporate. First-time buyers saved for deposits that became worthless as both house prices and living costs soared simultaneously.

The government talks about wage growth and economic recovery. But wages haven't kept pace with this 24% surge. Most workers are poorer today than they were four years ago, even if their paycheques look bigger.

Every month brings fresh price rises. Energy companies announce new caps. Landlords demand higher rents. Supermarkets quietly adjust their prices upward. The index captures all of it, month by month, building into a crisis that touches every British household.

So while fast fashion conquers new markets with promises of affordability, British families face the opposite reality: a world where nothing stays affordable for long, and every purchase hurts a little more than it used to.