Everyday essentials see huge price spikes

From groceries to fuel and housing, homes up and down the country continue to see a real hit to their bank balances, with everyday items soaring in price since 2011.

In the last year alone, consumer prices, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) at the end of August, rose by 6.7%, proving that the high cost of living is an ongoing issue in the UK.

But while staples such as milk and bread continue to creep up in cost, there’s good news for The Health Lottery players – entry into its main draw, The Big Win, is the same price as when the lottery launched in 2011 at just £1 per ticket.

This is despite the total prize on offer in The Health Lottery’s Saturday night Big Win draw having recently been increased to £500,000.

The stable price is especially impressive when set against what else a pound can buy you today. The Health Lottery has crunched the numbers to show just how much less a consumer can buy with a pound than in 2011. Among its findings were the following:

• £1 buys just 23.9% of a Big Mac, down from 41.8% in 2011
• £1 buys 1.5 pints of milk, compared with 2.2 pints in 2011
• £1 buys 33 tea bags, against 41 in 2011
• £1 pays for just 6 hours of an average annual electricity bill, compared with 18 in 2011
• £1 pays for 46 minutes of the average monthly rent in England, against 63 minutes in 2011
• £1 buys 21.9% of a pint, down from 32.3% in 2011

The research shows that the cost of one of life’s essentials, electricity, has risen by a staggering 188% over the period, while the perhaps less essential but much-desired Big Mac will set you back 75.3% more than it did in 2011. The cost of a pint has risen by a whopping 47.1% since 2011.

Despite these dramatic increases in the cost of goods, The Health Lottery has remained astonishingly consistent in price.

Lebby Eyres, CEO at The Health Lottery, said: “We’re really proud to have been able to keep our ticket price at the same low price of £1, even after increasing the prize on offer in our biggest draw of the week on Saturday. Set against what else £1 can buy today, we believe we offer excellent value to players, who in turn help us to support vital charities that work to tackle inequality across the UK.”