5 important things happening in the UK today

Here are 5 important things happening in the UK today, 18 August 2025.

All eyes on inflation: The recovery in UK living standards is coming to an end, a potential moment of peril for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has hailed the recent strength of wage growth as a sign he is delivering on his pledge to make “working people” better off. Figures on Wednesday are forecast to show that rising food bills helped lift inflation to 3.8% in July, the highest since January 2024, and the Bank of England expects 4% in September. Meanwhile, private-sector pay growth is below 5% for the first time since early 2022, with a further slowdown expected. [Bloomberg]

Record salaries for UK chief executives as pay rises for third year in a row: The bosses of Britain’s largest listed companies took home record high pay packets for the third successive year, according to a High-Pay Centre report. Analysis found that the record set in the last financial year means the average FTSE 100 chief executive is now paid 122 times the salary of the average full-time UK worker. [Guardian]
UK consumers risk inflation hit to savings for the first time in two years: Consumers risk seeing their savings eaten away by inflation for the first time in nearly two years after UK banks slashed interest rates paid to customers in response to Bank of England base rate cuts last week. More than 20 savings providers, including NatWest, Chase, and Santander, have cut rates paid to consumers over the past week, according to the financial data website Moneyfacts. [Financial Times]

Benefit sanctions fall under Labour: Benefit sanctions have fallen sharply under Labour after a jump in the number of claimants who say they are too sick to look for work. Figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that 109,570 people claiming Universal Credit had their payments docked in May for failing to comply with benefit rules. This is down from just over 124,000 sanctions just before Labour took power in July, and a peak of 137,000 under the Tories in 2023. [Telegraph]
On Monday, Oil was trading lower at $65.04. The pound is trading at $1.35, €1.16, and ¥9.73.