Office for National Statistics

The decline in UK GDP growth in the first quarter of 2012 was today revealed to be worse than expected, after the Office for National Statistics reported a worse than feared fall of 0.3%.

Inflation in the UK dropped in April, beatings the consensus forecast.

The UK's unemployment rate showed a surprise fall from 8.3% to 8.2% in the first quarter, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The UK pensions bill hit £7.1trn at the end of 2010, weighed down by firms with defined benefit (DB) schemes owing £1.3trn in pension obligations, national statistics show.

RECESSION

The UK economy contracted by 0.2% in the first quarter of the year, meaning it has slipped back into technical recession, preliminary estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) climbed in March as higher food and clothing prices pushed inflation up to 3.5%.

CPI annual inflation fell to 3.4% in February, down from 3.6% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics.

ISA SPECIAL

A second official estimate of UK GDP has confirmed the economy shrank by 0.2% in the final three months of 2011.