Inflation was unchanged last month at 3.8%, confounding expectations of an increase, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics said that inflation measured on the consumer prices index (CPI) remained at 3.8% in September, the same reading as in August and July.
It was the 12th month in a row CPI remained above the government’s 2% target but undershot economists’ forecasts of a rise to 4%.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said last week she would announce “a range of policies” in her 26 November budget to “bear down on some of the costs that people face”.
The comments came after the Bank of England pointed to the importance of “administered” prices, such as energy bills and transport fares, in driving up consumer costs.
The chancellor is expected to meet cabinet ministers on Thursday to ask what each department can do to help tackle rapid cost increases.
Other upward pressures on inflation have included rising food prices, partly driven by the climate crisis, and the cost of energy falling more slowly than it was a year ago.
The International Monetary Fund forecast last week that UK households would experience the highest inflation rate in the G7 this year and next.
Continued inflationary pressures are expected to put the brakes on any further interest rate cuts from the Bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee for the time being, with no reduction expected at its 6 November meeting.
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The Bank’s latest forecasts, published in August, suggested inflation would peak at 4% in September before declining towards the 2% target through next year.
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