Pay growth catches up with price rises

UK wage growth has caught up with rising prices for the first time in more than a year, according to the latest official figures.

Regular pay, excluding bonuses, rose by 7.8% in May to July compared with the same period last year.

Inflation, a measure of how fast prices of goods and services are rising, rose at the same pace over the same period.

"This means people's real pay is no longer falling," said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"Earnings in cash terms continue to increase at a record rate outside the pandemic-affected period," Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS said, while inflation has come down from its highs.