Biggus,
Technically correct, and it is on the basis of that technicality that they will argue they can morally get away with it. However, one might suggest RPI is a more accurate representation of many households spending habits, in which case that was still over 1%.
But once again, it's fairly straightforward to see through the smoke and mirrors in their argument. Previous VAT and fuel rises have dropped out of the calculations - bit like a bad report on the promotions boards dropping out of consideration. It doesn't change the fact that VAT hasn't come back down again. As for oil prices, well, they are all over the place at the moment and whilst low prices are a brief welcome respite, how long will they stay low?
And will they use the low oil prices to justify a cut in allowances such as HTD and GYH? Wouldn't put it past them if I'm honest. And we all know that charges will go up by more than 1%.
The AFPRB reports are, I'm afraid, now only worth reading just to see how paper thin their excuses and reasoning are. Next time they are in town I would be inclined to ask them if on a personal level they actually believe what they are writing.