maintenance and inflation

[mamas12]

I have two questions.
Right I'll say this first. I am discalculate, but, since being divorced I have done really well sorting mortgage finances and even starting my own business. Sometimes I struggle to even know what the sum is supposed to be, never mind the answer. but I'm stumped with this.

I have just realised that the maintenance by ex was supposed to go up in line with inflation each year and these are my questions;

1. how do I find out the inflation rate for the years starting 2008
2. how do I apply that to my amount yearly/monthly?

I'd like to present a full 'request' to him so then he could get his figures checked and can't argue too much as that is what he agreed in the divorce.

I can give specific numbers if needed.
Thanks for any help.

Try a chart such as this one provided by the BBC. When the government is index-linking things like pensions and benefits they use the September CPI figure.

In September 2008 the CPI was 5.2%. To increase a number by 5.2% multiply by 1.052. If you received £1200 per year, therefore, the new number would be £1262.40

September 2009 CPI - 1.1%...... multiply by 1.011
September 2010 CPI - 3.1%...... multiply by 1.031
September 2011 CPI - 5.2%...... multiply by 1.052

HTH

That will get roughly the right answer, but it is not the accepted way of doing indexation, and the accepted way is probably easier anyway:

Step 1: work out what measure of inflation you are using. The government have started using the Consumer Price Index as the headline figure, but most legal arrangements use the Retail Price Index.

Step 2: get the value of the relevant index in the 'base' period. The definateve source for inflation data in the UK is the Office for National Statistics, but they inexplicably changed the way they organised their web site so unless you are an expert in economics and/or statistics it is impossible to find what you want. This is now a good source for the RPI, and you will see that the RPI for, say September 2008 was 218.4.

Step 3: get the value for the relevant index in the 'current' period. So if the payment was set to rise in April 2012, that is 242.5.

Step 4: use this formula to calculate the current amount:
Amount(current) = Amount(base) x Index(current) / Index(base)
So if the base amount in the maintenance award was £74.50pw, that is
£74.50 x 242.5 / 218.4 = £82.72.

There used to be a decent UK inflation calculator online, but I can't find it now. Expect one at www.mranchovy.com/inflation some time soon!

wow thank you so much for this information.
It really is another language to me. I'll have to sit down and try to work on this when I'm better (not wellat the moment)

Although if as you say mranchovy some people use different measures then can ex just say he diagrees with my figures and does his own? Although that doesn't reallyy matter as long as it's done I suppose.