Then
Fuel Prices Through Time
What happened before: completed historical periods only, each clearly dated and sourced. For what's happening today, see Live Fuel Prices.
Photo: Simon Carey, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Same £20, different years
Then vs Now
Choose a historical year and compare it directly against today, with every figure's period made explicit.
Petrol, per litre
109.3p175.3p
2010 → Week commencing 12 October 2026
Litres from 1 hour of minimum wage
5.3 L7.3 L
2010 → Week commencing 12 October 2026
A 100-mile journey (40 mpg petrol car)
£12.43£19.92
2010 → Week commencing 12 October 2026
What £20 buys
18.3 L11.4 L
2010 → Week commencing 12 October 2026
Calculated from the petrol prices and minimum wage rates in the table below. The journey assumes 40 mpg and 4.54609 litres per UK gallon. No single figure shows whether people were better or worse off overall.
| Measure | 2010 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petrol | 109.3p Week commencing 4 January 2010, not an annual average | 175.3p Week commencing 12 October 2026 | +60.3% |
| Diesel | 111.1p Week commencing 4 January 2010, not an annual average | 200.0p Week commencing 12 October 2026 | +80.1% |
| Fuel Duty | 56.19p Week commencing 4 January 2010, not an annual average | 52.95p Week commencing 12 October 2026 | -5.8% |
| Minimum / Living Wage | £5.80 1 October 2009 – 30 September 2010 | £12.71 From 1 April 2026 | +119.1% |
| Average earnings | £420/wk Annual average, regular pay, whole economy, seasonally adjusted (ONS KAI7) | £705/wk May–July 2026 (3-month average) — a 3-month average, not an annual figure like the "then" value | +67.9% |
| Consumer prices (CPI index) | 89.4 Annual average, 2015=100 (ONS D7BT) | 138.4 Latest complete year (2025) — 2026 isn't finished, so no annual figure exists yet | +54.8% |
| Real household disposable income | £22,437 Annual, chained volume measure (reference year 2023), per head (ONS CRXX) | £25,320 Latest complete year (2025) | +12.8% |
| Bank Rate | 0.5% In force from 5 March 2009 | 3.75% In force from 18 December 2025 | +3.25pp |
| Petrol bought with 1hr minimum wage | 5.3L | 7.3L | +36.7% |
What changed?
Fuel prices, wages and the general cost of living have all changed over time. This comparison shows how those changes relate to each other — it does not draw a conclusion about whether people were better or worse off, since that depends on more than these figures alone.
- Fuel price: petrol cost +60.3% per litre in 2026 compared with 2010.
- Minimum wage: the applicable rate changed by +119.1% between 2010 (22 and over) and 2026 (21 and over (National Living Wage)).
- Cost of living: consumer prices (CPI) were +54.8% in 2025 compared with 2010.
- Minimum-wage purchasing power for petrol: 1 hour of the applicable minimum wage bought 5.3 litres of petrol in 2010, compared with 7.3 litres now.
These figures come from different periods and, in places, different methodologies.
01Explore any year
Cost of living through the years
Fuel, pay and the wider cost of living for each year, with the affordability comparisons calculated transparently, not just raw numbers.
2026
HistoricalHistorical snapshot, not today’s price. 2026 is still in progress. These prices are a dated reading kept for comparison. For the current figure, see Live Fuel Prices.
Fuel
Petrol
172.01p/litre
Week commencing 21 September 2026: a dated snapshot kept for comparison, not a 2026 annual average and not today's price (see Live Fuel Prices for the current figure)
Diesel
195.53p/litre
Week commencing 21 September 2026: a dated snapshot kept for comparison, not a 2026 annual average and not today's price (see Live Fuel Prices for the current figure)
Fuel Duty
52.95p/litre
Week commencing 21 September 2026: a dated snapshot kept for comparison, not a 2026 annual average and not today's price (see Live Fuel Prices for the current figure)
VAT
20%
Week commencing 21 September 2026: a dated snapshot kept for comparison, not a 2026 annual average and not today's price (see Live Fuel Prices for the current figure)
Pay
Minimum / Living Wage
£12.71/hour
21 and over (National Living Wage), From 1 April 2026
Why?
The age threshold for the top National Minimum/Living Wage rate has changed several times: 22+ until 2010, 21+ from 2010, 25+ ("National Living Wage") from 2016, 23+ from 2021, and 21+ again from 2024. Figures here always show the top-band rate in force on this snapshot's date, labelled with its age band.
Average earnings
DATA NOT AVAILABLE
Cost of living
CPI index
DATA NOT AVAILABLE
Real household disposable income
DATA NOT AVAILABLE
What could your pay buy?
1 hour of minimum-wage work
7.4litres of petrol
10 litres of petrol
£17.20
50 litres of petrol
£86.00
100-mile journey
£19.55
These calculations compare gross hourly pay with fuel prices. They do not represent disposable income or a complete measure of living standards. The 100-mile figure is not a claim that every vehicle gets 40mpg. It is an editable assumption you can change above.
Source: GOV.UK / DESNZ: Weekly road fuel prices / GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates / Bank of England: Official Bank Rate history. View source
02What did life cost then?
Fuel is one part of the cost of living
The cost of living is broader than the price of fuel. Housing, food, energy, transport and other household expenses all matter. This section therefore separates fuel affordability from wider household costs, using the broad, verified indicators below rather than a single invented "cost of living score".
Fuel
UK petrol and diesel pump prices, DESNZ weekly series.
Wages
Minimum/Living Wage rates and average weekly earnings, GOV.UK / ONS.
Disposable income
Real households' disposable income per head, ONS.
General consumer prices
The overall CPI index (all items), ONS. A single broad measure, not split by category here.
What this section does not cover.
Income growth vs consumer-price growth
Average weekly earnings (nominal) against the overall CPI index, indexed to each series' earliest available year so the two can be compared as % change.
Each line is indexed to its own starting value = 100, so series in different units (e.g. pence/litre vs US$/barrel) can be compared by % change rather than raw size.
- Average earnings
- Nominal (not inflation-adjusted) · Source: ONS: Average Weekly Earnings, regular pay, whole economy (KAI7)
- Consumer prices (CPI)
- Inflation-adjusted · Source: ONS: Consumer Prices Index (D7BT), 2015=100
Petrol price vs minimum wage
UK petrol pump price against the Minimum/Living Wage rate in force, indexed to each series' earliest available year.
Each line is indexed to its own starting value = 100, so series in different units (e.g. pence/litre vs US$/barrel) can be compared by % change rather than raw size.
- Petrol price
- Nominal (not inflation-adjusted) · Source: GOV.UK / DESNZ: Weekly road fuel prices
- Minimum / Living Wage
- Nominal (not inflation-adjusted) · Source: GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
Historical affordability
Litres of petrol bought with one hour of pay
A transparent calculation, not an 'affordability score', showing the relationship between wages and fuel prices in each year.
Petrol
7.4L
At 2026's minimum wage (£12.71/hour), one hour of work bought approximately this many litres of petrol.
Diesel
6.5L
The same calculation for diesel.
Source: GOV.UK / DESNZ: Weekly road fuel prices / GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates / Bank of England: Official Bank Rate history. View source
A historical comparison
What £20 buys
Amount spent
Year
Based on 172.0p/L (petrol, 2026)
Petrol litres
11.6litres
Diesel litres
10.2litres
Minimum-wage hours required
1.6hours
Average earnings context
Not yet verified for this year
"Equivalent modern purchasing power" (inflation-adjusted) will be added once a verified CPI index level for 2026 is connected — we don't estimate this figure in the meantime.
How is this calculated? ▾Hide calculation
Litres = amount spent ÷ verified pence-per-litre price for 2026, converted to pounds. Wage hours = amount spent ÷ that year's verified minimum wage per hour. See Sources & Methodology for how each figure is verified.
Data sources
Where this data comes from
Fuel prices
GOV.UK / DESNZ: Weekly road fuel prices
View original sourceMinimum wage
GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
View original sourceConsumer prices
ONS: Consumer Prices Index (D7BT), 2015=100
View original sourceAverage earnings
ONS: Average Weekly Earnings, regular pay, whole economy (KAI7)
View original sourceBank Rate
Bank of England: Official Bank Rate history
View original sourceHousehold income
ONS: Real households' disposable income per head (CRXX, UKEA)
View original sourceEvery important figure on this page has a source, an effective period or date, and a unit shown alongside it. Where a figure could not be verified against one of these sources, we show "DATA NOT AVAILABLE" rather than an estimate.
Want to know what's happening right now?
Live and latest-available figures, kept separate from these historical ones.