Back-to-school shopping drives up grocery spending in Great Britain

Grocery sales in Great Britain rose by 3% in value over the four-week period compared with a year earlier, down from 3.8% last month. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

Households stocking up on lunchbox essentials helped drive an increase in grocery spending last month, while supermarket inflation in Great Britain dipped.

Grocery price inflation fell to 1.7% in the four weeks to 1 September from 1.8% last month, according to the retail analyst Kantar, but nearly 60% of households were worried about the rising cost of their shopping.