UK inflation probably hit its highest level in 10 months in January, continuing a resurgence in price pressures that has made the Bank of England wary over rushing into interest-rate cuts.

Data on Wednesday are expected to show consumer prices rising 2.8% compared to a year earlier, driven by a jump in private school fees and a reversal of volatile factors that weakened inflation in December, according to the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The figures may support worries among BOE rate-setters that Britain’s inflation outlook is darkening at a time when the economy is also stagnating. It expects higher energy bills to lift consumer-price growth to a peak of 3.7% later this year.

While two officials backed a bumper half-point rate cut when the UK central bank eased monetary policy earlier this month, the majority of the committee still sees a need for a guarded approach to lowering borrowing costs.

Most concerning will be an uptick in underlying measures being watched closely by the BOE for signs of domestic pressures.

Services inflation is expected to rebound sharply from 4.4% to 5.2%, driven higher by erratic components such as air fares and an increase in private school fees after the Labour government made them subject to VAT.

Source: FINANCE.YAHOO