Summary Annual inflation in Britain surged to a higher-than-expected rate of 2.7 percent in October.
Inflation surged largely owing to massive hikes in the country s university tuition fees, official data showed on Tuesday.
The Bank of England s target rate is set at 2.0 percent.
"The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) annual inflation stands at 2.7 percent in October 2012, up from 2.2 percent in September," the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
"The main upward pressure came from the education sector (university tuition fees) with smaller upward contributions from food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport," the ONS added.
Analysts consensus forecast had been for an increase in 12-month inflation to 2.4 percent, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires.
The CPI meanwhile advanced by 0.5 percent in October on a month-on-month basis, the ONS said.
September s annual inflation rate of 2.2 percent had been the slowest since November 2009.
"It is disappointing that inflation increased in October," the Treasury said in reaction to the latest data, while noting that the rate remained "much lower than its peak of 5.2 percent" in September 2011.
Samuel Tombs, an economist at the Capital Economics research group, said October s rise provided an explanation as to why the Bank of England last week held back from announcing more stimulus, which is seen as inflationary.
"However, the rise is not as bad as it looks, given that it largely reflects the influence of temporary factors," Tombs added.
The Bank of England on Thursday decided against injecting more new quantitative easing (QE) stimulus into the economy and voted to hold interest rates at a record low level, after Britain s recent escape from recession.
The central bank voted to hold rates at 0.50 percent and leave its QE cash stimulus at 375 billion.
Other official data published on Tuesday indicated that inflation remained on course to fall back to the Bank of England s 2.0-percent target rate next year, according to analysts.
The prices of goods leaving factories in Britain rose by only 0.1 percent in October from September and were stable at 2.5 percent last month compared with one year earlier.
