British wages have risen by the fastest rate for six years, boosting workers' pay packets amid near-zero inflation caused by falling energy and food prices, official data showed Wednesday.

Pay excluding bonuses jumped by an annual 2.9 percent in the three months to the end of July, the most since February 2009, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent, compared with 5.6 percent in the three months to June.

The total number of unemployed rose by 10,000 to 1.82 million people between May and July, the ONS added.