Six in ten Britons say they’ve had to make cuts due to cost of living pressures, with half of Britons expecting their financial situation to worsen in the next year
The cost of living has been one of the defining political issues of the 2020s, here in the UK and across the world. Rising household costs have been at least partially to blame for many governments’ election defeats, including the Conservatives’ earlier this year. Although inflation in the UK has fallen clearly from its peak, it’s an issue that is not going away any time soon, with many Britons still feeling the pinch.
Nearly six in ten Britons (58%) say they have been affected by cost of living pressures in recent times, including 41% who say they have not just made cuts to their usual spending but expect to have to do so again at some point. A further 21% of the public say they have currently been able to maintain their usual levels of spending, but expect to have to make cuts soon.
Just one in six Britons (17%) say they have been able to maintain their usual spending levels and expect to be able to continue to do so.
Cost of living pressures have had a disproportionate impact on younger Britons. Half of those aged 65 and over (50%) say they have been able to, at least at present, maintain their usual levels of spending, but this figure stands at just 27% among 18-24 year olds and 32% with 25-49 year olds.
In all, just three in ten Britons (30%) would describe themselves as some degree of comfortable financially. For 44% of Britons, it’s more a case of being able to easily cover the essentials, but having little left over to pay for luxuries, while 24% of the public say they often struggle to make ends meet.
When it comes to what Britons are finding it difficult to afford, one in six (18%) say they have struggled to pay for energy bills most or all of the time during the last three months, while one in seven Britons (14%) say the same about food.
By contrast, just half of the public (49%) say they have not struggled to pay their energy bills at all in the recent months, with only 55% of Britons never struggling to pay for food.
Key to why many people report struggling to afford basics like food is that eight in ten Britons (82%) say that prices in shops are rising faster than their income, compared to only 10% who feel their income is keeping pace with prices and just 1% who believe their income is rising faster than prices.
This is likely why only one in seven Britons (15%) believe the government is managing the cost of living well, against three-quarters of the public (74%) who feel that the government is handling the matter badly.
This represents a significant increase in dissatisfaction with Labour's handling of the cost of living since the general election; in our first poll following the July vote, 55% of Britons had said the new government was handling the issue badly. Indeed, Labour’s current net score of -59 is exactly as bad as the final score of the previous Conservative government under Rishi Sunak.
This dissatisfaction with the government is fairly universal across all segments of the British public. Even among those who voted Labour into office in July, just a third (32%) believe the government is doing well at managing the cost of living, while half (50%) see them doing badly.
Do Britons think finances are getting better or worse?
When evaluating how their overall financial situation has changed over the last year, 48% of Britons say their household’s situation has worsened, compared to 37% who say it has stayed about the same and just 12% who say their situation has improved over the last 12 months.
There is also little expectation of trends improving any time soon. Looking ahead, 43% of Britons expect their financial situation to worsen over the next 12 months, with 38% expecting them to stay roughly level and only 11% anticipating an improvement in their household’s finances.
This also feeds into perceptions about the wider economy, with only one in eight Britons (13%) expecting the UK economy to improve for the better over the next year, against more than half (54%) who think it will get worse over the next 12 months.
While Labour voters are the most optimistic about the state of the economy, it is still only 26% who expect improvement in the next year, roughly the same as the 29% who expect it to get worse. This is, though, markedly less than the 75% of Conservatives and 84% of Reform UK voters who are pessimistic about the state of the economy over the next year.
How will cost of living pressures impact Christmas?
Nearly half of Britons (48%) say that cost of living pressures mean they will have to spend less on Christmas this year than they normally would, similar to the 52% of Britons who reported the same ahead of last Christmas. Only four in ten Britons (40%) say they expect to spend as much as they normally would this festive season.
Presents are most likely to be cut back due to the cost of living, with 86% of those looking to reduce their seasonal costs planning to decrease their gift spend this year. Food, gatherings and outings will also be hit, with more than half of Christmas cost-cutters (53-56%) saying they’ll spend less on them this year. A third of those cutting their seasonal spending (33%) say that travelling to visit family and friends will also be reduced.
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Photo: Getty
