Deadline to Breadline report: Exploring the financial resilience of working households across the UK
The latest Deadline to Breadline report assesses the financial stability of households by looking at how long someone could cover their basic living costs if they lost their job.
In our 10th anniversary edition, we spoke to a range of employed and self-employed consumers aged 18 to 65 about their financial situation. We’re continuing to uncover detailed insights into UK consumers to help you understand how this could affect your client conversations.
Our latest research uncovers:
- How long it would take someone to reach the ‘breadline’ if they lost their income
- What’s preventing your clients from engaging with their financial plans
- How client buying behaviours are changing in response to the cost of living crisis
Key findings
The latest research revealed:
- Households are only 19 days from the breadline, down 21% since 2020, from 24 days
- 60% of households have less than £5,000 in savings, and 16% having no savings at all
- 2 in 3 (67%) prefer to save for an unforeseen event rather than insure
How has your clients’ financial resilience changed?
With household costs increasing significantly by a record 54% in April 2022, and more businesses under pressure, this has raised concerns that many people across the country could be especially vulnerable to financial shocks should the worst happen.
The increased cost of living has made cutting back the new normal for many households, with 69% reducing essentials, and 81% cutting back on luxuries. Even households with no debt and a higher annual income of over £50k are being more cautious, with 61% cutting back on essentials.
The research found that workers aged 55-65 are overconfident in the time they can pay for essentials with no income. This is a concern as older households have less time to build their savings back up before retirement and typically find it harder to find new roles following redundancy.
More worrying still is the fact that 2 million adults have no money left at the end of each month – a rise of 330,000 since 2020. For those who earn under £20,000 per year (5 million people in the UK), the average household has no financial safety net if they lost their income.
Protect your client’s financial security
Download our new report to uncover more insights into UK consumers and understand how this could impact your interactions with clients.
