Almost one half of families are struggling with bills from survey

Using data from market research company ComRes, approximately 50% of individuals in the UK are falling behind, and many are concerned about paying the bills every month or are faced excessive credit card and other personal debts. About 42% of the population reports they are struggling with the increasing costs of living expenses and they are also impacted by wage freezes and other challenges.

As further noted by studies from Baines & Ernst and other organisations, this is an increase in the number of families that report they are struggling, and it is in fact up about 25% from last year. So even while the economy may be a little stronger, the fact that incomes are still not increasing, benefits are being cut, and the higher costs of food and other bills is still is causing many people to fall behind.

Details of challenges faced by UK families

Interviews were conducted with over 2,000 people by ComRes, which is a large enough sample size to be a good indication of the struggles that individuals are facing. What the data shows is more people are relying on credit to pay their bills, and an increasing number of people are struggling to keep up with payments on everything they need to live, including those debt costs.

Another 28% of families surveyed do not even have any savings, so if they are faced with an emergency, then other serious issues such as evictions could occur as they have no money to fall back on. While their are organisations to turn to for budgeting help, people still are either not getting the advice they need or are not contacting one of these groups, such as StepChange.

Bills that people are struggling to pay

Of 865 people surveyed that said they were struggling, the three biggest challenges named were food, energy bills, and transportation. Also, many people are accumulating debt as a stop gap measure. However, other studies, such as those by Homes and Communities Agency and Baines & Ernst, also show that the continued reduction in benefits as well as increasing rental costs are also a challenge.

Of those interviews conducted, when it comes to debt payments, about 30% of respondents were concerned with either their payday or bank loans as well as credit card bills. Overdrafts are also an increasing concern, with about 11% of families worried about that expense.

All of those are serious challenges. To make matters even worse, out of the 2,000 people interviewed by ComRes one quarter of them feel their financial situation will not get better, and in fact is worsening and will continue to do so over the next six months. So even if the economy is slowly improving, too many people across the UK are not benefitting from it.

The solutions are not simple. Some people want a reduction in VAT or have the government increase minimum wages. Others want caps on monthly rental costs. However, with the continued cutback in benefits and welfare payments, many government officials say these steps are unlikely to be taken. Unfortunately, during these challenging times, the solutions are not easy to find.