UK Debt: March 2023 statistics

Spring Budget 2023: How will it affect you?

March 15, 2023

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UK Debt: April 2023 statistics

April 30, 2023

Earlier this month, the Chancellor announced his Spring Budget (more information can be found in our blog post here), yet according to the March 2023 debt statistics from The Money Charity it seems to have done little to alleviate the population’s concerns regarding the cost of living crisis.

Snapshot of UK debt March 2023

Inflation rate is at 10.4% which is a shock increase from last month’s rate of 10.1%
There has been another decrease in the price of unleaded petrol during February 2023 by 0.5 pence per litre
Average credit card debt per household stood at £2,277 in January 2023 which is a slight decrease
The average total debt per household is £65,434 in January 2023
Total unsecured debt stands at £3,941 per adult in January 2023
6.1% increase in the average first time buyer house price to the year to January 2023

UK Personal Debt

Remember that you can view the statistics from last month here in order to compare with the March 2023 debt statistics.

264 people per day were declared bankrupt or insolvent in England and Wales from December to February. This equates to one person every 5 minutes and 28 seconds
Borrowers paid £156 million per day in interest in January 2023 which is an increase from last month
On average, a UK household spends £3.96 per day on water, electricity and gas
People in the UK owed £1,837.4 billion at the end of January 2023, which is up by £70.5 billion at January 2022. This equates to an extra £1,325.92 per adult over the year
Government debt increased by £389 million per day in the three months to January 2023
The Citizens Advice Bureau dealt with 2,125 debt issues every day in the year to February 2023

The Spring Budget did announce some promising support for UK families, however experts have warned that these promises are either coming into place too late, or they are not enough for a majority of people.

The Government did announce a postponement to the removal of the Energy Price Guarantee and there was hope that this would have brought some positivity to the economic outlook. However it seems that this is not enough to allay cost of living worries for UK households. Living standards have fallen dramatically over the past year, with life expectancy lagging behind the rest of the G7 members. Low income households are now at least £140 per month below the real cost of food, energy and everyday basics. Middle income households are hit with stagnating pay growth and real term wage cuts when the inflation rate is taken into account.

The real sobering effect of the cost of living crisis is the statistics that 41.5% of UK adults have reported that their mental health is worsening as a result. A third of adults have reported that they were unable to afford to turn the heating on due to the cost of energy. A further worry is that 20% of UK adults have missed a rent repayment in the last six months and 24% have missed a credit payment with 32% missing a bill payment.

If the past year has had a negative impact on your financial situation, or you are facing increasing debt costs over the next few months, feel free to call us for a discussion on what debt solutions could be available to suit your personal situation.

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UK Debt: March 2023 statistics

Snapshot of UK debt March 2023

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