UK Debt: December 2023 statistics

Snapshot of UK debt December 2023

• Inflation rate ends the year at 4.6% 
• After months of increasing prices at the pumps, petrol has decreased by 5.4 pence per litre in November 2023 
• Average credit card debt per household stood at £2,409 in September 2023 
• The average total debt per household is £65,724 in September 2023 
• Total unsecured debt stands at £4,125 per adult in October 2023 
• 0.3% increase in the average first time buyer house price to the year to September 2023

UK Personal Debt

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

• The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £65,756 or £34,716 per adult. This is around 100.7% of average earnings
• 279 people per day were declared bankrupt or insolvent in England and Wales from August to October. This equates to one person every 5 minutes and 9 seconds
• The Citizens Advice Bureau dealt with 1,083 debt issues every day in the year to November 2023
• 6.8 properties were repossessed every day in July to September, which was one every 3 hours and 47 minutes
• 1,109 people a day reported they had become redundant between May and July
• Government debt increased by £442 million per day in the three months to October 2023
• The number of people unemployed increased by 658 per day in the year to July 2023
• The UK population shrunk by an estimated 151 people per day between 2020 and 2021

The statistics this month focused on Christmas during the cost of living crisis. It may seem like the situation is calming down because the headlines are focusing on other areas, but real life tells us that the cost of living crisis is still gripping UK households.

Christmas can be financially overwhelming at the best of times, but the difficult financial landscape that we are living through is making it worse. The financial reports over the last few months have shown that the situation is not getting any better and could affect peoples’ spending plans over the festive period. 52% of people have reported that they will spend less on Christmas this year due to the rising cost of items and especially the rising cost of energy in the New Year. The Money Charity have reported that the average UK household will spend £1,811.70 on the Christmas period, which is the equivalent of 80% of the average monthly UK income. A gobsmacking statistic was released at the same time, detailing that 30 years ago the average spend was £229 which, adjusted to inflation, means that the cost of Christmas has risen by 290% in three decades.

The statistics also show that the maths are not doing the mathing, with the overall rise in the cost of living amongst the lowest income UK households being set at 8.2%, whereas the rise in benefits has only reached 6.7%.

It was reported last month that there is some light at the end of the tunnel emerging next year, however that is in the future. The current statistics show that the cost of living crisis will have an effect on Christmas this year, with many adjusting how much they would normally spend during that period. Choices will be considered and where some will forego things and cut back, there will be others that will take on more unsustainable debt in order to afford the Christmas that they want.

If 2023 has had a negative impact on your financial situation, or you are facing increasing debt costs over the next few months into 2024, feel free to call us for a discussion on what debt solutions could be available to suit your personal situation.