Most UK adults expect to be worse off after Budget

Creditspring has published research showing that more than half of UK adults expect to be worse off after the Autumn Budget. The survey also found that only 39% could cover an unexpected £200 to £500 bill from savings.

The findings point to growing pressure on household finances. Some 52% said they expected the Budget to leave them worse off, while only 12% expected to be better off, meaning pessimists outnumbered optimists by more than four to one.

The survey of 2,000 UK consumers found that one in six adults could not cover essential costs at all if their main household income stopped immediately, even if they used savings. Nearly a third said they would run out of money within two weeks.

The safety net

The research suggests household savings have weakened sharply over the past year. The share of people who said they could pay an unexpected £200 to £500 bill from savings fell from 59% to 39%, a drop of 20 percentage points.

Almost as many, 37%, said they would need to borrow in some form to meet such a cost. More than half of respondents, 53%, said they had less than £500 in emergency savings, while 19% had no emergency savings at all.

Unexpected costs were common across the sample. More than four in five adults said they had faced at least one unplanned expense in the past year, and more than four in 10 said those bills had totalled £500 or more.

Borrowing for basics

The survey found that 53% of adults had used credit or borrowed money to pay for at least one essential item in the past year. Food and groceries were the most commonly cited expense, with 27% saying they had put food shopping on credit.

Another 11% said they had borrowed to pay for energy, heating or water. Alongside borrowing, 19% said they had sold personal belongings to cover bills.

Concern about the Budget also appears to be affecting day-to-day decisions. Two in five respondents said they had cut back on everyday spending, while 28% said they were reducing their Christmas budget.

A smaller group, 7%, said they had withdrawn, or planned to withdraw, money from their pension early because of uncertainty about the Budget. Among those aged 25 to 34, 15% said they had delayed having children or starting a family until they could see the outcome.

Rising worries

Higher costs for essential goods and energy remained the biggest concerns in the survey. Some 52% cited the cost of essential goods, up from 49% a year earlier, while 51% pointed to energy costs, up from 47%.

Fuel was the fastest-rising area of concern. The share of respondents worried about higher fuel costs rose to 37% from 19% a year earlier, almost doubling. A quarter said they wanted the Chancellor to cut fuel duty or extend the freeze.

The financial strain described in the survey also appeared to be affecting wellbeing and relationships. More than one in four adults said they had lost sleep over money in the past year, and one in six said they had argued with a partner or family member about it.

Regional picture

Regional differences were marked. Yorkshire and the Humber was the most pessimistic region, with 59% expecting to be worse off after the Budget and 21% expecting to be much worse off.

Greater London was the least pessimistic region in the study, though 45% of respondents there still expected to lose out. Savings patterns also varied by area.

The South West had the highest share of adults with no emergency savings, at 25%, compared with 10% in Greater London. In Scotland, 32% of people in Glasgow said they had no emergency savings, against 11% in Edinburgh.

The data was collected by Censuswide from a sample of 2,000 UK consumers.

"A year ago, most people could absorb a surprise bill from their savings. Today, most can't. That is a dramatic shift in a very short space of time, and it means millions of households are going into this Budget with no margin for error.

"When one in four people are putting their food shopping on credit, people are selling their belongings to pay bills, and young adults are putting off starting a family, the Budget can't just be about long-term plans. It has to answer a much simpler question: can people afford the essentials this month?

"Households need clarity and practical support on energy, fuel and the cost of essentials. No surprises, no added uncertainty, and no assumption that everyone has a safety net to fall back on, because for a growing number of people, it's already gone," said Tamsin Powell, consumer finance expert at Creditspring.