Families in the UK are £6 a week worse off than a year ago, according to new figures published this week by supermarket chain Asda. Savings levels for UK families are also low, with average cash reserves equal to just 14 days of daily living costs, before additional finance would have to be sought*.
Furthermore, 11% of UK families are now living beyond their means, by spending more than they earn, and a further 26%, or 13m UK adults, just break even each month, leaving no disposable income for savings and investments.
Chief cause for this fall in real standard of living was a low average wages increase of just 1.4% year on year in recent months, compared with an average increase of 4% before the recession. A second major contributory cost is the rise in the cost of petrol to 120p a litre, according to Cebr, the organisation which compiled the information for Asda.
Recent research by Aviva showed that only 1 family in 4 would be able to raise £100 of disposable income within a week, if the family lost its main income due to redundancy or illness – and with 31% of UK households dependent on a sole breadwinner, 16% of people said that their personal finances were such that they would be forced to sell their tv to raise additional finance.
*Sources: Asda Income Tracker, uSwitch.com, Aviva
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