More than one in eight UK households fear they have no way of making more cuts
More than one in eight UK households fear they have no further way to make cuts to afford a sharp increase in annual energy bills this autumn.
More than a quarter of households earning less than £20,000 worry they will be unable to cope with higher bills, with families in Yorkshire, the south-west and Northern Ireland the least confident about covering their costs, according to the latest rebuilding Britain index of 20,000 people by Legal & General.
Almost half of UK households are concerned about being able to keep up with rent or mortgage payments over the next 12 months as the majority realise they will have to make cuts elsewhere.
The latest evidence of pressure on households emerges amid the looming prospect of inflation hitting 12% this autumn after dearer fuel and food pushed the official measure of the cost of living to a 40-year high of 9.4% in June.
A one-month jump in petrol prices not seen since at least the late 1980s, coupled with across-the-board increases in food staples such as eggs, milk, cheese and vegetables, sent Britain’s annual inflation rate soaring.
Households in Great Britain are bracing for annual energy bills of up to £3,850 next January, three times what they were paying at the start of 2022, after Russia further squeezed Europe’s gas supplies.
It recently emerged that a fifth of UK households now have an average shortfall of £60 a week between what they earn and what they need to cover essentials such as energy bills, rent, transport and food, as the rising cost of living leaves people with the lowest amount of spare cash in almost five years, according to data from the Asda income tracker collated by the Centre for Business and Economic Research.
The amount that UK consumers borrowed rose by the
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