The number of UK households struggling with large debts increased by a third in 2021, even before the winter rise in energy prices and the removal of the £20 uplift in universal credit payments.
Analysis and research carried out by the Jubilee Debt Campaign found that in September 2021 almost 10% of households reported that loan and interest repayments were a heavy financial burden, a 35% increase on the previous year’s figures.
Households also reported that their average monthly loan repayments reached a record £373 in 2021, up 22% on the year before and the highest figure for at least a decade.
Surging food and petrol costs have added to the strain on finances since the research was done, and the Jubilee Debt Campaign said the rising cost of living threatened “to push people who are already living on the edge further into debt and poverty”.
Citizens Advice said 5 million people had indicated that they would not be able to afford April’s energy price rises, while in a survey by the Money Advice Trust one in five adults said they were likely to borrow or use credit in the next three months to cover essentials.
Analysis of households’ reports of repayments on unsecured debt, so does not include mortgages. It showed that in nominal terms and when inflation was adjusted for, these were running higher than over the past decade.
Joe Cox, the senior policy officer at Jubilee Debt Campaign, said, “The worsening debt crisis is toppling households up and down the country … "
Number of UK households with large debts rises by a third | Borrowing & debt | The Guardian
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