36 per cent of the adult population were worse off than three months ago, according to the LV= Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor
Eighteen million people in the UK are worse off than three months ago, the latest research by Dorset’s pensions and retirement business LV= has found.
The LV= Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor found a growing number were pessimistic about their finances and some were accessing their pension pots to supplement their income.
It found 36 per cent of the adult population were worse off than three months ago, with 11 per cent better off. More than a quarter expected their finances to worsen in the next three months, with only 12 per cent expecting an improvement.
Clive Bolton, managing director of savings and retirement at LV=, said: Figures from the LV= Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor highlight just how difficult life has become for millions of people since the introduction of the second lockdown, and the finances of millions of people have deteriorated markedly since the summer.
During the summer, loosening of lockdown restrictions led to an increase in consumer spending, a reduction in saving and an increase in spending on socialising. However, the second lockdown, increased company failures and redundancies are shaking consumers’ confidence and reshaping their attitudes to savings and spending, he said.
Many people are reducing their long-term savings into pensions, while some of those aged over 55 have even resorted to drawing money from their pension to make up for reduced incomes or job losses, Bolton said. However, the development and introduction of vaccines is terrific news and we would hope to see an uptick in people’s outlook in next quarter’s Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor data as we start to see a return to a more normal way of life.
The quarterly survey, carried out for the County Gates-based mutual, quizzed 4,000 representative adults and projected those figures onto the UK population.
It found 20 per cent – 10 million people – had seen their income fall in recent months, compared with 13 per cent who had seen their income increase.
Thirteen per cent had reduced the amount they were saving into a pension, while four per cent had used pension savings to make up for a cut in income or redundancy.