UK Debt: September 2022 statistics

Snapshot of UK debt September 2022

• Inflation is now at 9.9% in the year to August. Last month it reached the highest level since 1982 of 10.1% so it has fallen, however back in March it was set at 6.2% and we were all worrying about the rising cost of living at that level
• There has been a 15 pence per litre decrease in the price of unleaded petrol during August 2022. This is positive given that prices were rising exponentially during the first half of the year and fuel costs are predicted to decrease further in line with the wholesale cost of fuel 
• Average credit card debt per household stood at £2,230 in July 2022 which is another increase
• The average total debt per household is £65,151 which has risen from £63,582 in the first half of the year
• Total unsecured debt stands at £3,864 per adult in July 2022, up from £3,743 six months’ ago 
• 15.1% increase in the average first time buyer house price to the year to July 2022. This has risen from 12.6% however it will be interesting to see what this statistic looks like next month, given the recent economic changes caused by the Chancellor’s mini budget
• It now takes 26 years on average to save for a first time buyer house deposit, saving at the average rate out of the average UK income. At the beginning of the year, this figure was set at 21 years which, in itself, shows that home ownership is becoming something that is very much out of reach for the average person

UK Personal Debt

Remember that you can view the statistics from March 2022 here in order to compare with the September 2022 debt statistics.

• 311 people per day were declared bankrupt or insolvent in England and Wales from June to August. This equates to one person every 4 minutes and 38 seconds. This figure has risen from 297 people per day
• Borrowers paid £132 million per day in interest in July 2022, up from £123 million per day in January
• On average, a UK household spends £4.31 per day on water, electricity and gas which is an increase from £4.28. This doesn’t seem like a huge jump but it will almost certainly increase 
• 696 people per day were made redundant from May to July, which is a decrease from 739 people per day at the beginning of the year

Bleak outlook isn’t it? The UK has seen a lot of upheaval in recent months, given the ousting of Johnson, the leadership race, the introduction of Truss’ government, the death of the Queen, on top of the ongoing issues in Europe. All of this, coupled with the cost of living crisis, has brought about the perfect storm.

The month of September brought about a declaration from the Government to help with the cost of our energy bills, yet their other financial measures helped to spook mortgage lenders into withdrawing a number of products and forcing the Bank of England to step in. This has not helped with the fact that the UK is on the brink of a recession.

Let’s mention energy prices here. The Government has stepped in and introduced the new Energy Price Guarantee which has reduced the unit price cost so that a typical household will pay £2,500 per year for the next two years. Bear in mind that this is based on an average usage. There will be some households paying a lot more than this.

To give a comparison, energy prices have increased by 96% for gas and 54% for electricity since August 2021.

Overall inflation may be at 9.1%, however if you focus on just the rising cost of food, this stands at 12.7% inflation which has not been near that level since 2008. Add to that, the research that states 15.3 million adults have had to use credit to pay for essentials such as food, the future looks quite difficult – especially in the short term.