British families have experienced the biggest fall in wealth since the pandemic, according to yesterday’s report from banking group UBS.
According to UBS, the average Briton’s wealth has dropped by more than one-fifth over the past five years, the worst performance across the 37 countries surveyed by the bank.
Typical individual wealth has fallen by approximately £28,500 since 2020 after adjusting for inflation.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday showed that Keir Starmer has not fulfiled his pledge to improve living standards, with families now worse off than before he became Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, millions of British households will be pushed into fuel poverty as energy bills rise by more than £220 a year under the government’s price cap from yesterday.
As the cap on gas and electricity rates rises to the equivalent of £1,862 a year, the number of households forced to spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills will increase to 13.5m from almost 11.3m in April, according to fuel poverty campaigners.
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition warned that the steepest summer rise in energy charges in four years will leave almost 5.5m homes facing energy bills of about 20% of their income, up sharply from 4.3m in April this year.
The charity calculated the figures based on research by the University of York.
Simon Francis, the coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: ‘These figures show the reality behind the headline price cap figure: a growing number of households are spending an unsustainable share of their income just to heat their homes in winter and keep them cool in summer.’
Francis added that the situation could get worse, saying: ‘With energy costs rising over the summer, any chance households had to reduce energy debts or build up reserves before the winter heating season will be wiped out.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: ‘The increase in the energy cap is another kick in the teeth for workers and families who were already struggling with ever rising bills and the cost of living crisis. The UK has among the highest energy bills in Europe, they should be going down not up.’
