Figures reveal lockdown savings for UK households

Research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found that during the financial year ending March 2019, UK households spent a weekly average of £182 on activities that they have largely been unable to pursue in recent months due to coronavirus restrictions.

Thie savings equates to 22% of a usual weekly budget of £831 which has been saved in each household since lockdown was implemented.

The ONS has used data from the 2019 Family Spending report to examine how different households might have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The findings also showed that younger households, those who are renting and those living in London spend more proportionally on essentials and relatively little on goods and services that have been unavailable under lockdown. This could limit their ability to cut back on spending if their income were to fall.

To help households under increased financial pressure, some companies – including mortgage providers and gas, electricity and water suppliers – have offered payment holidays on regular bills. We estimate that 39% of household spending on essentials could be subject to a payment holiday, equivalent to £173 per week.

The findings also showed that renting households spend 61% of their usual weekly budget on essentials, compared with 52% for households who own their home outright or with a mortgage.

This is largely driven by housing costs, which account for 28% of budgets for renting households and 21% for homeowners.

According to a survey by the Resolution Foundation, renters are more likely than homeowners to have fallen behind with their housing payments during the lockdown. They have been less likely to receive a payment holiday on their rent, as opposed to those with a mortgage.

Our data also show that spending on activities including holidays and eating out is proportionally lower among renters, potentially limiting their ability to manage housing costs alongside a loss of income.

Weekly household expenditure by housing tenure, UK, financial year ending March 2019: