Sunday, October 30, 2011

British families are £6,000 worse off than 3 months ago

Soaring energy bills, dwindling house prices and high cost of groceries take their toll on households' wealth


The average family lost almost £6,000 in the past three months, Daily Mail figures reveal.
Savers with large pension pots were the worst hit after the stock market collapsed in August.
But soaring energy bills, dwindling house prices and the high cost of groceries have also taken their toll on households’ total wealth.
Worrying times: Domestic financial woes are set to inflict further misery on households, who have lost almost £6,000 in three months
Worrying times: Domestic financial woes are set to inflict further misery on households, who have lost almost £6,000 in three months
And with inflation of 5.2 per cent eating into savings, domestic financial woes are set to continue.
Between June and September, the average family will have lost £5,736, according to figures produced by the Daily Mail.
At the same time, a respected report shows families’ total wealth suffered the biggest three-month fall ever recorded.
The findings by the investment company  Alliance Trust take into account household budgets, family earnings and wider economic conditions.
The company said the third quarter – between June and September – saw the biggest fall on its index since it began reporting in 1997.
‘Higher inflation continues to cause higher basic goods prices and a loss of real spending power which is hitting household budgets,’ said the report’s author, Linsey Thomson.
‘On top of this, economic activity has slowed and we have seen a rise in the unemployment rate which makes conditions even tougher.’
Stress: The effect of soaring energy bills and the high cost of groceries is increasingly disheartening
Stress: The effect of soaring energy bills and the high cost of groceries is increasingly disheartening
She added the squeeze would continue into next year. ‘The key thing is the labour market, and once we start to see that improving, then things will begin to look up for families.’ The hardest hit across the period were savers and pension holders.
Figures compiled by the Daily Mail show anyone who had managed to squirrel away £60,000 in a pension scheme will have seen the value of their savings diminish to the tune of £5,370 – leaving them with just £54,630.
Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, the independent financial adviser, said: ‘When you have big drops in pension values, it’s not surprising that savers are disheartened.
‘And it’s unfortunate but inevitable that it’s going to be hard for many people who face wage freezes, economic uncertainty and rising inflation to keep on saving into a pension.
‘But the longer term is what matters here, and it’s vital for those affected to accommodate all the financial difficulties in order to keep on saving for the future.’
House prices were down 0.1 per cent in the three months, according to Nationwide, meaning a £250,000 family home would now be worth £250 less.
Over the summer energy bills rose by more than £100 per household as every major supplier hiked prices by up to 19 per cent.
This left households facing an average gas and electricity bill of £1,250, and threatened to leave millions more in fuel poverty.
Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at the price comparison website uSwitch, said: ‘Families are coming under enormous financial pressure from every direction and two rounds of energy price hikes in a year are going to push some even closer to the edge this winter.
‘The facts speak for themselves: almost 7million households living  in fuel poverty, a third of people  saying energy is already  unaffordable in the UK and over a quarter already struggling to afford their bills.’
Although the cost of a family  shop actually fell slightly across  the period – now £1.15 cheaper than in June – the average remains high  at £49.96.
James Ford, spokesman for the shopping website mySupermarket, said: ‘In the past year alone, shoppers have been subject to double-digit price hikes to the contents of their shopping trolley.
‘It is imperative consumers shop around for the best deals, and it’s easy too – savvy shoppers can switch to cheaper budget products and supermarket own labels to make their budgets stretch.’
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘This fall in household income is dragging down growth.
‘You can’t build a recovery on the back of people getting poorer.
‘Life for millions of people in and out of work is now just as tough, if not worse, than at the height of the recession.
‘Ministers must do all they can to ease the squeeze for hard-pressed families, rather than blaming everything on Europe.’

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