Lowest-income households facing debt

New research, carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), has revealed that a third of the lowest-income households in Britain have loans and credit card debts that outstrip the assets they hold.

Unsecured borrowing, such as loans, overdrafts and credit cards, has been rising by nearly 10 per cent a year in the UK.

Commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the analysis estimates the extent of unmanageable debt and states that a quarter of very low-income households have high debt repayments or are behind on bills or repayments.

While about half of British households have some unsecured debt, the majority of this can be paid off as over 60 per cent of unsecured debt is held by households with above-average incomes. However, households that are behind on payments and are already spending large amounts of their income on servicing debts are facing an even more difficult future. This is most likely to be low-educated young adults.

Helen Barnard, head of analysis at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “More than one in five people on low incomes have problem debt compared with just one in 20 of those at the top of the income scale. This is putting huge pressure on household finances: on average, those with problem debt in the bottom fifth spend £457 a month on paying back their debts, out of an income of £1,012.

“Low income household are facing a difficult 2018, with rising prices, frozen benefits and a wage squeeze all putting further pressure on household incomes. The government, regulators and lenders need to not only look at increasing access to affordable credit, but also at the financial pressures that can lead families to take on debt in order to get by."