Eleven million Brits are struggling to pay the bills

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By Michael Rees Business Correspondent, BBC News May 17, 2023

Updated 1 hour ago

Image source, Getty Images

New figures show that the number of adults struggling to pay their bills and debts has risen to nearly 11 million.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said about 3.1 million people experienced more difficulties in May than they did in January.

It found that 11% of adults had missed paying a bill or loan in at least three of the previous six months.

The FCA has encouraged people to seek help as family budgets have shrunk due to the rising cost of living.

said Sheldon Mills, executive director of Consumer and Quiz.

“We have told the lenders that they should provide support that is tailored to your needs,” he added.

Energy, food and fuel prices have jumped in the past 18 months, putting pressure on personal finances.

Prices for most things have gone up, and inflation, the rate at which prices go up, is 10.1%, which means that prices for goods are on average 10% higher than they were a year ago.

Researchers found that 29% of adults with a mortgage and 34% of renters had seen their payments increase in the six months to January of this year.

The team also saw signs that some people had cut back or canceled their insurance policies as a way to reduce pressure on their budgets.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it has repeatedly reminded companies of the importance of supporting their customers and working with them to resolve payments and billing issues.

“Stop serious debt collection”

But Helen Unde, chief executive of the Institute for Money and Mental Health Policy, said the regulator needed to do more by cracking down on “aggressive” debt collection practices and limiting the number of times lenders can contact people who have missed a payment.

“These measures will go a long way in mitigating the effects of the crisis on mental health, and could even save lives,” she said.

The FCA said its survey indicated that nearly half of adults in the UK (about 28.4 million people) felt more anxious or stressed about the higher cost of living in January than they did six months ago.

The authority said it had reminded 3,500 lenders of how to support borrowers in financial difficulty and added that it had asked 32 lenders to “make changes to the way they treat customers”.

FCA said the work had resulted in £29m of compensation being secured for more than 80,000 customers.

UK Finance, the trade association for the UK’s banking and financial industry, said lenders reach out to customers and “will always work with them to find the right solution for their specific needs and circumstances”.

He urged people concerned about their finances to contact the lender, and said discussing options would not affect anyone’s credit rating.

The FCA has released its latest figures after collecting more than 5,000 responses as part of a UK-wide survey of people over the age of 18.

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