{"id":212132,"date":"2025-06-25T03:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T03:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/212132\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T03:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T03:45:13","slug":"more-britons-than-ever-struggling-to-make-ends-meet-report-warns-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/212132\/","title":{"rendered":"More Britons than ever struggling to make ends meet, report warns | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"

More people than ever are struggling to live on their current income – while just a third say they are living comfortably, according to new research.<\/p>\n

Rising prices and sluggish pay increases have put many people’s finances under strain in recent years.<\/p>\n

A record 26% now say making ends meet is difficult. Before the pandemic, it was 16%.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"Ed<\/p>\n

2:32<\/p>\n

UK inflation slows to 3.4%<\/p>\n

Two-thirds also say their incomes haven’t kept up with inflation, according to the British Social Attitudes report.<\/p>\n

That’s only marginally better than the 70% recorded during the height of the cost of living crisis in 2023.<\/p>\n

Frozen tax thresholds also appear to be hitting home, with 61% saying taxes on low earners are too high, while 44% believe middle income earners also pay too much.<\/p>\n

Those figures are up nine points and 13 points respectively since 2016.<\/p>\n

However, when it comes to the highest earners, 44% believe their taxes are too low.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

2:01<\/p>\n

Britain’s energy price problem<\/p>\n

The report also asked people about the welfare system – a timely insight with Labour MPs currently rebelling over plans to save \u00a35bn from the budget<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It found support for more spending on disability benefits is at a record low of 45%, down from 67% in 2017 – but only 11% think spending should be reduced.<\/p>\n

About 29% of those polled think it’s “too easy” for people to get disability benefits – but the same percentage also feel it’s “too difficult”.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, long waiting times appear to have played a part in the finding that a record 59% are now dissatisfied with the NHS<\/a><\/strong>. In 2019, it was just 25%.<\/p>\n

Only 21% said they were satisfied with the health service.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"Chancellor<\/p>\n

3:50<\/p>\n

Reeves pledges NHS funding<\/p>\n

The report is based on a representative, random sample of more than 4,000 people in the UK and was produced by the National Centre for Social Research<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It’s the longest-running measure of public opinion in Britain, having started in 1983.<\/p>\n

Professor Sir John Curtice, senior research fellow, said: “The public are well aware of Britain’s problems – not least those of a failing health service and an economy in which many are struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

“Yet rather than turning their back on the state, for the most part, the public are still inclined to look to government to provide solutions.”<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"Deborah<\/p>\n

1:05<\/p>\n

What is NATO’s 5% defence spending goal?<\/p>\n

Defence was also a key theme of the report – and researchers found about 40% of Britons support spending more money on weapons and troops.<\/p>\n

A fifth (20%) said they would like to see a reduction.<\/p>\n

It comes as the government revealed it was buying at least 12 stealth jets that can carry nuclear weapons<\/a><\/strong>, and as NATO countries, including the UK, promise to increase defence spending<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The National Security Strategy also said the UK must prepare for the potential of a “wartime scenario” in the “UK homeland”<\/a><\/strong> for the first time in many years.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
Briton charged after ‘mock wedding’ with nine-year-old<\/a>
Guests descend on Venice for Jeff Bezos wedding<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost everyone surveyed (90%) considered Russia a serious threat to world peace, followed by Iran (78%), North Korea (77%), Israel (73%), and China (69%).<\/p>\n

The percentage supporting more defence spending remains relatively unchanged since 2016, before Russia invaded Ukraine.<\/p>\n

However, the share supporting an increase is significantly higher now than that in 2006 (28%) and in the 1990s (17%).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More people than ever are struggling to live on their current income – while just a third say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-212132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}