Britain’s homes are days from the edge

Nearly one in three households do not have enough savings to last more than two days if they suffered a dramatic loss in earnings, according to a new report from insurers Legal and General.

One in six households does not have any savings at all and would quickly rely on state benefits, family friends or the local loan shark.

Legal and General’s fourth report, Deadline to the Breadline paints a stark picture with four in 10 households often having no idea how long savings would last. Those who do have an idea tend to believe their savings would last 77 days, nearly three months.

Deadline to the Breadline estimates the figure for an average UK household is 29 days, less than a month. That is, people are lot less safe than they think they are.

“The harsh reality is that many households are still only weeks away from becoming reliant upon friends, family and the state for support following a sudden loss of income” writes John Pollock, Legal and General CEO in a foreword to the report.

More than one in three households has no strategy in place to help them cope with a sudden drop in earnings. The average figures mask huge differences between types of household alongside large regional variations.

Local authority and housing association households tend to have no savings and are already effectively on the breadline. These make up one in six of all households.

Only two days

Private rented households have only two days of savings before hitting the breadline of state benefits, and help from friends and family. These make up another one in six households.

Those with mortgages have 22 days before the reach the breadline. The report suggests that every one per cent increase in mortgage rates pushes them a day closer to the breadline.

There are huge differences across the UK in terms of how many days grace you have before hitting the breadline in the event of sudden financial loss. In Northern Ireland it is 19 days, Scotland 17 days and worse of all Wales with seven days.

There are also stark differences across English regions. The closest to the breadline is the North East with 16 days of savings to keep them afloat. It is then 24 days in the North West, 27 in the South West and 30 days in the West Midlands.

In East Midlands the figure is 31 days, East of England 33 days and Yorkshire and Humberside 34 days. Even in the more wealthy South East the figure is 41 days, just over a month, while in Greater London it is 83 days, far more days of leeway but still less than three months.

Horrific

“The picture is horrific and shows the disastrous impact of vicious cuts and ideological austerity on ordinary families,” said Steve Turner, Unite assistant general secretary.

“There is something very wrong with an economic system that puts one in three households literally days away from the breadline in the sixth richest economy on our planet.

“It is clear that millions of people are in households which are living on a financial tightrope. Low pay, zero or short hours’ contracts and job insecurity are forcing the working poor into absolute poverty, while ‘employer welfare’ sees an obscene amount of tax payers money subsidising profitable companies refusing to pay a living wage.

“Years of Tory cuts and a growing cost of living crisis, the longest since the 1870s, have slashed household spending. Below inflation wage rises have fueled debt as families struggle to balance the books with rising rent, energy, fuel and food costs.

“Where jobs have been created these are all too often, low paid, short hours and insecure and the Tories, far from addressing the real concerns of ordinary people, are happy to spend tax payers money funding a legal action in Europe to protect the bonuses of super-rich bankers.

“We need strong unions, a powerful voice in the boardroom where the real decisions are made and sector level collective bargaining to address growing and dangerous inequalities within our society and redistribute the wealth created by those whose hard work creates it.”

Infographic courtesy of Legal and General