Researchers with the consumer watchdog group Which? have found that 10.2 million households in the UK are feeling squeezed. Using what they term their “squeezometer” they have found that 39% of citizens are feeling financial pressures. 9% of households have defaulted on a loan, bill or housing cost.
The top worries that consumers have, according to Which? is fuel, energy and food. It certainly doesn’t help that some energy firms have recently announced bill hikes and food costs are also increasing all the time.
As Richard Lloyd, the executive director of Which? explained, “With 10 million households feeling the squeeze and consumer confidence remaining low, the Government has a job on its hands to convince people that everything possible
is being done to keep unavoidable costs like energy and food bills under control.”
They continued, “We’re looking for further progress in reforming the energy market, an end to misleading food price promotions, and more competition in banking to take some of the pressure off hard-pressed consumers.”
These results are based on answers that the research group received from 2100 UK adults in October about their financial feelings from September 2012.