Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: 21 December 2022 to 8 January 2023

The following information is for the latest survey period 21 December 2022 to 8 January 2023, based on adults in Great Britain.

• When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues continue to be the cost of living (92%), the NHS (85%), the economy (75%), and climate change and the environment (58%).

• Around 9 in 10 (93%) adults reported their cost of living had increased compared with a year ago, while a lower percentage (71%) reported an increase in their cost of living compared with one month ago.

• Around half (53%) of adults reported that they were worried (very or somewhat) about keeping warm in their home this winter (60% in the previous period from 7 to 18 December 2022).

• Around one in five adults (21%) reported they were occasionally, hardly ever, or never able to keep comfortably warm in their home in the past two weeks (12% occasionally, 7% hardly ever, and 2% never).

• The most common actions reported by adults because of the rising cost of living were spending less on non-essentials (65%), and using less fuel, such as gas or electricity, in their homes (59%); these have increased since we first started asking about this at a similar point a year ago (15 December 2021 to 3 January 2022).

• In addition, around 4 in 10 adults have reported shopping around more (44%) and spending less on food shopping and essentials (41%); while this is still higher than around a year ago (32% and 25% respectively; 15 December 2021 to 3 January 2022), this continued a decrease from the period 22 November to 4 December 2022 (50% and 46% respectively).

• Around one in five (18%) adults reported their travel plans had been disrupted by rail strikes in the past two weeks.

Estimates in this release are based on data collected between 21 December 2022 and 8 January 2023 (the “latest period”) and 7 and 18 December 2022 (the “previous period”). Analysis is based on adults in Great Britain.

In the latest period, we asked adults what they feel are important issues facing the UK today (Figure 1). The most commonly reported issues were the same as in the previous period:

• the cost of living (92%)

• the NHS (85%)

• the economy (75%)

• climate change and the environment (58%)

In the latest period, for the first time, we asked respondents whether industrial action was an important issue facing the UK today. Around four in nine (44%) adults reported this alongside other issues.

Cost of living increases

In the latest period, we continued to ask adults about changes to their cost of living.

Around 9 in 10 (93%) reported their cost of living had increased compared with a year ago. Around 7 in 10 (71%) reported an increase in their cost of living compared with one month ago. This was an increase from 62% when we first asked about this in the period 3 to 14 November 2021.

Reasons for cost of living increases

The most commonly reported reasons given by adults for the rise in their cost of living over the past month remained the same as in the previous period and were increases in:

• the price of food shopping (95%)

• their gas or electricity bills (77%)

• the price of fuel (48%)

Actions taken because of this rising cost of living

The most common actions reported by all adults because of the rising cost of living in the latest period were spending less on non-essentials (65%) and using less fuel such as gas or electricity in their home (59%). This is similar to the previous period (67% and 56% respectively).

In the latest period, fewer adults have reported shopping around more (44%) and spending less on food shopping and essentials (41%) than in the early December period before Christmas (50% and 46% respectively; 22 November to 4 December 2022).

However, adults were still taking more actions in response to the rising cost of living than at a similar point a year ago. The proportion of adults reporting these actions remains far higher than during the period 15 December 2021 to 3 January 2022 (32% and 25% respectively) (Figure 2).

This is in line with the estimates we reported in our previous publication, where around 6 in 10 (60%) adults reported they were planning on cutting back on the amount of money they spent this Christmas season compared with last year.

Other actions taken in response to the rising cost of living included around 1 in 25 (4%) adults reporting using support from charities including food banks, and around 3 in 10 (29%) adults reporting making energy efficiency improvements to their homes.

Household finances

In this part of the bulletin, we look at various aspects of people’s household finances.

In the latest period, around one in six (16%) adults reported that they did not have savings (18% in the previous period). Around 1 in 10 (8%, 7% in the previous period) adults reported that they had a direct debit, a standing order, or bill that they were unable to pay in the past month.

Energy bills

Around half (46%) of adults who pay energy bills said they found it very or somewhat difficult to afford them in the latest period (47% in the previous period).

Among those who reported they have gas or electricity supplied to their home, around 1 in 20 (6%, 4% in the previous period) reported they were behind on their bills.

There are strong seasonal spending patterns relating to gas and electricity that may affect these results. For more information on this and recent price rises for gas and electricity, please see our latest Consumer price inflation, UK: November 2022 data.

Our 5 January 2023 article Census 2021: how homes are heated in your area provides further insights on how homes are heated across England and Wales and how this affects both energy costs and what financial support is available.

Rent or mortgage payments

Around 3 in 10 (29%) adults who are currently making rent or mortgage payments reported that these payments have gone up in the last six months (29% in the previous period).

Around 3 in 10 (28%) of those who are currently making rent or mortgage payments reported that they are finding it very or somewhat difficult to afford these payments (31% in the previous period).

Around 2% of those currently making rent or mortgage payments reported they were behind with these payments (4% in the previous period).

Our 9 January 2023 release How increases in housing costs impact households looks at how increasing interest rates and rental costs will impact mortgage holders and renters in 2023.

Keeping warm this winter

In this period, we asked adults how worried they were about keeping warm in their home this winter:

• around half (53%) reported being very or somewhat worried (60% in the previous period)

• around a quarter (23%) reported being neither worried nor unworried (18% in the previous period)

• around one in five (22%) reported being somewhat unworried or not at all worried (19% in the previous period)

Overall, worry about keeping warm appears to have decreased in the latest period, the higher level of worry during the previous period may have been because of cold weather alerts.

Around one in five adults (21%) reported they were occasionally, hardly ever, or never able to keep comfortably warm in their home in the past two weeks (12% occasionally, 7% hardly ever, and 2% never). This is compared with 15% occasionally, 8% hardly ever, and 1% never in the previous period.

Worry about cost of living

Around three-quarters (74%) of adults reported being worried (very or somewhat) about rising costs of living in the past two weeks (75% in the previous period).

Personal well-being

This period, we continued to ask respondents about their personal well-being. Average levels of personal well-being were:

• life satisfaction: 6.9 in the latest period (6.9 in the previous period)

• feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile: 7.2 in the latest period (7.3 in the previous period)

• happiness: 6.9 in the latest period (7.1 in the previous period)

• anxiety: 3.9 in the latest period (3.9 in the previous period)

Our Personal well-being quarterly estimates technical report provides more information on the seasonal variation associated with measures of personal well-being. You can learn more about the Measures of National Well-being from our Quality of life in the UK: November 2022 bulletin and Measures of National Well-being dashboard.

Figure 3: Levels of personal well-being

Adults in Great Britain, March 2020 to January 2023

Notes:

1. Questions included: "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?", "Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?", "Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?", and "Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?".
2. These questions are answered on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is "not at all" and 10 is "completely".
3. Base: all adults.

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Loneliness

Around a quarter (27%) of adults reported feeling lonely always, often, or some of the time in the latest period (22% in the previous period). This is similar to the proportion who reported this in the period 22 November to 4 December 2022 (26%).

For further estimates on people’s personal well-being and loneliness, including breakdowns by age, sex and trends over time, please see our Personal well-being and loneliness dataset.

Location of work

Usual work and work location patterns may have been affected by Christmas and New Year holidays during this survey period.

Around half (49%) of working adults travelled to work at some point in the past seven days (70% in the previous period). This includes:

• 36% who only travelled to work in the past seven days (47% in the previous period)

• 13% who reported both working from home and travelling to work (hybrid working) in the past seven days (24% in the previous period)

Around 15% of working adults said they worked from home exclusively in the past seven days (15% in the previous period). A further 35% neither travelled to work nor worked from home (15% in the previous period).

Rail strikes

In the latest period, we asked adults about the impact of rail strikes. Around one in five (18%) said their travel plans had been disrupted by rail strikes in the past two weeks. This compared with 11% reporting this the last time we asked the same question (31 August to 11 September 2022).

Among those who reported that rail strikes had disrupted their travel plans, around half (49%) said this disruption affected their ability to take part in leisure activities. In addition, around a quarter (27%) reported they had spent more on travel as a result of the strikes.

However, fewer adults reported that the strikes had caused disruption to their ability to attend school, college or university (6%) or their ability to work (5%).

These effects may have been influenced by Christmas and New Year holidays during this survey period.

In the latest period, around a quarter of adults (24%) avoided contact with older people or other vulnerable people because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic or other illnesses such as coughs and colds in the past seven days. This is an increase from 16% when we last asked this (8 to 20 November 2022).

Similarly, in the latest period there was an increase in the proportion of adults who reported taking a rapid lateral flow test in the past seven days (15%), compared with 10% last time we asked.

Further estimates regarding the actions taken to reduce the spread and the social impacts of illnesses (including coronavirus (COVID-19) and other illnesses such as coughs, colds and flu), with trends over time and breakdowns by age and sex, can be found in our coronavirus (COVID-19) and other illnesses dataset.

This release contains data and indicators from a module being undertaken through the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS’) Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

Breakdowns by age and sex, including confidence intervals for the estimates, are contained in our Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain datasets.

Where changes in results from previous weeks are presented in this bulletin or comparisons between estimates are made, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences.

Sampling and weighting

In the latest period (21 December 2022 to 8 January 2023), we sampled 4,988 households. This sample was randomly selected from those who had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or OPN. The responding sample for the latest period contained 2,742 individuals, representing a 55% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based on ONS population estimates). Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in our Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).