Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: 31 August to 11 September 2022

The following information is on the latest period between 31 August and 11 September 2022, based on adults in Great Britain.

• Around 9 in 10 (87%) adults reported that their cost of living had risen over the past month (91% in the previous period, 17 to 29 August); an increase since we first started asking this question in the period 3 to 14 November 2021 (62%).

• Around 4 in 5 (82%) adults reported being very or somewhat worried about rising costs of living in the past two weeks (81% in the previous period); this is an increase from 74% since the question was first asked in the period 27 April to 8 May 2022.

• Almost half (48%) of adults who pay energy bills found it very or somewhat difficult to afford them (45% in the previous period).

• Around 3 in 10 (29%) adults reported that they found it very difficult or difficult to pay their usual household bills in the last month compared with a year ago, while just over 1 in 5 (21%) stated this was very easy or easy.

• Around a quarter (26%) of adults reported being unable to save as much money as usual when asked about how their household finances have been affected in the past 7 days.

Estimates in this release are based on data collected between 31 August and 11 September 2022 (the "latest period"), and 17 to 29 August 2022 (the "previous period").

Cost of living increases

In this period, we continued to ask adults about changes to their cost of living over the past month. Around 9 in 10 (87%) reported their costs had increased in the latest period (91% in the previous period). This is a rise from 62% when we first asked about this in the period 3 to 14 November 2021.

The main reasons reported by adults for the rise in their cost of living were an increase in:

• the price of food shopping (95%)

• their gas or electricity bills (78%)

• the price of fuel (71%)

Of all adults, over 4 in 5 (82%) reported being very or somewhat worried about rising costs of living in the past two weeks (81% in the previous period). This is an increase since the question was first asked in the period 27 April to 8 May 2022, where 74% were very or somewhat worried about rising costs of living in the past 2 weeks.

The latest estimates regarding actions people are taking because of the rising cost of living, including breakdowns by age and sex, can be found in Table 2 of our Household finances dataset.

Energy bills

Almost half (48%) of adults who pay energy bills said they found it very or somewhat difficult to afford them in the latest period (45% in the previous period).

During this period, the UK government announced a package of support for energy bills on 8 September 2022. For more information, please see the Energy bills support policy paper.

There are strong seasonal spending patterns relating to gas and electricity that may affect the results in this section. For more information on this and recent price rises for gas and electricity, please see our latest Consumer price inflation bulletin for August 2022.

Household finances

This period, we asked all adults about changes to their household finances and the extent to which they found it difficult to pay their household bills.

Around 3 in 10 (29%) adults reported that they found it very difficult or difficult to pay their usual household bills in the last month compared with a year ago, while just over 1 in 5 (21%) stated this was very easy or easy.

When we asked all adults about the ways their household finances have been affected in the past 7 days:

• around a quarter (26%) reported being unable to save money as usual 

• around 1 in 5 (18%) stated that they had to use savings to cover living costs

• around 1 in 6 (17%) said they had less money available to spend on food

• around 1 in 6 (17%) reported their savings value is being affected by economic instability

While just over a third (35%) of adults reported that their household finances had not been affected in the past 7 days.

Travel abroad

This period, we asked all adults whether they have travelled abroad in the past twelve weeks. We also asked about any disruption experienced while travelling abroad, and the nature of this disruption.

Around a quarter (27%) of adults travelled abroad in the past twelve weeks. Of those, around 9 in 10 (87%) travelled by plane, 24% by train and 14% by boats or ferries.

Of those who travelled abroad in the past twelve weeks (27%), around one-quarter (27%) mentioned that they had experienced some form of disruption.

Of those who experienced some form of disruption in the past twelve weeks and travelled abroad by plane:

• around three-quarters (76%) experienced delayed flights or more waiting time on the plane

• about two-fifths (39%) reported longer than normal queues at the airport

• one-third (33%) reported cancellation of flights

• one-fifth (20%) said they experienced longer waits for luggage

Further estimates regarding travel abroad and disruption, including breakdowns by age and sex, can be found in our Travel abroad dataset.

Location of work

Two-thirds (66%) of working adults travelled to work at some point in the past seven days (63% in the previous period). This comprised:

• nearly half (45%) only travelled to work in the past seven days (42% in the previous period)

• around 1 in 5 (22%) reported both working from home and travelling to work (hybrid working) in the past seven days (21% in the previous period)

Around one in eight (13%) working adults said they worked from home exclusively in the past seven days (15% in the previous period). A further (20%) neither travelled to work nor worked from home (22% in the previous period). Because the data collection period covered the school summer holidays in Great Britain, this will include working adults who took annual leave (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Around a fifth (22%) of working adults both worked from home and travelled to work (hybrid working) in the latest period

Working adults, Great Britain, January 2021 to September 2022

Notes:

1. Questions: "In the past seven days, have you travelled to work?" and "In the past seven days, have you worked from home?"
2. Base: working adults.
3. Because of changes in the wording of the survey questions, there is a break in the time series from the period 30 March to 10 April 2022. Data before this period cannot be directly compared with data from this period onwards.
4. Reasons for respondents neither working from home nor travelling to work might currently include being on annual leave or sick leave, being on maternity or paternity leave, or being unable to work.

Download the data

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Further estimates regarding the location of work, including breakdowns by age and sex, and trends over time, can be found in Tables 3, 11 and 12 of our Coronavirus (COVID-19) and other illnesses dataset.

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 both the latest period and previous period)
• feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile (7.2 in both the latest period and previous period)
• happiness (7.0 in both the latest period and previous period)
• anxiety (4.1 in the latest period and 3.9 in the previous period)

These estimates of personal well-being may differ from those in our Personal well-being in the UK, quarterly: April 2011 to September 2021 bulletin, which is based on the Annual Population Survey (APS). To find out more about the difference between these two data sources, you can view our Data collection changes due to the pandemic and their impact on estimating personal well-being methodology.

Figure 3: Levels of personal well-being remained relatively stable in the latest period

Adults in Great Britain, March 2020 to September 2022

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.

Download the data

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Loneliness

Around one-quarter (26%) of adults reported feeling lonely always, often, or some of the time in the latest period; this was unchanged from the previous period. 

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.

Our Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights tool provides a roundup of the latest data and trends about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) and other sources.

Further estimates regarding the actions taken to reduce the spread and the social impacts of COVID-19 and other illnesses, 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).

From the period 30 March to 10 April 2022, changes were made to the OPN to enable us to provide ongoing indicators on a wide range of public opinions and societal issues.

Changes were made to the OPN survey design, for example: sample size, the questionnaire, and financial incentives to participate. These changes may result in small changes to the responding sample. We therefore advise caution with comparing estimates from this period onwards with those published prior to this period.

Breakdowns by age and sex, including confidence intervals for the estimates, are contained in our Public opinion and social trends, Great Britain datasets. Breakdowns by region are no longer provided within these datasets because of the smaller responding sample size of the OPN survey.

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 (31 August to 11 September 2022), we sampled 4,963 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 2,071 individuals, representing a 42% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based on June 2021 population estimates). Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in our Opinions and Lifestyle Survey quality and methodology information (QMI).