Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: 7 to 18 December 2022

The following information is for the latest survey period 7 to 18 December 2022, 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 (93%), the NHS (81%), the economy (78%), and climate change and the environment (58%).

• Around 9 in 10 (92%) adults reported their cost of living had increased compared with a year ago, while a lower percentage (76%) reported an increase in their cost of living compared with one month ago.

• 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.

• Of adults who reported cutting back their spending over the Christmas season, the most frequently reported ways adults were planning to spend less money were: buying fewer presents (79%), buying less expensive presents (73%), buying less expensive food and drink (62%), eating out less (58%) or buying less food and drink (56%).

• Around 6 in 10 (60%) adults reported that they were worried (very or somewhat) about keeping warm in their home this winter (57% in the previous period from 22 November to 4 December 2022).

• Around a quarter of adults (24%) reported they were occasionally, hardly ever, or never able to keep comfortably warm in their home in the past two weeks (15% occasionally, 8% hardly ever, and 1% never); this is similar to the previous period (14% occasionally, 7% hardly ever, and 1% never).

• The proportion of adults reporting using less fuel such as gas or electricity in their home because of the rising cost of living (56%) decreased compared with the previous period (63%), perhaps reflecting recent colder weather throughout Great Britain.

Estimates in this release are based on data collected between 7 and 18 December 2022 (the "latest period") and 22 November and 4 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 (93%)

• the NHS (81%)

• the economy (78%)

• climate change and the environment (58%)

Cost of living increases

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

Around 9 in 10 (92%) reported their cost of living had increased compared with a year ago. Around three-quarters (76%) 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 (78%)

• the price of fuel (51%)

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 (67%) and using less fuel such as gas or electricity in their home (56%).

The proportion of adults reporting using less fuel such as gas or electricity in their home had decreased compared with the previous period (63%), perhaps reflecting recent colder weather throughout Great Britain.

However, the proportion of adults reporting this action remains far higher than during a similar period in 2021 (28% in the period 15 December 2021 to 3 January 2022) (Figure 2).

Note there are strong seasonal usage patterns relating to gas and electricity that may affect people's use of fuel gas and electricity even in the absence of energy price increases.

Christmas spending

6 in 10 (60%) adults said they were planning on cutting back on the amount of money they spent this Christmas compared with last year.

The most frequently reported ways these adults said they were planning to spend less money this Christmas season were:

• buying fewer presents (79%)

• buying less expensive presents (73%)

• buying less expensive food and drink (62%)

• eating out less (58%)

• buying less food and drink (56%) (Figure 3)

Household finances

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

In the latest period, around 2 in 10 (18%) adults reported that they did not have any savings (the same as in the previous period). Around 1 in 14 (7%, the same as 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.

Around 1 in 12 (8%, the same as in the previous period) adults reported that they had cancelled at least one financial product in the past month because of increases in the cost of living. This included 2% of adults reporting cancelling their dental insurance, 1% of adults reporting cancelling either their health, home or life insurance, and 1% their pension payment.

Energy bills

Around half (47%) of adults who pay energy bills said they found it very or somewhat difficult to afford them in the latest period (48% in the previous period).

Among those who reported they have gas or electricity supplied to their home, around 1 in 25 (4%, the same as in the previous period) reported they were behind on their bills. This proportion has appeared to be relatively stable since we first started asking this question in March 2022.

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.

Rent or mortgage payments

Around 3 in 10 (29%) adults who are currently paying rent or mortgage payments reported that these payments have gone up in the last six months (30% in the previous period).

Around 3 in 10 (31%) of those who are currently paying rent or mortgage payments reported that they are finding it very or somewhat difficult to afford these payments (33% in the previous period).

Around 1 in 25 (4%) of those currently paying rent or mortgage payments reported they were behind with these payments (3% in the previous period).

Among adults with a mortgage, over 4 in 10 adults (45%) reported being very or somewhat worried about the changes in mortgage interest rates (43% in the previous period), and around a quarter (27%) reported being somewhat unworried or not at all worried (29% in the previous period).

Our Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain: June to September 2022 article explores the impact that increases in the cost of living have had in more detail. It includes the characteristics of adults who are experiencing difficulty affording, or are behind with, their energy bills, mortgage or rent payments.

Our 15 December 2022 article, The impact of winter pressures on adults in Great Britain: December 2022 provides further insights on how increases in the cost of living and difficulty accessing NHS services are affecting people's lives during the autumn and winter months.

Keeping warm this winter

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

• around 6 in 10 (60%) reported being very or somewhat worried (57% in previous period)

• around one in five (18%) reported being neither worried nor unworried (22% in previous period)

• around one in five (19%) reported being somewhat unworried or not at all worried (18% in previous period)

Around a quarter of adults (24%) reported they were occasionally, hardly ever, or never able to keep comfortably warm in their home in the past two weeks (15% occasionally, 8% hardly ever, and 1% never). This is similar to in the previous period (14% occasionally, 7% hardly ever, and 1% never).

Worry about cost of living

Around three-quarters (75%) of adults reported being worried (very or somewhat) about rising costs of living in the past two weeks (73% in the previous period).

Uncertainty about the future

In the latest period, we asked adults how they were feeling about the future in response to the times we are living in now. Around half (50%) of all adults reported they were unsure (very or fairly) of the future. This is similar to the last time we asked this question in the period 8 to 20 November 2022 (49%).

Personal well-being

This period, we continued to ask respondents about their personal well-being. The average level of anxiety appeared to improve in the latest period:

• life satisfaction: 6.9 in the latest period (6.8 the previous period)
• feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile: 7.3 in the latest period (7.2 in the previous period)
• happiness: 7.1 in the latest period (6.8 in the previous period)
• anxiety: 3.9 in the latest period (4.2 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 4: Levels of personal well-being

Adults in Great Britain, March 2020 to December 2022

Embed code

Embed this interactive Copy

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

.xlsx

Loneliness

Around one in five (22%) adults reported feeling lonely always, often, or some of the time in the latest period (26% in 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.

Location of work

Around 7 in 10 (70%) working adults travelled to work at some point in the past seven days (73% in the previous period). This includes:

• 47% who only travelled to work in the past seven days (48% in the previous period)

• 24% who reported both working from home and travelling to work (hybrid working) in the past seven days (25% in the previous period)

Around 15% of working adults said they worked from home exclusively in the past seven days (13% in the previous period). A further 15% neither travelled to work nor worked from home (14% in the previous period).

Estimates regarding the actions taken to reduce the spread and the social impacts of coronavirus (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.

The latest available estimates cover the period 8 November to 20 November 2022. An update to these estimates will be available in early 2023.

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 (7 to 18 December 2022), we sampled 4,935 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 2,236 individuals, representing a 45% 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).