Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: June 2025

The following information is from data collected from 4 to 29 June 2025, based on adults in Great Britain.

• When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues were the cost of living (86%), the NHS (84%), and the economy (72%).

• Around 6 in 10 adults (59%) reported that their cost of living has increased in the last month; this proportion has been declining since April 2025 but remains higher than June 2024 (51%).

• Around one in four (24%) of adults reported that they had found it very or fairly difficult to get by financially in the past month; this was more likely to be reported by those aged 30 to 49 years (32%) than any other age group.

The following information is from data collected from 2 April to 29 June 2025, based on adults in Great Britain. We identified adults who have experienced some form of financial vulnerability. We used responses to questions that indicated increased borrowing, difficulty paying energy bills, difficulty paying an unexpected expense, and an inability to save. We found that:

• Single adult households including at least one dependent child were more likely to experience some form of financial vulnerability (55%) compared with multi-adult households with at least one dependent child (19%); those renting from a council or housing association (45%) compared with those currently paying a mortgage (17%) were also more likely to be financially vulnerable.

• Around two in five (40%) adults reported spending less on food shopping and essentials; this increased to 71% for those who were more likely to be financially vulnerable.

• Renters (53%) were more likely than mortgage holders (41%) to report spending less on food shopping and essentials; those paying rent to the council (59%) were more likely to report this than those paying rent privately (50%).

• Disabled adults were more likely than non-disabled adults to report using less fuel in their home (46%, compared with 33%) and spending less on food shopping and essentials (48%, compared with 35%) because of their increased cost of living.

In the latest period (4 to 29 June 2025), the cost of living (86%) and the NHS (84%) remain the two most reported important issues facing the UK (Figure 1). The proportion of all adults reporting the NHS as an important issue has generally remained stable since October 2022 (82%). The proportion of all adults reporting the cost of living as an important issue gradually decreased over the same period (93%).

Figure 1: The cost of living, the NHS, and the economy have been the most commonly reported important issues facing the UK since October 2022

Proportion of adults reporting each important issue, Great Britain, October 2022 to June 2025

Notes:

1. Respondents could select more than one option.

Around three in five adults (59%) reported that their cost of living has increased in June 2025. This proportion has decreased since a high in April 2025 (72%) where multiple expenses such as mobile phone contracts, council tax, and water bills increased their annual price.

Those reporting that their cost of living has remained the same has increased from 27% to 39% in the same period. Around 1 in 50 (2%) adults said it had decreased in the last month (figure 2).

Reasons for cost-of-living increases

The most commonly reported reason given by adults in the latest period for a rise in their cost of living remains the price of their food shop (94%), which has been the case since we first asked the question in November 2021 (Figure 3).

The proportion of adults reporting that a reason for their cost-of-living increases was the price of their energy bills (64%) has gradually declined since January 2025 (79%); this is higher than June 2024 (47%) but similar to June 2023 (64%).

Around 4 in 10 (38%) adults reported that a reason for their cost-of-living increasing was the price of their fuel. This has decreased since February 2025 (52%) after rising steadily since a low in October 2024 (32%). For more information on fuel prices, see the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's Weekly road fuel prices release.

Around one in four (24%) adults reported that they had found it very or fairly difficult to get by financially in the past month (Figure 4). This was more likely to be reported by those aged 30 to 49 years (32%) compared with those aged 16 to 29 years (22%), 50 to 69 years (23%), and those aged 70 years and over (12%). Around 4 in 10 (42%) adults found it very or somewhat easy to get by, with 35% finding it neither easy nor difficult.

In the latest period, around one in four (24%) adults said they had borrowed more money or used more credit in the last month when compared with a year ago. This has remained stable over the past three years.

When asked about their ability to pay an unexpected but necessary expense of £850, around a quarter (26%) said they would be unable to pay. This is similar to last year, with 27% reporting this between 5 to 30 June 2024.

Over one in three (37%) adults reported that they believed they would be unable to save any money in the next 12 months. This has remained stable in the past year, after declining from around one in two in November 2022 (47% in period 26 October to 6 November 2022).

Around one in three (34%) adults who paid energy bills reported that they found these bills very or somewhat difficult. This has fallen from a peak of almost half (49%) of adults in May 2023 (Figure 5).

In the latest pooled period, 2 April to 29 June 2025, we have used these affordability measures (as shown in Figure 5) to identify groups experiencing some form of financial vulnerability. Adults more likely to be financially vulnerable are defined by meeting at least three of the four following criteria:

• they have borrowed more money than usual in the last month

• they are unable to pay an expense of £850

• they are unable to save any money in the next 12 months

• they found energy bills difficult or very difficult to pay

Between April to June 2025 around one in five (18%) adults met this definition of financial vulnerability. Those more likely to report this included (Figure 6):

• single adults with at least one dependent child (55%)

• paying rent to the council (45%)

• paying rent to private landlord (31%)

• most deprived areas of England (31%)

• disabled (27%)

Adults who were more likely to experience financial vulnerability reported (Figure 7):

• spending less on non-essentials (75%, compared with 59% among all adults)

• spending less on food shopping and essentials (71%, compared with 40%)

• using less fuel such as gas or electricity in my home (54%, compared with 37%)

Figure 7: Around 7 in 10 adults who appeared more financially vulnerable reported spending less on food shopping and essentials

Proportion of adults reporting actions taken by financial vulnerability status; Great Britain, 2 April to 29 June 2025

Notes:

1. We identified adults who appeared more financially vulnerable using responses to; increased borrowing, difficulty with energy bills, difficulty paying an unexpected expense, and an inability to save.

2. Respondents could select more than one option.

The following information looks at actions taken by adults because of increases in the cost of living. For information on affordability measures, see our Public Opinions and Social Trends, Great Britain: March 2025 bulletin, as well as the accompanying data tables in this release.

Household composition

Households with a single adult and at least one dependent child were more likely to report taking multiple actions because of cost-of-living increases than households with more than one adult and at least one dependent child including (Figure 8):

• Spending less on food shopping and essentials (52%, compared with 39%)

• Using less fuel in their home (40%, compared with 28%)

• Using credit more than usual (38%, compared with 19%)

• Using support from charities (9%, compared with 2%)

Figure 8: Households with one adult and at least one dependent child are around twice as likely to report using more credit than usual than multi adult households including at least one dependent child

Proportion of adults reporting actions taken by financial vulnerability status; Great Britain, 2 April to 29 June 2025

Notes:

1. Respondents could select more than one option

Tenure

Renters were more likely than mortgage holders to report the following because of increases in their cost of living:

• spending less on food shopping and essentials (53%, compared with 41%)

• using less fuel in their home (41%, compared with 30%)

• using credit more than usual (24%, compared with 19%)

• using support from charities (7%, compared with 1%)

In contrast, mortgage holders (44%) were more likely to report that they had shopped around more when compared with those who rent (39%).

Those paying rent to the council were more likely than private renters to report spending less on food shopping and essentials (59%, compared with 50%) and using support from charities (11%, compared with 5%). Private renters were more likely to report using their savings (34%) and using credit more than usual (27%), compared with council renters (22% and 21%, respectively).

Deprivation

Those living in the most deprived areas in England were more likely than those in the least deprived areas in England to report (Figure 9):

• spending less on non-essentials (63%, compared with 53%)

• spending less on food shopping and essentials (49%, compared with 33%)

• using less fuel such as gas or electricity in my home (40%, compared with 33%)

• using credit more than usual (19%, compared with 11%)

• using support from charities (5%, compared with 1%)

Figure 9: Adults living in the most deprived areas of England were more likely to report spending less on food shopping and essentials than those in the least deprived areas

Proportion of adults living in IMD quintiles reporting actions taken due to the increases in the cost of living, England, 2 April to 29 June 2025

Notes:

1. Respondents could select more than one option.

Disability

Those with a disability were also more likely than non-disabled adults to report taking a range of actions because of cost-of-living increases (Figure 10):

Figure 10: Disabled adults were more likely than non-disabled adults to carry out a range of actions to help with increased cost of living

Proportion of disabled and non-disabled adults reporting actions taken due to the increases in the cost of living, Great Britain, 2 April to 29 June 2025 

Notes:

1. Respondents could select more than one option.

Download the data

Disability status

To define disability, we refer to the Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonised "core" definition of disability. This identifies "disabled" as a person who has a physical or mental health condition or illness that has lasted, or is expected to last, 12 months or more that reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. Respondents are asked the GSS harmonised questions in the survey, meaning that disability status is self-reported.

Parental status and household composition

In the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN), an adult is defined as a parent if they are the parent of a dependent child living in the household. In this case, dependent children include children and stepchildren.

A dependent child is someone aged under 16 years, or someone who is aged 16 to 18 years, has never been married, and is in full-time education.

Deprivation

Deprivation is represented by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) and is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in England. The IMD ranks every small area in England from 1 (most deprived area) to 32,844 (least deprived area).

Deciles are calculated by ranking the 32,844 small areas in England from most deprived to least deprived and dividing them into 10 equal groups. These range from the most deprived 10 percent of small areas nationally to the least deprived 10 percent of small areas nationally. To ensure robust sample sizes, we have further grouped deciles into quintiles.

Financial vulnerability

Adults more likely to be financially vulnerable are defined by meeting at least three of the four following criteria:

• they have borrowed more money than usual in the last month

• they are unable to pay an expense of £850

• they are unable to save any money in the next 12 months

• they found energy bills difficult or very difficult to pay

The analysis in this bulletin is based on adults aged 16 years and over in Great Britain.

In the latest period, 4 to 29 June, we sampled 9,564 households. This sample was randomly selected from people who had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN). The responding sample for the latest period contained 4,671 individuals, representing a 49% response rate.

In the pooled period, 2 April to 29 June, we sampled 28,644 households. This sample was randomly selected from people who had previously completed the LMS or OPN. The responding sample for the latest period contained 13,901 individuals, representing a 49% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population, based on our population estimates. Estimates for some groups of the population may be subject to greater uncertainty because of smaller sample sizes for these groups (for example, younger adults).

From 7 May to 27 July 2025, there is an incentives trial being conducted, offering conditional incentives to some groups. The aim of the trial is to assess its impact on response rates among under-represented groups.

For all estimates in the datasets, confidence intervals are provided. Where comparisons between estimates are made, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences. In some cases, additional statistical hypothesis testing was performed to identify differences between groups.

Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in our Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).