The rising cost of living means Londoners are struggling to make ends meet

Compared to our previous surveys since 2020, Londoners in our most recent poll were more likely than ever to say they are struggling to make ends meet (39 per cent) and less likely to say they have enough money to get by (51 per cent).

Meanwhile, about half of Londoners are optimistic about their health (54 per cent) and employment prospects (47 per cent), with fewer optimistic about their personal finances (43 per cent) over the next 12 months. This is similar to the responses we saw in March 2022.

More than half of Londoners say energy is unaffordable

We asked Londoners about the affordability of a number of goods and services.

From the options we gave them, Londoners said the least affordable cost is energy to heat and power homes, with 56 per cent of Londoners saying it is unaffordable.

Nearly a third (31 per cent) of Londoners say that food is unaffordable for them, up considerably on a year ago (23 per cent).

Some groups find the goods and services we asked about less affordable than others. For example, when we asked about food, more people with a child under 18 said it was unaffordable for them than people without a child under 18 (28 per cent vs 19 per cent), more renters than homeowners (28 per cent vs 17 per cent), and more people with a disability than people without a disability (30 per cent vs 22 per cent).

More Londoners are using a food bank than in 2020

An alarmingly high proportion of Londoners say they have used a food bank recently. One in nine (11 per cent) Londoners had used a food bank in past month, compared to 9 per cent in 2022 and 7 per cent in 2020.

Some Londoners were more likely than others to say they had used a food bank, including men, those living in inner London, those of non-white Londoners, and people with a disability.

Londoners are reducing their spending

The cost of living crisis has led a substantial proportion of Londoners to cut back their spending on key items, such as clothes (64 per cent), eating out (63 per cent), and holidays (54 per cent). Londoners have even cut back on essential food items (41 per cent) and household essentials (42 per cent).

People with a disability were more likely to have cut back on spending than those without one. 54 per cent of people with a disability had cut back on essential food items compared to 38 per cent of people without a disability who had done the same.

Similarly, renters were more likely to have done so than homeowners (46 per cent vs 34 per cent). Across all options, women were more likely than men to report cutting back on spending, particularly on clothes (73 per cent vs 54 per cent) and non-essential food items (70 per cent vs 52 per cent).

Most Londoners have seen a fall in their disposable income

With the rising costs of food, housing, and energy, many Londoners have seen a decrease in their disposable income.

Nearly two thirds of Londoners (62 per cent) said that they had seen a decrease in their disposable income this year, while just 16 per cent said theirs had increased. More Londoners report a recent fall in their income than when we asked in March 2022 (62 per cent vs 44 per cent).

Women were more likely than men to say their income had fallen (68 per cent vs 57 per cent), while renters were more likely than homeowners to say so (66 per cent vs 60 per cent).

Many Londoners couldn’t meet an unexpected expense of £500

Over a quarter of Londoners (28 per cent) said they would not be able to meet an unexpected expense of £500. More Londoners said they couldn’t meet such an expense than in any of our previous five surveys since 2020.

Women were more likely than men to say they couldn’t meet such an expense (33 per cent vs 23 per cent), while people with a disability were more likely than those without one to say so (38 per cent vs 26 per cent).

Groups whose finances have been particularly hard hit since last year include Black Londoners (40 per cent would not be able to meet this expense this year, compared to 24 per cent last year) and Londoners who live alone (37 per cent vs 27 per cent).

In our previous poll, those aged 55+ were more likely than other age groups to be able to meet an unexpected expense of £500. This year, they are the age group least likely to be able to meet the expense. With many older people reliant on pensions that do not rise in line with inflation and price increases, the rises in housing and energy appear to be taking a toll on their finances.