Weekly household spending fell by more than £100 on average during pandemic

Restrictions on buying certain goods and services alongside drops in income during the pandemic led to a reduction in average household spending.

UK households reduced their spending during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by an average of £109.10 (or 19%) a week, according to the Office for National Statistics

During the year to March 2021, households spent less on goods and services that were restricted at various times to control the spread of coronavirus. At the height of the spring 2020 lockdown, more than one-fifth of usual household spending was largely prevented.

Households may have been able to cut back on spending if they were able to shift to home working. Higher income households, who tended to spend more on travel pre-pandemic, and whose workers were more likely to be able to work from home, saw a larger drop in spending than low income households.

However, for some, the reduction in spending may have been associated with a fall in income. Around a third of workers saw their household income fall in the financial year ending (FYE) 2021, rising to 42% for the 20% on the lowest incomes (who were more likely to be furloughed and less likely to be able to work from home than people on higher incomes).

While both spending and income fell for many UK households, people are on average finding it easier to make ends meet, with the proportion of people reporting difficulty in making ends meet falling by six percentage points from 34% in the year to March 2020 to 28% in the year ending March 2021.

Those who had experienced a loss of income were more likely to also report financial pressures, such as difficulty making ends meet. How the pandemic has affected a person or household financially differed by employment status, age and ethnicity.

Higher income households saw the biggest reductions in spending during the pandemic

Restrictions brought into place to curb the spread of coronavirus, and the changes in behaviours many people adopted due to the pandemic, meant that households did not spend as much in the last year as they would usually.

The highest income households saw a larger drop in spending than the lowest.

Income quintile	% change	Absolute change
1 (lowest income)	-12.5%	-£41.00
2	-15.5%	-£67.10
3	-18.4%	-£101.50
4	-20.7%	-£142.60
5 (highest income)	-20.6%	-£193.10
All households	-18.6%	-£109.10

Source: Office for National Statistics – Living Costs and Food Survey

Notes

1. Households are ranked by their equivalised household disposable income using the modified OECD Scale.