Consumer trust and concerns in May 2025

Summary

• Consumer trust in the insurance sector and social media platforms remains low, with trust scores of -15 and -42, respectively. These are now the only two sectors whose trust scores remain below zero.
• The biggest recent decline in consumer trust has been for the water industry. Trust in the water sector declined by five points to +19 in May 2025. This is down from a peak of +61 in May 2020.
• A smaller proportion of consumers (65%) expressed concern about fuel prices, the lowest level since May 2021. Possibly due to fuel costs hitting a four-year low in early May. Concern about the exchange rate also declined among consumers.
• Meanwhile, energy, food and housing prices continued to be the most commonly cited concerns at 81% and 79% and 72%.

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Insurance and social media platforms remain the two least trusted sectors

Consumers’ trust in the insurance sector has remained low this quarter at a score of -15. This represents a quarter (25%) of consumers not trusting the sector and four in ten (40%) not trusting the sector. Meanwhile, consumers’ trust in social media platforms decreased by three points to -42. This represents 14% consumers trusting the sector and more than half (56%) not trusting the sector. 

Consumer trust in insurance and social media remains the lowest among all the sectors we ask about. These are also now the only two sectors with a trust score below zero (meaning more consumers distrust the sector than trust the sector). 

The biggest recent decline in consumer trust has been for the water industry. This used to be one of the most trusted industries alongside food and groceries. Previously, trust in these two sectors was aligned, increasing during the pandemic and declining during the cost of living crisis. However, in the past two years, consumers' trust in the food and groceries sector has improved whilst trust in the water sector has declined. 

The trend continued this quarter with consumers’ trust in the food and groceries sector improving by four points to +47, whilst trust in the water sector declined by five points to +19. Trust in water companies has declined steadily from a peak of +61 in May 2020. Improvements in the food and groceries sector is despite recent  food price inflation.

The insurance sector and social media platforms are the two least trusted sectors.

Fewer consumers are concerned about fuel price

There was a general easing of consumer worries this quarter. Most notably, the percentage of consumers expressing concern about fuel prices fell eight points to 65%. This is the lowest level of concern since May 2021 and it coincides with  petrol prices falling to their lowest level in four years, shortly before this survey was conducted. 

Consumers also reported a decrease in concern in the exchange rate in the pound. This quarter, around four in ten (37%) consumers reported being worried about the exchange rate in the pound, a decrease of eight percentage points. This also represents the lowest level of concern for the exchange rate since November 2021. 

Energy, food and housing prices continued to be the most commonly cited concerns at 81%, 79% and 72%.  There were only very modest reductions in concern about these which may be related to increases in household bills, including energy bills and council tax, in April. 

This quarter 65% of consumers reported being worried about fuel prices

Methodology

The fieldwork was conducted by Yonder on behalf of Which between the 9th and 11th of May. A sample of 2,091 UK adults were surveyed online and weighted to be nationally representative.