Financial wellbeing in December 2025

Summary

• There was a large decrease in reported levels of financial difficulty in December 2025 as 4.5% of people said they had missed or defaulted on a loan, credit card, housing or household bill payment in the past month. This is the lowest level recorded in over four years, although we historically observe a fall in December.
• 47% of households reported having made at least one adjustment to cover essential spending such as utility bills, housing costs, groceries, school supplies and medicines in the last month.
• Consumer confidence recovered a little this month, with a seven point increase in consumers’ outlook for the UK economy and a three point increase in their current household situation.

You can view more data and articles from our monthly tracker survey on our dedicated Consumer Insight Tracker page.

Financial difficulty falls in December

The proportion of households that missed a payment fell in the month to December 12th, with 4.5% of households reporting that they missed a housing, bill, credit card or loan payment. 

This rate of missed payments is the lowest level we have recorded since August 2021, when the missed payment rate was also 4.5%. This is a 2.5 percentage point fall from last month (7%). With the exception of last year, we typically observe a drop in missed payments this month, as shown by December 2023’s 3.3 percentage point fall and 2022’s 1.2 percentage point fall from the month preceding it. Despite this typical trend, this is still an encouraging sign that fewer people are struggling to make ends meet. The new year will help shed light on whether this is an outlier or significant improvement in people’s financial circumstances.

4.5% of households said they had missed a payment in the month to December 12th

Just under half of households (47%) reported having made at least one adjustment to cover essential spending such as utility bills, housing costs, groceries, school supplies and medicines in the last month. Adjustments include cutting back on essentials, dipping into savings, selling possessions or borrowing. This is similar to last month (48%).

Just under half of households made at least one adjustment to cover essential spending in the last month

Consumer confidence in the future UK economy improves slightly 

Consumer confidence in the future UK economy increased by seven points in the month to December 12th to -48. This is a small recovery to the -55 figure last month, the lowest in almost three years. This score of -48 reflects that 13% of UK adults think the UK economy will improve over the next 12 months and six in 10 (61%) think it will worsen. 

Consumer’ confidence in their current household situation also increased, up three points to +23 in the month to December 12th. This is similar to levels seen over the last two years.

Consumer’ confidence in their future household situation remained at the same level as last month (-13). 

Consumer confidence in the future UK economy recovered slightly 

Summary

Reflecting on the whole of 2025, we have seen little change in our financial difficulty metrics, with just the last few months indicating the potential for a longer term improvement in missed payments. Similarly, consumer confidence in their current and future household situation have remained relatively stable over 2025. Consumers’ confidence in the future UK economy has fluctuated throughout the year but has always remained low by historical standards.

Methodology 

Fieldwork for Which? 's Consumer Insight Tracker is conducted monthly by Yonder on behalf of Which?. The latest wave of data collection took place between 12th to 14th of December.  A sample of 2,082 UK adults were surveyed online and weighted to be nationally representative.