Financial wellbeing in July 2025

Summary 

• Financial difficulty has seen little change to last month. The proportion of households who have made adjustments to cover essential spending has decreased by one percentage point to 49% and the missed payment rate is at 7.4%. 
• Consumer confidence has remained consistent to last month across all three metrics that we measure. 
• Looking at overall trends in the past year, consumer confidence in the future UK economy has decreased considerably, but there has been little change in confidence in current and future household finances.  
• Focusing on household types, pensioners are now much more pessimistic than they were a year ago about their future household finances and, especially, the future UK economy. However, there has been a small increase in the confidence of working age households with children about their future household finances. 

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

Financial difficulty remains at similar levels to last month

The proportion of households making at least one adjustment to cover essential spending has remained little changed this month, dropping by one percentage point to 49%. Adjustments include cutting back on essentials, dipping into savings, selling possessions and borrowing. 

Similarly, the proportion of households missing a housing, bill, loan or credit card payment has seen little change, increasing by 0.2 percentage points to 7.4%. 

Households’ financial difficulty has remained at similar levels to last month

Consumer confidence remains consistent to last month

Similarly, consumers reported similar levels of confidence as they did last month, in all three metrics that we measure.

Consumer confidence in the future UK economy has remained at a score of -39, with 56% of consumers believing the UK economy will get worse and 17% believing it will get better. Confidence in current household finances increased by two points to +25, while confidence in future household finances decreased by one point to -9. 

Consumer confidence in the future UK economy has remained at a score of -39

Consumers are more pessimistic about the future UK economy now than a year ago

In July 2024 we outlined how the upcoming government faced a formidable challenge, to restore consumer confidence to pre-cost living levels.  

Now, a year on, we explore how consumer confidence has developed since. For each confidence metric we examine the trends using a past three-month moving average for each data point (for example, the statistic for March 2025 is the average confidence score between January and March 2025). This approach gives a better indication of long-term trends than the monthly data which can be more volatile.

Consumer confidence in the future UK economy has fallen in the last year, by 31 points, from an average of -9 (in July 2024) to an average of -40 (in July 2025). 

Confidence in the future UK economy had been increasing in the months up to July 2024, but confidence then fell substantially for a continued period. It reached an average low of -46 in May, with global events such as the announcement of  U.S. tariffs in April likely contributing to this pessimism. There has been a small uptick in consumer confidence recently, but it still remains significantly lower than levels reported in July 2024 and the months preceding it.  

In comparison, consumer confidence in their future household finances has only experienced a slight decrease in the past year by six points from an average of -2 (in July 2024) to an average of -8 (in July 2025). Over the past year, a noticeable gap has developed between consumers' confidence in the future of the UK economy and their expectations for their household finances. As a result, a significant portion of consumers believe the economy will worsen but expect their future household finances to improve or remain stable. 

Meanwhile, consumer confidence in their current household finances has remained relatively consistent over the past year, with the highest average level reaching +25 and lowest average level falling to +21. 

Consumer confidence in the future UK economy has fallen over the past year

Pensioners are the most pessimistic

Over the past year, the largest decreases in confidence have been among pensioners.

In the months’ preceding July 2024, pensioners were more optimistic about the future UK economy than those of working age. However, over the past year pensioners’  confidence in the future UK economy has fallen substantially, from an average of -5 (in July 2024) to an average of -63 (in July 2025). 

The reduction in confidence has been much less marked for those of working age, and there has recently been a marked uptick in confidence amongst those of working age with children. The difference in confidence between household types has become larger in the past year.

The data tells a similar story for confidence in future household finances, with confidence amongst pensioners declining in the second half of last year when the government removed the universal winter fuel allowance. There has been no such decline among those of working age, and those of working age with children are actually more confident about their future finances than they were a year ago.

With regard to current household finances, pensioners have consistently remained the most confident family type group and confidence across all household types has changed little in the past year. 

Pensioners’ confidence in the future UK economy fell to an average of -63 in May-July 2025.

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 18th and 20th of July.  A sample of 2,065 UK adults were surveyed online and weighted to be nationally representative.