'Seven in 10 UK workers are 'chronically broke', study finds

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"According to the report, 32% of the UK’s workers have less than £500 in savings and 41% have less than £1,000."

www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jan/25/uk-workers-chronically-broke-study-economic-insecurity

Anyone shocked by this survey and are you part of the 32% / 42%

There is another article which I read few years back just stated around 2/5 of population had less than £100 in savings which is even more bleak. But not surprising considering how expensive things such as: childcare, rent, council tax have become.

correction part of the 41%

This article was Jan 2018

No, I'm not part of that group, but I'm not surprised that many people have little in the way of savings. I think a lot of people struggle to make ends meet.

Not at all shocked. But most people think that being working poor is due to a personal and moral failing: you just didn't try hard enough at school/need to 're-train'/spend money on booze, smoking, Sky, tattoos, still believe there's a 'generous' welfare state (have no idea about Universal Credit or the fact that everyone is being moved onto it or already has), that you should 'just move' or 'work more hours' blah blah blah. As the meme goes, 'You have people making £10000/hour who have convinced those making £15/hour that the real problem is those making £7.80/hour.'

People are good at hiding their financial situation and making things appear ok. However with Brexit happening, in five years time that report will be something to aspire to.

Hopefully this thread doesn’t turn into competitive poverty.

This article was Jan 2018

Yes, I'm sure things have vastly improved since then

I am one of those people. I have no savings. I'm a single mum working on minimum wage. It's shit. Hth.

No savings here. 2 adult children living with me who are on universal credit, one in the supported group and one not well enough to work. It took over a year to get any benefits for the eldest. I've got £8 to last me till Friday. I'll get by, just.

for anyone who is struggling. It's tough out there.

DH and I both earn reasonable salaries, but after mortgage, childcare, bills and travel for work, we have very little left over for food let alone anything else. No savings here.

A family member with a 2yo and a newborn has just been moved onto Universal Credit. Her tax credits have been stopped and she won’t get any payment from UC until 20 Sept. She has £20 in her pocket and that’s it.

If I still smoked, I would be far worse off. I gave up 8 years ago, and have an app that still tells me how many cigarettes I haven't smoked. It also tells me that I have saved over £30k by not smoking for those 8 years.I wasn't a heavy smoker, but that is a sobering amount.

timshelthechoice we're very comfortable financially but I fully understand about working poor.

I can't abide the people that have no understanding or empathy for any situation other than of their own circle. The just try harder, move house, work more hours brigade make me want to throttle them all with my bare hands.

I do have sympathy with those people who struggle financially. However, do they look at their budget to see where savings can be made? So many people seem to spend a fortune on their phones. I spend £15 pm on mine. My ddil spends £70 pm! Do they go on comparison websites regularly and change gas or electricity supplier? Do they cook from scratch rather than buying ready meals, chips etc? I was reading today about someone who made a Chinese Meal for 90p a portion - a chicken, a portion of fresh noodles, a bag of stir fry and a bit of soy sauce, honey etc.

singlenotsingle sometimes such steps are out of the reach of people who are really struggling due to various barriers.

And then what do people do when they're already doing all of those things and still struggling?

I have no savings. After living costs and debt repayments, I have nothing.

It's strange because I don't see us as poor but we live hand to mouth every month . No savings . We have a mortgage , bought the house before having dd 15 years ago. When she was born it became evident there were severe problems and she has profound multiple disabilities. I gave up work naturally to look after her full time and despite getting DLA we can't make ends meet . Our mortgage was initially awarded based on two above average salaries but of course we live on one. However our home is quite nice , we have lots of lovely sensory lights and are rich in lots of ways that aren't financial . Hubby does worry what happens if anything happens to him but as there is nothing we can do about it we save our energy to only sweat the big stuff . She is just recovering from sepsis which has been terrifying . It's not as bad as it sounds living with no savings , but as we have no alternative I wouldn't know how fab it is having savings in the bank

I don't have any savings, I'm also repaying debt at the moment too as I've had to get credit to pay for emergency things that have come up, which means I can't save, which means if another expensive thing comes up or the boiler packs in etc I will need to get more debt, it sucks but it is what it is. I pay £6 a month on my phone with giffgaff and obviously try and cut back on various things as I can't afford not to

Exactly, Venger! But you know, it comes up on every thread - 'they' just don't budget properly, ya know! It's phones and smoking and tattoos and the internet and 'flatscreen' tellies. And the fucking 90p a portion Chinese meal doing the rounds - someone pointed out that's £3.60 for one meal (the poster was using it to demonstrate how there's no food poverty in the UK) for 4 and UC is about £71/week, so £25/week just for one meal (that the person got the items on clearance, not always available), another bullshit attempt to stick it to the poor and working poor. It's all their fault, they just don't know how to 'cook from scratch' or 'budget'. It's the same rhetoric that underlies UC.

Not surprised at all. Many peoples wages haven’t increased with inflation and cost of living.

I earn a decent salary, but self employed DH was forced to stop through ill health and gets nothing 'because your wife earns too much'. They didn't require him to not pay tax or NI for 44 years, however, because 'your wife pays it for you' - yet now he is 60 and unable to work he is also unable to claim anything. It will be 7 more years before he can get basic state pension.

We have no savings and live from month to month. This month, with school uniform and the car needing to be MOTd tomorrow is likely to see us in our overdraft again.

I work with benefit claimants so see this all of the time.

New claimants often are at pains to stress that they arent dole scoungers and just need a bit of help until better days come along.

Unfortunately these days that bit of help just isnt there. Yes there are advances that can be claimed but that is yet another burden on an already burdened family.

I wish I could get people who have enough to live on and have never had to scratt around for meals to understand what it is like, day after day ,to know that there just isnt any more money coming in. Once you get your payment -and often that is severely reduced by debt - that is it. Not one more penny no matter how badly it is needed. They have no savings and nowhere to turn.

This is very cruel country at the moment.

I have friends like that, mia, and they just don't want to know. It's not hard to puzzle out, that some people have NO money once it's gone on essentials - no savings, no access to credit, no one to borrow from.

Not surprised at all. I am in a fortunate position but have done budgets and been surprised how high the baseline costs are especially with kids.

Council tax, water rates, gas and electricity, food, house insurance, rent or mortgage, school uniform and lunches and equipment and the contributions they keep asking for for trips. Even without any luxuries life is very expensive.

I wonder how long it would be before people start to talk a out budgetting and how the poor should do it better. I also hate the ides that the working poor must be there due to some shortcoming. I work in care. Everyone I know at work is poorly paid for jobs that some people would shy away from; personal care, challenging behaviour etc. But someone has to do it.

I have some savings both short and long term. They are very small amounts and the longer term savings I have only managed to keep because its a bugger to withdraw and so having to go through that rigmarole provides clarity of I really need to dip into it or not. I did this on purpose because I am not a saver naturally.

That doesn't surprise me at all, and there are lots of people I know (late 20s) who have no choice but to use credit for emergency bills and then end up in a cycle of debt which means they can't save. The ones who don't have this have often had parental help in one way or another.

I'm not in the less than £500 of savings group anymore, but have definitely been in the past. It often only takes one big bill (for me, often car related) to wipe out a significant chunk of your savings. In a previous job I worked very rurally, so it was essential to keep my car running, as otherwise I couldn't get to work!

I'm moving to a new job in a new area soon, and I'm lucky to have been able to stay with my parents for the past month or so- this means I was able to get my previous rental deposit back before paying out a new one- plus I will end up paying two months worth of rent before getting my first pay check from my new job.

Renting is bloody expensive (not saying owning a property isn't!) and often makes it hard to build up savings long term- and most people who are "working poor" will rent privately. The high costs of moving and difficulty of renting somewhere else can also keep people trapped in an area where there's high unemployment/low wages.