1. Main Points
The following information is on the latest period, 17 to 29 August 2022, based on adults in Great Britain.
- Around 9 in 10 (91%) adults reported their cost of living has increased over the last month; this is an increase since we first started asking this question in the period 3 to 14 November 2021 (62%).
- Among adults who reported their cost of living has increased over the last month, the most reported reasons were an increase in the price of food shopping (96%), gas or electricity bills (79%) and the price of fuel (71%).
- Around 8 in 10 (81%) adults reported being very or somewhat worried about rising costs of living in the past two weeks; this is an increase since we first started asking this question in the period 27 April to 8 May 2022 (74%).
- Nearly one in five (19%) adults reported they had to borrow more money or take out more credit in the past month compared with a year ago, while 47% of adults stated they will not be able to save any money in the next 12 months.
- Over 4 in 10 (45%) adults who pay energy bills found it very or somewhat difficult to afford them; this is the same as the previous period (3 to 14 August).
- Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) adults travelled abroad in the last eight weeks; among those, 16% of adults reported that they experienced some form of disruption to their travel plans while travelling abroad in the last eight weeks.
A more detailed look at the experiences of increased cost of living and spending patterns among parents and non-parents is included in our article Parenting and spending in the UK using a larger pool of OPN data covering the period 30 March to 19 June 2022 and Living Costs and Food Survey data for April 2020 to March 2021.
This release has been published as main points only owing to the August bank holiday. The next Public opinions and social trends bulletin, covering the period 31 August to 11 September 2022, will be published on 16 September 2022.
3. Measuring the data
This release contains data and indicators from a module being undertaken through the Office for National Statistics' (ONS') Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).
From the period 30 March to 10 April 2022, changes were made to the OPN to enable us to provide ongoing indicators on a wide range of public opinions and societal issues.
Changes were made to the OPN survey design, for example, sample size, the questionnaire, and financial incentives to participate. These changes may result in small changes to the responding sample. We therefore advise caution with comparing estimates from this period onwards with those published prior to this period.
Breakdowns by age and sex, including confidence intervals for the estimates, are contained in our Public opinion and social trends, Great Britain datasets. Breakdowns by region are no longer provided within these datasets because of the smaller responding sample size of the OPN.
Where changes in results from previous weeks are presented in this bulletin or comparisons between estimates are made, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences.
Sampling and weighting
In the latest period (17 to 29 August 2022), we sampled 4,980 households. This sample was randomly selected from those who had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or OPN. The responding sample for the latest period contained 2,065 individuals, representing a 41% response rate.
Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based on June 2021 population estimates). Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in our Opinions and Lifestyle Survey quality and methodology information (QMI).
Back to table of contents5. Cite this statistical bulletin
Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 7 September 2022, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: 17 to 29 August 2022
Contact details for this Statistical bulletin
policy.evidence.analysis@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 30 0067 1543