TUC Says UK Households Paid Extra £13,961 on Bills Since 2021
Analysis by the TUC puts average extra costs at £2,792 a year and links weak consumer spending to the squeeze on household budgets.
UK households paid an average £13,961 extra on mortgages, loans, energy and water bills between 2021 and the present, according to analysis published by the Trades Union Congress. That is £2,792 a year across the period.
The union body is urging the chancellor to act in the budget on 28 October. It links the rise to inflation that followed the pandemic and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The TUC says the UK has lagged the rest of the G7 in consumer spending growth since before the pandemic.
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, described the pattern as working people carrying the heaviest share of successive shocks. He named austerity, the pandemic, energy shocks and what he called Trumpflation before saying:
Eye-watering bill rises have hammered household budgets, squeezing consumer spending.
The report separates the average extra cost by household type. Households with mortgages spent an extra £9,034 in total, or £1,806 a year. Loans added £1,911, or £382 a year. Electricity and gas added £2,644, or £529 a year. Water added £372, or £74 a year. Renters may be carrying more of the load: rental costs rose at a higher rate than mortgages, and the TUC suggests mortgage increases are being passed on to tenants.
Consumer spending remains below its pre-pandemic level. The analysis notes that household disposable incomes have broadly flatlined since the 2008 financial crisis. That long squeeze is one reason the TUC wants the budget to centre on living standards. It calls for a social energy tariff, support for poorer households and young people, a rise in capital gains tax and higher taxes on banks.
Other groups want different priorities. The Confederation of British Industry is asking for a cut in employer national insurance contributions, lower business electricity costs, changes to business rates and measures to support private investment. The IPPR thinktank has urged the chancellor to raise £16bn, mostly through capital gains tax, alongside a rent stabilisation mechanism, a £2,000 cap on consumer energy bills, a fuel duty freeze and higher housing allowance benefits.
The Treasury is preparing a tightly focused budget. The chancellor has promised households breathing space but warned that government resources are limited. The IMF has urged him to stay the course on reducing the budget deficit while global borrowing costs rise. Energy bills for a typical household could reach £2,000 a year from January.
The TUC's argument is that the cost of global shocks has been written into ordinary bills while the fiscal response remains narrow.
The cost of global shocks has been written into ordinary bills while the fiscal response remains narrow.
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- UK households have paid extra £13,961 on bills since 2021 amid soaring inflation, TUC says (guardian-work)
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