Dark times ahead for household finances says survey

46 per cent of households expect their household financial situation to be worse 12 months from now according to new research out today.

That is according to the latest research from YouGov’s monthly Household Economic Activity Tracker (HEAT) which reveals that overall confidence about the household financial situation continues to decline among Britons.

Among its other findings, 28 per cent of UK households report having only £125 or less available in discretionary income after paying utilities, housing and tax last month,40 per cent of households are planning to decrease Christmas spending this year and 30 per centof employed Britons are expecting lay-offs at their place of work in the next year.

While pessimism continues on the home front, the story in the workplace is improving slightly.

Employees are seeing growth in their own companies as 27 per cent expect business activity to improve in the coming 12 months and job security is also creeping up as 20 per cent of employed Britons feel as though their job security has declined over the past month compared to figures as high as 25 per cent% earlier this year.

The results are based on 7,356 Britons interviewed online from 1st – 31st October 2011.