The Money Statistics December 2018

9.96 million Number of employees auto-enrolled into pension schemes by November 2018

9.2 million Number of employees not in any pension scheme in November 2018

55% Proportion of working age adults not in a pension in 2016-17

20.9% Proportion of private sector employees receiving an employer contribution to their workplace pension greater than 8% of their salary

-4.8% Change in the average real wage since pre-crash peak in February 2008

- £34 billion Change in Public Sector Net Debt (excluding RBS and debt to Bank of England) in the year to October 2018

0.95% Average interest rate on a cash ISA in October 2018

18.5% Average credit card interest rate in October 2018

£59,288 Average total debt per UK household in October 2018

UK Personal Debt

People in the UK owed £1,613 billion at the end of October 2018.

This is up from £1,564 billion at the end of October 2017, an extra £928.44 per UK adult and £142.69 higher than the previous month.

The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £59,288 in October. The revised figure for September was £59,015.

Per adult in the UK that’s an average debt of £30,965 in October, around 113% of average earnings. This is up from a revised £30,823 a month earlier.

Based on October 2018 trends, the UK’s total interest payments on personal debt over a 12 month period would have been £51,235 million. That’s an average of £140 million per day.

This means that households in the UK would have paid an average of £1,884 in annual interest payments. Per person that’s £9843.6% of average earnings.

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2018 forecast, household debt is forecast to reach £2.258 trillion in Q1 2022.

This would make the average household debt £83,041 (assuming that the number of households in the UK remained the same between now and then.)

Outstanding consumer credit lending was £215.6 billion at the end of October 2018, increasing by £458 million on last month.

This is also up from £205.0 billion at the end of October 2017, an increase over the year of £203.15 for every adult in the UK.

Per household, that’s an average consumer credit debt of £7,926 in October, up slightly from a revised £7,909 in September, and £388.97 extra per household over the year.

The average consumer credit borrowing stood at £4,140 per adult, 15.0% of average earnings. This is up from £4,131 last month.

Total credit card debt in October 2018 was £72.6 billion. Per household this is £2,668.

A credit card on the average interest would take 26 years and 7 months to repay, making only minimum repayments each month.

The minimum repayment in the first month would be £65 but would reduce each month. If £65 were paid every month, the debt would be cleared in around 5 years and 4 months.

Total net lending to individuals by UK banks and building societies rose by £7.43 billion in October 2018 or £240 million a day.

Net mortgage lending rose by £6.97 billion in the month; net consumer credit lending rose by £0.46 billion as well.

In Q3 2018 lenders wrote off £1.094 billion (of which £471 million was credit card debt, amounting to a daily write-off of £5.1 million.)

Everyday in the UK

The population of the UK grew by an estimated 1,074 people a day between 2016 and 2017.

On average, a UK household spends £4.00 a day on water, electricity and gas.

273 people a day were declared insolvent or bankrupt in July to September 2018. This was equivalent to one person every 5 minutes and 16 seconds.

3,001 Consumer County Court Judgements (CCJs) were issued every day in Q3 2018, with an average value of £1,337.

Citizens Advice Bureaux in England, Wales and Northern Ireland dealt with 2,460 debt issues every day in the year to November 2018.

12 properties were repossessed every day in Q3 2018, or one every 2 hours.

The number of mortgages with arrears of over 2.5% of the remaining balance fell by 11 a day.

The number of people unemployed fell by 134 per day in the year to October 2018.

902 people a day reported they had become redundant in August to October 2018.

Net lending to individuals and housing associations in the UK grew by £240 million a day in October 2018.

Government debt fell by £92 million a day in the year to October 2018.

Borrowers paid £140 million a day in interest in October 2018.

It costs an average of £22.95 per day for a couple to raise a child from birth to the age of 18.

For a lone parent family, the cost of raising a child comes to £27.90 per day.

53 mortgage possession claims and 34 mortgage possession orders were made every day in July to September 2018.

344 landlord possession claims and 257 landlord possession orders were made every day.