Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: 26 October to 6 November 2022

Social insights on daily life and events, including the cost of living, working arrangements and well-being from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

This is not the latest release. View latest release

Release date:
11 November 2022

Next release:
25 November 2022

Table of contents

  1. Main points
  2. Important issues facing the UK
  3. Cost of living
  4. Worries, personal well-being and loneliness
  5. Working arrangements
  6. Actions taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses
  7. Public opinions and social trends data
  8. Measuring the data
  9. Related links
  10. Cite this statistical bulletin

1. Main points

Throughout the period 26 October to 6 November 2022, based on adults in Great Britain:

2. Important issues facing the UK

Estimates in this release are based on data collected between 26 October and 6 November 2022 (the "latest period") and 12 and 23 October 2022 (the "previous period").

In the latest period, we asked adults what they feel are important issues facing the UK today. The most commonly reported issues were:

Figure 1: Around 9 in 10 (93%) reported the cost of living as an important issue facing the UK today

Proportion of all adults in Great Britain, 26 October to 6 November 2022

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) – Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN)

Notes:
  1. Question: "What do you think are important issues facing the UK today?".
  2. Base: all adults.
  3. Respondents were able to choose more than one option.

Download this chart Figure 1: Around 9 in 10 (93%) reported the cost of living as an important issue facing the UK today

Adults who reported more than one issue facing the UK today were asked which of these issues they felt was the most important; around half (48%) reported the cost of living as the most important issue (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Around half (48%) reported the cost of living as the most important issue facing the UK today

Proportion of those who reported more than one important issue facing the UK today, Great Britain, 26 October to 6 November

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) – Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN)

Notes:
  1. Question: "Of these, which do you think is the most important issue facing the UK today? "
  2. Base: all adults.
  3. The responses "Employment", "The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic" and "International conflict" are not included in this chart because less than 1% of adults selected these responses.

Download this chart Figure 2: Around half (48%) reported the cost of living as the most important issue facing the UK today

3. Cost of living

Cost of living increases

In the latest period, we continued to ask adults about changes to their cost of living. Around 9 in 10 (91%) reported their cost of living had increased compared to a year ago. Around three-quarters (77%) reported an increase in their cost of living compared to one month ago, an increase from 62% when we first asked about this in the period 3 to 14 November 2021.

The main reasons reported by adults for the rise in their cost of living over the past month were an increase in:

The most common actions reported by all adults because of the rising cost of living were spending less on non-essentials (65%) and using less fuel such as gas or electricity in their home (63%) (Figure 3).

Around three-quarters (76%) of adults reported being very or somewhat worried about rising costs of living in the past two weeks (79% in the previous period).

Figure 3: Around two-thirds (65%) are spending less on non-essentials because of the increases in the cost of living

Proportion of all adults in Great Britain, 26 October to 6 November 2022

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) – Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN)

Notes:
  1. Question: “Which of these, if any, are you doing because of the increases in the cost of living?".
  2. Base: all adults.
  3. Respondents were able to choose more than one option.
  4. % of adults reported "None of these". This has not been included in the chart because respondents who selected this response option were unable to select any other response option.

Download this chart Figure 3: Around two-thirds (65%) are spending less on non-essentials because of the increases in the cost of living

Energy bills

Around half (47%) of adults who pay energy bills said they found it very or somewhat difficult to afford them in the latest period (42% in the previous period).

Among those who reported they have gas or electricity supplied to their home, around 1 in 20 (5%) reported they were behind on these bills (3% in the previous period). This proportion has appeared to be relatively stable since we first started asking this question in March 2022.

There are strong seasonal spending patterns relating to gas and electricity that may affect the results in this section. For more information on this and recent price rises for gas and electricity, please see our latest Consumer price inflation, UK: September 2022 bulletin.

Rent or mortgage payments

Around one-third (34%) of those who are currently paying rent or mortgage payments reported that these payments have gone up in the last six months (32% in the previous period).

Around 4 in 10 (37%) of those who are currently paying rent or mortgage payments reported that they are finding it very or somewhat difficult to afford these payments (33% in the previous period). This proportion appears to be gradually increasing in recent months having been around 3 in 10 (27%) in the period 14 to 25 September 2022.

Around 1 in 20 (5%) of those currently paying rent or mortgage payments reported they were behind with these payments (3% in the previous period).

Among adults with a mortgage, around half (46%) reported being very or somewhat worried about the changes in mortgage interest rates (48% in the previous period), and around a quarter (25%) reported being somewhat unworried or not at all worried (21% in the previous period). The Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain: June to September 2022 article explores the impact that increases in the cost of living have had in more detail. It includes the characteristics of adults who are experiencing difficulty affording or are behind with their energy bills, mortgage or rent payments.

Household finances

We also asked all adults about changes to their general household finances including their use of credit and ability to save.

Around 2 in 10 (22%) adults reported they had to borrow more or use more credit than usual in the last month compared with a year ago (20% in the previous period). This proportion has remained relatively stable since we first asked in the period 3 to 14 November 2021.

Around 5 in 10 (47%) adults reported they do not think they will be able to save money in the next 12 months (44% in the previous period). This proportion has gradually increased since we first asked in November 2021 when it was around a third (34% in the period 3 to 14 November 2021).

4. Worries, personal well-being and loneliness

Keeping warm this winter

In this period, for the first time, we asked adults how worried they were about keeping warm in their home this winter and found that: