Government · UK · Office for National Statistics
59% of Britons Still Cut Back on Non-Essentials
The share of British adults reporting a higher cost of living has fallen to 56%, down from 79% in April. Discretionary restraint has not eased with it: 59% are still cutting back on non-essential spending.
Source published Summarised
Key findings at a glance
- 59% Adults spending less on non-essentials because of cost-of-living increases
- 41% Adults shopping around more because of cost-of-living increases
- 27% Adults aged 16 to 29 shopping around more, the lowest of any age band
- 46% Adults aged 30 to 49 shopping around more
- 47% Adults aged 50 to 69 shopping around more, the highest of any age band
- 43% Adults aged 70 and over shopping around more
- 56% Adults reporting their cost of living rose compared with a month ago
- 79% Adults reporting a rising cost of living in April 2026, the recent peak
- 61% Adults very or somewhat worried about rising costs of living
- 70% Adults aged 30 to 49 worried about rising costs, the most anxious age band
- 38% Adults spending less on food shopping and essentials
- 24% Adults whose household could not afford an unexpected £850 expense
What the report covers
The Office for National Statistics published the July 2026 edition of Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain on 14 August 2026. It draws on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN), the ONS household panel used to track how people experience the cost of living month to month. Fieldwork ran from 1 to 26 July 2026 and covered adults aged 16 and over in Great Britain.
The headline reads like relief. The proportion of adults saying their cost of living had risen compared with a month earlier fell to 56%, down from 79% in April and 66% in May, and broadly level with the same point last year (59% in July 2025). Fuel is the component doing most of the easing: 68% of those reporting an increase named fuel prices, against 80% in April. Our summary of the May 2026 release covers the point in that decline where the fall first became clear.
Underneath the headline, behaviour has not tracked sentiment. Asked what they are doing because of cost-of-living increases, 59% of adults said they were spending less on non-essentials, 41% said they were shopping around more, and 38% said they were spending less on food shopping and essentials. Worry is close to flat, with 61% very or somewhat worried about rising costs against 62% in June. The bulletin also covers energy and housing affordability, food insecurity, and a one-off module on water use during the July drought.
What this means for UK marketers
The gap between sentiment and behaviour is the number to plan against. Fewer people say costs are rising, but the same people are still cutting non-essentials at 59%. For anyone forecasting Q4, that means the easing headline is not a signal to model a discretionary recovery. Considered purchases, upgrades and anything positioned as a treat are still being deferred by a majority of the adult population.
The sharpest finding is the age split on price comparison, and it runs against the usual assumption. Adults aged 16 to 29 are the least likely to be shopping around more (27%), well behind those aged 30 to 49 (46%) and 50 to 69 (47%). If you are running age-segmented campaigns, that inverts the common instinct to lead with discount and comparison messaging for younger audiences. Voucher-led and price-anchored creative is doing most of its work on the 30 to 69 bands. It matches the pattern we saw in ONS card spending data, where over-55s drove the growth. Treat this one with appropriate caution: the 16 to 29 estimate rests on 280 respondents and a confidence interval of 21% to 32%, so the direction is sound but the precise figure is not.
The 30 to 49 band deserves separate handling. It is simultaneously the most worried cohort (70%) and one of the most active comparison shoppers (46%), and for most UK ecommerce it is also the core buying age. Price reassurance, transparent delivery costs and visible total cost matter more to this group than to any other.
The operational consequence sits on the page rather than in the media plan. With 41% of adults actively comparing before they buy, a landing page that hides delivery cost until checkout is losing the comparison, not winning the click. Answering the price objection early, showing total cost, and making the returns position obvious are cheaper wins than bidding harder, which is the bulk of what our conversion rate optimisation work addresses. One further constraint worth pricing in: 24% of households could not cover an unexpected £850 expense, which should temper how aggressively high-ticket propositions lean on instalment messaging.
How they got the data
The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey is the ONS household study behind these estimates. For the 1 to 26 July 2026 period the ONS sampled 8,730 households, drawn at random from people who had previously completed the Transformed Labour Force Survey or the OPN. There were 3,490 responding individuals, a 40% response rate. Estimates are weighted to be representative of the population, using 2024 mid-year population estimates from the April 2026 collection period onwards, and adjusted to cover people living in households and student halls of residence. Full detail is in the ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey quality and methodology information.
Two limits are worth stating. The survey covers Great Britain, so Northern Ireland is not included, and figures should not be read as UK-wide. Confidence intervals are published for every estimate and the smaller age bands carry real uncertainty: the 16 to 29 group has 280 respondents against 1,520 for the 70 and over group, so cross-age comparisons should lean on the intervals rather than the point estimates. Question bases differ too. The action and worry figures are based on all adults, while the reasons for a rising cost of living are asked only of the 1,960 respondents who reported an increase.
Government · UK
Read the full report
From Office for National Statistics · published 14/08/2026