Twenty two million UK adults are financially struggling today, leaving the nation’s financial resilience at an even lower ebb than during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from ICMIF member and investment, protection and retirement specialist LV=.

According to new research from LV=, over one in four (27%) UK adults say that just paying bills has been a challenge over the past three years, while a third (32%) helped friends and family to make ends meet in the first half of 2023. Twenty million Britons reported that they are worried about money, six million more than three years ago. The same research found that financial stresses are forcing people to dip into savings to meet today’s needs, while fewer adults are acquiring protection cover (such as life insurance or income protection) leaving more households financially vulnerable.

For the past three years, LV= has conducted an in-depth research programme investigating financial resilience across the UK. Building on this unique data set spanning 13 editions, the company is now launching the LV= Wellness Tracker that produces a single measure of the nation’s financial resilience over time by comparing the number of people who are financially ‘comfortable’ against those who are ‘struggling.’ The Tracker currently stands at +17 (58% comfortable vs 42% struggling), indicating that the nation’s financial resilience is much lower than three years ago.

LV= Chief Executive David Hynam said: “More and more people face a choice between paying their bills, putting food on the table and saving for the future. The fact that families and friends are helping each other through the ongoing cost-of-living crisis shows that our community bonds are still strong, but it should concern us all that people are having to withdraw future savings to meet today’s costs.”