Research from the Legal & General MoneyMood Survey also shows fewer homes say they have “money left over after paying bills and debts”, compared to figures from two years ago.
From 2010 to 2012 the number of “stable” households, those who say they have some money left after paying bills each month, fell from 50% to 44% - around 1.3 million homes.
Some two out of five households across the country say they are either already in fuel poverty or almost in fuel poverty, suggesting that a relatively small change in the cost of fuel could tip many more homes into fuel poverty over coming months.
Wales (31%), London (29%), West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside have the largest number of households who say they are in fuel poverty now.
The South West and East Midlands the biggest number of households who say they are “almost” in fuel poverty at 25%.
Mark Gregory, Legal & General executive director, savings, said: “While household finances have clearly not yet fully recovered to pre-recession strength, the signs of stability in the UK economy over the last year appear to be reflected in our MoneyMood survey. Not withstanding the harsh reality that just over 300,000 more households are struggling to make ends meet compared with the figured from just before the recession took hold, our latest research shows no increase in the number of homes struggling to stay out of debt compared to a year ago.
“However, higher inflation figures for October will not be welcome news and we believe the cost of fuel is likely to make balancing household finance even harder for those with lower incomes. With one in 5 (21%) already saying they are in fuel poverty (based on the Govt. definition) and a further fifth (19%) “almost” in fuel poverty any rise in the amount spent on fuel is likely to have a significant impact on how the less well off households cope with paying bills.”
The MoneyMood survey indicates that London, Wales, the East Midlands and the North West appear to have more homes who say they’re either already in fuel poverty, or almost in fuel poverty compared to the national average.
Gregory added: “There appears to be a North/South divide with the number of homes who say they’re struggling with household finances coming down in the Midlands and up to the North East of England. However, in the South of England and Wales the number of struggling households has risen significantly since the start of the recession. In Scotland there has also been a slight increase in the numbers who say they’re struggling over the last two years.”
