UK families face ‘crisis level’ household debt heading into 2019 with money owed even topping levels seen in the 2008 financial crisis.
The average UK household owes £15,385 in unsecured debt, including credit card bills, bank loans and high-cost lending, with many Brits now worse off than they were at the peak of the 2008 recession, according to a new report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The investigation found that £428 billion is owed across the country, an unprecedented leap from the previous high of £286bn prior to the economic downturn a decade ago.
Unsecured debt has hit a new record of £15,400 per household. Austerity has been a self-defeating strategy, increasing reliance on debt instead of reducing it. And the biggest victims are those struggling hardest with debt: the poorest. https://t.co/4EfcQL3qvqpic.twitter.com/lIXXnpeoOc
— Trades Union Congress (@The_TUC) January 7, 2019
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said: “Household debt is at crisis level. Years of austerity and wage stagnation has pushed millions of families deep into the red.
“The government is skating on thin ice by relying on household debt to drive growth. A strong economy needs people spending wages, not credit cards and loans.”