The UK's average credit card debt per household grew by *** British pounds between December 2021 and December 2022, the first increase since 2020. Standing at ***** British pounds at December 2022, the figure contrasts with the decline in 2020 – when the debt declined from ***** British pounds to ***** British pounds. That particular drop was likely a result of Covid-19's economic impact, and consumers trying to get rid of their credit card debt. The increase in 2022 may be caused by growing interest rates and the cost of living crisis beginning to take shape.

Daily, weekly and monthly data showing seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted UK spending using debit and credit cards. These are official statistics in development. Source: CHAPS, Bank of England.

The average amount of buy now, pay later debt from a UK consumer grew by several percent between 2021 and 2020 - although values did differ per BNPL platform. Klarna and Clearpay - two of the most downloaded BNPL apps in the United Kingdom - also had some of the lowest debts per capita compared to some of the other leading BNPL platforms. The source does not explain why these differences exist, although it does mention that most consumers took significantly longer than the average repayment time limit of 49 days. This included both Klarna as well as Clearpay, as eight percent and 17 percent of respondents, respectively, felt they would not be able to pay back their money to the two platforms within 30 days after a purchase. In general, however, repayments were outstripping new lending since the coronavirus pandemic, with regards to credit card debt in the UK.

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) has been running continuously since 1992 to meet the information needs of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It is almost wholly funded by DWP.

The FRS collects information from a large, and representative sample of private households in the United Kingdom (prior to 2002, it covered Great Britain only). The interview year runs from April to March.

The focus of the survey is on income, and how much comes from the many possible sources (such as employee earnings, self-employed earnings or profits from businesses, and dividends; individual pensions; state benefits, including Universal Credit and the State Pension; and other sources such as savings and investments). Specific items of expenditure, such as rent or mortgage, Council Tax and water bills, are also covered.

Many other topics are covered and the dataset has a very wide range of personal characteristics, at the adult or child, family and then household levels. These include education, caring, childcare and disability. The dataset also captures material deprivation, household food security and (new for 2021/22) household food bank usage.

The FRS is a national statistic whose results are published on the gov.uk website. It is also possible to create your own tables from FRS data, using DWP’s Stat Xplore tool. Further information can be found on the gov.uk Family Resources Survey webpage.

Secure Access FRS data
In addition to the standard End User Licence (EUL) version, Secure Access datasets, containing unrounded data and additional variables, are also available for FRS from 2005/06 onwards - see SN 9256. Prospective users of the Secure Access version of the FRS will need to fulfil additional requirements beyond those associated with the EUL datasets. Full details of the application requirements are available from http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/media/178323/secure_frs_application_guidance.pdf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Guidance on applying for the Family Resources Survey: Secure Access.

FRS, HBAI and PI
The FRS underpins the related Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset, which focuses on poverty in the UK, and the related Pensioners' Incomes (PI) dataset. The EUL versions of HBAI and PI are held under SNs 5828 and 8503, respectively. The Secure Access versions are held under SN 7196 and 9257 (see above).

FRS 2023-24

Alongside the usual topics covered, the 2023-2024 FRS includes new variables on veterans (ex-armed forces, former regulars and reserves); care leavers (where young adults were previously living in care, during their teenage years); and, for the self-employed, length of time in that occupation. For doctors, we add clarifying variables for NHS vs private earnings streams. There are new variables on food support from friends/relatives, which complement the existing food bank and household food security set. 2023-2024 also includes Cost of Living Payment variables, including those on certain state benefits and the Warm Homes Discount scheme.

The achieved sample was over 16,500 households (28,500+ adults). A large majority of interviews were face-to-face with a minority being by telephone.

The BENUNIT table contains a raft of variables on the new material deprivation question set; see GOV.UK for background.

This version of the dataset (End User Licence) adds the DEBT table for the first time this year. The table contains responses on credit card debt, loan debt, hire purchase debt and store card debt.

Please send any feedback directly to the FRS Team Inbox: team.frs@dwp.gov.uk

Documentation

Many variables in the data files are fully labelled, but additional details can be found in the frs2324_variable_listing_eul.xlsx document.

Key information about United Kingdom Non Performing Loans Ratio

• United Kingdom Non Performing Loans Ratio stood at 1.0 % in Dec 2022, compared with the ratio of 1.0 % in the previous year
• UK Non Performing Loans Ratio data is updated yearly, available from Dec 2005 to Dec 2022
• The data reached an all-time high of 4.0 % in Dec 2011 and a record low of 1.0 % in Dec 2021

• In the latest reports, Money Supply M2 in UK increased 0.7 % YoY in May 2023
• UK Foreign Exchange Reserves was measured at 116.0 USD bn in May 2023
• The Foreign Exchange Reserves equaled 1.9 Months of Import in Apr 2023
• The country's Domestic Credit reached 4,978.3 USD bn in Apr 2023, representing an drop of 3.3 % YoY
• Household Debt of UK reached 2,756.4 USD bn in Mar 2023, accounting for 88.0 % of the country's Nominal GDP

The are several factors that can accumulate in the repossession of a home, the most common reason for being mortgage arrears. This occurs when borrowers can no longer make the mortgage repayments. Mortgage lenders will repossess the home to sell to recover the money owed. In 2023, between 176 and 424 homes in England were repossessed monthly. In Wales, this figure ranged between 14 and 32. Which regions saw the most repossessions? The North West recorded the highest number of repossessions in 2023. Conversely, the East of England, South West, East Midlands, and Wales had the lowest number of repossessions. London and South East, the regions with the highest average earnings, ranked in the middle. Mortgage arrears on the rise Mortgage arrears in the UK have increased quarter-on-quarter since the third quarter of 2022, showing that homebuyers are increasingly struggling to meet their monthly obligations. Borrowers who missed a mortgage payment were highly likely to also fall behind on other financial commitments, with credit card debt being the most common one.