As of 2024, the most expensive national newspaper for UK consumers was FT Weekend (a supplement to the weekend edition of the Financial Times) at five British pounds and ten pence per copy. By contrast, The i and Daily Star both came out at under one pound each. The i cost just 20 pence back in 2014, meaning that the paper's cover price increased by more than fourfold over the last decade. A number of national papers cost over three GBP in 2024, including The Observer, The Sunday Times, and the Saturday edition of The Guardian. Circulation continues to fall Between 2022 and 2023, data on 14 large national newspapers in the UK showed a drop in paid circulation among every publication. Sunday People suffered a decline of almost 20 percent, and Daily Star, Daily Record, and Daily Mirror saw a decrease of 14 percent. With the price of newspapers on the up and the cost-of-living crisis ongoing, it seems unrealistic to expect British consumers to invest in newspapers, and circulation is unlikely to improve. But will consumers invest in online subscriptions? Digital news subscriptions are also costly A number of news subscriptions available to UK news consumers cost in excess of 200 British pounds per year, and most were around the 100 GBP mark. For the 38.9 percent of UK consumers spending between 51 and 100 GBP on online grocery each week, persuading them to invest a similar amount in just one news publication is challenging.

Background:
A household food consumption and expenditure survey has been conducted each year in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) since 1940. At that time the National Food Survey (NFS) covered a sample drawn solely from urban working-class households, but this was extended to a fully demographically representative sample in 1950. From 1957 onwards the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) provided information on all household expenditure patterns including food expenditure, with the NFS providing more detailed information on food consumption and expenditure. The NFS was extended to cover Northern Ireland from 1996 onwards. In April 2001 these surveys were combined to form the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), which completely replaced both series. From January 2008, the EFS became known as the Living Costs and Food (LCF) module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). As a consequence of this change, the questionnaire was altered to accommodate the insertion of a core set of questions, common to all of the separate modules which together comprised the IHS. Some of these core questions are simply questions which were previously asked in the same or a similar format on all of the IHS component surveys. For further information on the LCF questionnaire, see Volume A of the LCF 2008 User Guide, held with SN 6385. Further information about the LCF, including links to published reports based on the survey, may be found by searching for 'Living Costs and Food Survey' on the ONS website. Further information on the NFS and Living Costs and Food Module of the IHS can be found by searching for 'Family Food' on the GOV.UK website.

History:
The LCF (then EFS) was the result of more than two years' development work to bring together the FES and NFS; both survey series were well-established and important sources of information for government and the wider community, and had charted changes and patterns in spending and food consumption since the 1950s. Whilst the NFS and FES series are now finished, users should note that previous data from both series are still available from the UK Data Archive, under GNs 33071 (NFS) and 33057 (FES).

Purpose of the LCF
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has overall project management and financial responsibility for the LCF, while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) sponsors the food data element. As with the FES and NFS, the LCF continues to be primarily used to provide information for the Retail Prices Index, National Accounts estimates of household expenditure, analysis of the effect of taxes and benefits, and trends in nutrition. The results are multi-purpose, however, providing an invaluable supply of economic and social data. The merger of the two surveys also brings benefits for users, as a single survey on food expenditure removes the difficulties of reconciling data from two sources.

Design and methodology The design of the LCF is based on the old FES, although the use of new processing software by the data creators has resulted in a dataset which differs from the previous structure. The most significant change in terms of reporting expenditure, however, is the introduction of the European Standard Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP), in place of the codes previously used. An additional level of hierarchy has been developed to improve the mapping to the previous codes. The LCF was conducted on a financial year basis from 2001, then moved to a calendar year basis from January 2006 (to complement the IHS) until 2015-16, when the financial year survey was reinstated at the request of users. Therefore, whilst SN 5688 covers April 2005 - March 2006, SN 5986 covers January-December 2006. Subsequent years cover January-December until 2014. SN 8210 returns to the financial year survey and currently covers April 2015 - March 2016.

Northern Ireland sample
Users should note that, due to funding constraints, from January 2010 the Northern Ireland (NI) sample used for the LCF was reduced to a sample proportionate to the NI population relative to the UK.

Family Food database:
'Family Food' is an annual publication which provides detailed statistical information on purchased quantities, expenditure and nutrient intakes derived from both household and eating out food and drink. Data is collected for a sample of households in the United Kingdom using self-reported diaries of all purchases, including food eaten out, over a two week period. Where possible quantities are recorded in the diaries but otherwise estimated. Energy and nutrient intakes are calculated using standard nutrient composition data for each of some 500 types of food. Current estimates are based on data collected in the Family Food Module of the LCFS. Further information about the LCF food databases can be found on the GOV.UK Family Food Statistics web pages.

Secure Access version
A Secure Access version of the LCF from 2006 onwards is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 7047, subject to stringent access conditions. The Secure Access version includes variables that are not included in the standard End User Licence (EUL) version, including geographical variables with detail below Government Office Region, to postcode level; urban/rural area indicators; other sensitive variables; raw diary information files (derived variables are available in the EUL) and the family expenditure codes files. Users are strongly advised to check whether the EUL version is sufficient for their needs before considering an application for the Secure Access version.

Occupation data for 2021 and 2022 data files
The ONS have identified an issue with the collection of some occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of ONS' headline statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, are affected and you can continue to rely on their accuracy. For further information on this issue, please see: https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/occupationaldatainonssurveys.

For the fourth edition (May 2008), the value labels in the 'School' variable (in 'rawper' file) were amended. Users whose analysis includes this variable are advised to download a replacement version of the dataset. See study READ file (link below) for a full edition history.

A global study among three key markets found that U.S. consumers were the most likely to have canceled an online news subscription in the last year, with almost a third saying they did so. However, the majority of consumers in all three countries in the study continued with the ir subscriptions. In the United Kingdom, as many as of half the surveyed subscribers in kept their news subscriptions as they were instead of canceling, despite the ongoing cost of living crisis gripping the country. News subs in the UK: at what cost? At a time when consumers are making cutbacks, how essential is a news subscription to the UK consumer? Survey data showed that more than two thirds of British adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years cut their spending on non-essentials and paid more attention to deals and bargains to alleviate the effects of the cost of living crisis. Meanwhile, the prices of news subscriptions in the UK are on the rise. At the higher end, an annual subscription to The Financial Times now sets UK consumers back almost 370 British pounds. National publications such as Mail+ and The Independent also hover around the 100 GBP mark, and several subscriptions became more expensive between 2022 and 2023, notably New Statesmen which almost doubled in price year over year. Value for money – why pay for news? News subscriptions could be considered a luxury in an era where news is widely available for free. So why do consumers subscribe in the first place? Data shows that most consumers cite better quality content as the main reason for paying for news, and brand identification is also a factor. Less important to consumers are games, puzzles, and an easy-to-use website or app – highlighting the increasing importance of quality content for publications seeking to keep audiences engaged.

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