Consumer confidence across Yorkshire and The Humber rises marginally in first quarter of 2023

Deloitte’s Consumer Tracker also revealed a rise in net spending on leisure activities in the first quarter of the year, up 1.6 percentage points. The quarterly increase was boosted by a net 7.8 percentage point increase in spending on holidays and hotels by consumers compared to the last quarter of 2022.

Donna Baker, tax partner and consumer business lead at Deloitte in Yorkshire, said: “Consumer confidence is flat in Yorkshire and Humberside, but this is more positive than the steep drop in consumer confidence which we saw from Q3 to Q4 2022.

“Consumer spending over the last three months has risen slightly and consumers plan to spend more in the next three months. The biggest rises in the last three months were in groceries, which is no surprise as food prices continue to rise, and phone, internet and TV as people spend more money on entertainment at home.

“Discretionary spend is set to rebound in the next quarter across all categories, but particularly in clothing and footwear, holidays and restaurants - a sign that summer is on the horizon.”

Overall confidence was lifted by improved consumer sentiment towards job opportunities and progression (up 3.6 percentage points) and general health and wellbeing (up 4.4 percentage points), against the backdrop of a strong labour market and the winter months coming to an end.

Year-on-year, however, overall confidence remains down. Persistent inflation continues to depress consumers’ sentiment about their levels of disposable income which, despite improving from Q4 2022, remains lower than when the Deloitte Consumer Tracker survey first launched back in 2011.