Little money left after the bills are paid

Consumers are around £10 a month worse off than they were a year ago as incomes have failed to keep up with living costs, the Lloyds TSB spending power report found.

Following on from Christmas, the proportion of people saying they had no spending power at all once their bills were paid rose from 15 per cent in December to a “worrying” 19 per cent in January.

People aged between 35 and 64 and those living in the North and Midlands were the most likely to say they had no discretionary income.

The number of consumers generally who feel that money is tight increased from 40 per cent to 43 per cent between December and January as income continued to grow below the rate of inflation.