British households are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet after research revealed many more now barely have enough money to cope with everyday expenses.
The survey conducted by Legal & General showed that fewer than two fifths (39%) of households had money left over after paying their monthly bills.
This figure is 6% lower than at the same point last year.
Perhaps slightly encouragingly, the number of families not covering their routine expenses has dropped 1% to one in ten (10%).
These moves mean that more than half the country (51%) now rates themselves as ‘surviving' with just enough income to break even after each pay cheque.
Last year 11% said they were ‘struggling', 44% ‘surviving', and 45% ‘stable'.
L&G's MoneyMood survey estimated that those homes ‘struggling' with finances find themselves short by £100 per month on average.
The ‘stable' households were managing to save £93 per month on average.
And the insurer said there was a North-South divide, with homes in the South managing to save around twice the monthly average of their northern counterparts.
It added that around a quarter of a million households in the UK said they were coping with paying bills and debt better now than at the end of last year.
It did not say how many households had fallen from the ‘stable' into the ‘surviving' category.
