One in five Scottish households (21%) are currently living in serious financial difficulty – equivalent to 1.2 million people.

In the rest of the UK, the figure is 17% of households.

The figures are from the latest Financial Fairness Tracker, commissioned by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust and analysed by a team at the University of Bristol. This has been monitoring the personal finances of UK households since the start of the pandemic, with a sample around 6,000 UK households, 552 of which are in Scotland.

Researchers found that working-age households in Scotland feel worse about their finances than those in the rest of the UK.

They are more likely to strongly agree that it as a ‘constant struggle’ to meet their bills and main financial commitments (24% vs 20%); to say that thinking about their finances makes them feel anxious (34% vs 30%); and to feel like they have no control over their financial situation (23% vs 16%).

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