Financial vulnerability surges to 27.7m during Covid-19 pandemic - FCA

Vulnerability shot up 15% in 2020

Jenna Brown
clock • 3 min read

The coronavirus pandemic has had a “profound and harrowing” impact on the financial resilience of people in the UK with 27.7 million now exhibiting characteristics of vulnerability, according to figures from the regulator.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Financial Lives Survey, conducted in February and October last year, revealed more than half the UK adult population suffered from poor health, low financial resilience or had faced recent negative life events. This was up 15% compared to February 2020 when 24 million were classed as vulnerable. The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic disruption resulted in more than a quarter of adults - 14.2 million - being described as having "low financial resilience" - meaning over-indebtedness or with low levels of savings or low or erratic earnings. That ...

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