Disposable income falls in every UK region

The latest figures from Asda’s Income Tracker reveals that household disposable incomes fell in every UK region during Q1 2023, compared to the same period a year earlier, showing that no areas of the country are immune from the cost of living crisis.

Across the UK as a whole, the amount households had to spend on themselves, after paying taxes and essential bills, fell by 9.2% during Q1 to an average of £213 per week, compared to £236 per week in Q1 2022.

Despite the strong gross income growth at present, discretionary incomes continue to fall as prices are rising at a faster rate than net incomes.

Households in the South East saw the biggest fall in disposable incomes in absolute terms, down by £41 per week (18% year-on-year) – from a weekly average of £227 during Q1 2022 to £186 in the first quarter of this year.

Families in Wales and Northern Ireland also experienced significant declines in disposable income as rising living costs continue to disproportionately impact the devolved nations.

Northern Ireland recorded the largest year-on-year decline in percentage terms of any region, with a drop of 21.2% in Q1 2023, compared to the same period a year earlier. In real terms this means that families in Northern Ireland were £27 per week worse off across the quarter compared to the same period of 2022.

In Wales, household disposable incomes were 11.6% down in Q1 compared to a year earlier, equivalent to a shortfall of £23 per week. Welsh households continue to be impacted by slow wage growth, with only the South East region seeing weaker growth in this area during the quarter.

Asda continues to support families during the cost of living crisis by keeping prices in check and launching new propositions to provide customers with more value each time they shop. Asda remains the best-value traditional supermarket, having been named the cheapest grocer for a big family shop by Which? every month for the last three years.

The supermarket has also locked the price of over 500 family-favourite branded and own-label lines to give families more control and certainty over their shopping budgets.

Asda’s is also offering customers the chance to earn cash which can be spent in store by signing up to its new Asda Rewards loyalty programme. More than 4m customers are using the programme each month and have already accrued £70m in their ‘cashpots’ which they can spend in store or online to reduce their grocery bills.