Households will spend a near record of £560 on average over Christmas, far more than they did in 2019 while receiving much less due to inflation, according to research conducted by Legal & General, in partnership with The Centre for Economics and Business Research.
Collectively, UK households will spend £15.7 billion on Christmas festivities in 2022, up 7.3% on 2019 and by 3.6% on 2021.
Londoners lead as the biggest Christmas spenders this year, set to generate an average bill of £675.20 per household, closely followed by those in the South East (£660.80), and East (£605.80).
Bernie Hickman, CEO Legal & General Retail, said: “This Christmas families are spending more, but getting much less, due to rising inflation.
“It’s understandable that people want to celebrate together after a challenging few years but, with inflation forecast to continue into 2023, this might not be the only Christmas where people need to tighten their belts.
“It’s important people feel able to get together and to celebrate, but this needs to be in a way that doesn’t blow the budget and cause financial issues further down the line.
“Our online hub, which includes an interactive financial safety net tool, is full of insights and advice to help people strike the right balance with their festive spending.”
With the current Consumer Price Index measure of inflation up by 10.7% since this time last year, households will have to contend with the rising price of both essential and luxury goods.
For households to have the same Christmas as they did in 2019, purchasing the same goods in the same quantities, this would now cost them an average of £620.
This is £90 more than they spent in 2019 and £60 greater than their expected nominal spending this year.
Legal & General, and its employees, are supporting a number of organisations that are making a real difference to communities during the Cost-of-Living Crisis.
The company’s festive giving campaign will see more than £250,000 being shared between charities including Citizens Advice, Age UK, SANE, and the Trussell Trust.
