Number of households missing essential payments back to winter levels

This is also significantly higher than the number who missed essential payments in May. Of these, 1.5 million missed or defaulted on a household bill payment, while worryingly two-thirds of those to have missed a payment said they’ve missed more than one in the month up to July 13.  

Based on the figures published by Which?, water and energy were the most commonly missed household bills, with around half missing a water and energy bill while four in ten missed a phone bill and around a third a council tax payment.  

Additionally, the consumer rights organisation’s consumer insight tracker estimates that 770,000 households missed or defaulted on a housing payment – with 5.7% of renters and 3.4% of mortgage holders missing a payment.  

Alongside this, six in 10 reported making at least one adjustment – such as cutting back on essentials, dipping into savings, selling possessions or borrowing – to cover essential spending such as utility bills, housing costs, groceries, school supplies and medicines in the last month. This equates to an estimated 16.7 million households.

Responding to these findings, Which?’s director of policy and advocacy Rocio Concha said: “As so many people face financial hardship, Which? is calling on businesses in essential sectors, like food, energy and telecoms, to do more to help customers get a good deal and avoid unnecessary or unfair costs and charges during this crisis.”