21% net optimism

↓-2pts on last week ↓-2pts on last year

17 Apr 2026

665,000 more people borrowed money from family this month. Confidence hits it’s lowest point since March 2024

There’s a version of financial hardship that shows up in the news; food banks, fuel poverty, emergency debt. And there’s a quieter version that shows up sheepishly in a WhatsApp chat, the message re-written 6 times, deep breath before pressing send as you try to ask for £200 until the end of the month. That second version just got 665,000 people bigger.

Borrowing from friends and family has climbed to levels we haven’t seen since late 2022. Missed bill payments too, rising by the same margin.

And it’s moving up the income ladder in a way that should worry everyone. Mid earners (£30-50k HHI), the fear that things will never go back to normal is now rising faster than any other group. These are people who did the right things – they worked hard, put money away, made sensible choices – and now, the comfortable life that was supposed to follow simply hasn’t materialised.

These are people who did the right things. The comfortable life that was supposed to follow simply hasn’t materialised.

The social picture makes it worse. People having friends round at home has dropped from 50% in 2022 to 42%. Not because anyone fell out. Because hosting takes energy, money and conversation, and right now nobody has enough of any of them. The honest conversations that could help aren’t happening.

Based on Konfidant's weekly survey and qualitative interviews. Base: 2,000 UK adults per week.