The community's experience with the cost of living crisis

What we did

The cost of living crisis has been a major concern for people across the whole of England, as well as right here in Wandsworth. Over the past year, we have been focused on hearing from people in Wandsworth about how the cost of living crisis has impacted them.

We worked with nearly a dozen local community groups to make sure that the experiences of a variety of local people were considered in this report. We used three surveys to gather the experiences of 165 people from October 2022 to September 2023.

You can read more about what we did and how we did it in our full report.

Key Findings

Our full report describes in more detail some key themes and recommendations regarding the community's experiences of the cost of living crisis. 

Here is a summary of our key findings and recommendations:

• There have been substantial impacts on mental and physical health: The majority of people who we have surveyed shared that their mental and physical health has become worse due to the cost of living crisis.
• Impacts on lifestyle in the winter: The majority of people anticipated that their lifestyle would be affected negatively due to the cost of living crisis.
• Impacts on financial status: The majority of people do not have a fair amount to put into savings or spend on leisure.
• Changes made as a result of the current rise in the cost of living: The financial status of the majority of respondents changed in the last 6 to 12 months, leading to changes in their day-to-day lifestyles. Over half of the respondents noted that they had to cut back on food spending, needed to cut back on heating, or were stressed about paying bills.
• General themes regarding the impact of the cost of living crisis: When we asked our participants if they had any additional comments, we received a variety of answers that were important to include. Notably, 22% had pessimism about the future and 14% were concerned about food costs.

Overall, the community shared that the cost of living crisis is impacting people's health and wellbeing on various scales. Moreover, each of the findings above, when occurring together, create a larger combined impact on the community’s ability to maintain health and wellbeing. The impacts are being felt the most by those in our community who are particularly vulnerable.

Information and Resources

Please visit our article which includes resources to help you navigate the cost of living crisis: https://www.healthwatchwandsworth.co.uk/advice-and-information/2022-06-29/cost-living-crisis

You can also visit the Wandsworth Cost of Living Hub for support: https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/cost-of-living-hub/ 

More information from Healthwatch England:
https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/blog/2024-03-18/cost-living-remains-barrier-health-most-vulnerable