The UK is now more populated worry about their financial situation Soaring inflation has become the top public concern, a large university study shows.

In March, 38% of UK adults said they were worried about their finances, the highest percentage since the launch of the Covid Social Study by UCL in March 2020.

By contrast, fear of contracting or contracting the coronavirus fell to 33 percent from 40 percent in January.

All age groups report increases worry about their financial situation, but this figure reaches nearly half of the 30- to 59-year-old group, twice as many as the elderly. Of this middle-aged group, only about a third are concerned about the coronavirus.

Lead author Professor Daisy Vancourt said the result “has been a cost-of-living crisis”.

Vancourt said the findings highlighted how the government’s newly relaxed coronavirus guidelines are affecting the way people view the disease. “While Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths are at or above January 2022 levels, this means that despite the shift in attitudes, the overall picture remains unchanged,” she said.

In England, legal restrictions around Covid ended on February 24, and other countries eased similar restrictions shortly thereafter.

Household finances were Britons’ top concern ahead of a 54% rise in energy bills caps set by the industry regulator in April. Even before that, consumer inflation rose to a 30-year high of 6.2% in February, with March data widely expected to rise further on Wednesday.

Inflation is likely to accelerate further in the second half of the year due to higher gas and oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, UCL research found that only about half of people felt in control of their finances in March, down from nearly two-thirds in October last year.

The study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, UKRI and Wellcome, is based on a survey of 29,000 people interviewed between 21 and 27 March. The much smaller study, published every fortnight by the Office for National Statistics, showed an increase in the proportion of the population who lost their children. Non-essential spending and energy use to cope with the rising cost of living.

The UCL report also found that the cost of living crisis is creating new mental health problems, with happiness and life satisfaction falling each month since last summer. Depression and anxiety symptoms, meanwhile, were the highest in nearly a year, matching levels seen in 2020 when the lockdown was first lifted.

Cheryl Lloyd, director of education programs at the Nuffield Foundation, said the results showed that “an increase in the cost of living is having a negative impact on people’s mental health, especially those living on low incomes”. .

Although people are out and about more. Last month, nearly two-thirds left their homes for recreational purposes, an all-time high for the study. The study found that, in fact, most people followed the new easing guidelines, but the level of confidence in the government’s proper handling of the pandemic remained relatively low, similar to levels seen in 2020 when lockdowns were first lifted.