The single cause of costing more to live in the UK

Our community campaign Heat & Eat aims to inform our readers about current cost of living issues, how to best address the problems, and how to help those who face extreme poverty.

IT’S NOT cheap to be living on your own these days, as growing numbers of people inevitably do, whether by choice or circumstance.

New research shows that single Brits are paying, on average, an additional £7,564.50 every year, or £630 per month more than their coupled-up counterparts.

To help with this, as prices continue to rise and rise, Ocean Finance have provided moneysaving tips to help singles cut their outgoings and stay on top of their finances.

Using ONS data, Ocean Finance have calculated what they judge to be the typical monthly costs for single and coupled-up Brits including utility bills, rent, monthly food shop and more.

They show that on average household bills for a single person can cost £362.20 above a person in a couple, with the singleton paying £956.48 and the person in a couple £593.28.

For example a food and alcohol shop is seen to add an extra £90.15 to the single person’s costs, while recreation costing £201.61 for one half of a couple is £257.66 for a single - a difference of £56.05.

Holidays add up to £135.45 a month for the singleton, and £80.02 for a person in a couple, so £55.43 more for the former.

Subscriptions at £48.36 for a person in a couple are £82.09 for a singleton, so they pay £33.73 more, while eating out bills of £189.01 for the single person are £31.74 more than for a couple counterpart paying £157.27.

Totals for the month are payouts of £1,910.93 for a singleton, £1,280.63 for a person in a couple, so £630.30 more for the former.

Ocean Finance analysed the average cost of housing, utility bills, internet, a TV licence and council tax to discover UK singles are shelling out an extra £363.20 every month, as they’re unable to split costs with a partner.

Rent was the biggest contributor with a single person paying, on average, £674 a month and a couple paying just slightly more at £866 a month, so £433 per person.

Council tax was also a major contributor despite the 25 per cent discount for a singleperson household. For the average Band D bill, singles paid £113.60 a month, but individuals with partners paid just £75.75.

Ocean Finance estimates that every month, single people spend £90.15 more on their food and alcohol shopping compared to each member of a couple. The extra cost comes from not being able to split meals with a significant other. Prices are also generally higher for smaller portions of food, which are usually the preferred option for singles.

OnaverageUKhouseholds have seven monthly subscriptions and memberships with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Spotify and the National Trust. With this figure in mind, Ocean found that each month, singles pay an average of £82.09 whereas people in couples pay just £48.36 each.