BRITS’ HEALTH, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS REACH LOWEST LEVELS IN A DECADE

The Health, Wealth and Happiness of the UK population reached its lowest level in a decade in Q2 2020 as the events of the last year provided the most dramatic shifts in sentiment impacting these three key elements of our everyday life.

The new LifeSearch Health Wealth & Happiness Index (HWH Index) compiled with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) monitors changes in the three indices individually and combined, dating back to 2011.

The LifeSearch HWH Index slumped to a rock bottom level of 71.6 in Q2 2020, a quarterly fall of 23%. This far outweighs the previous largest fall of 5% set in Q1 2018, when a bad flu season put downward pressure on the Health Index and a stock market slump caused volatility in the Wealth Index. More recently, in Q1 2021, the combined HWH Index fell 5% on the previous quarter, although this did not quite amount to the lows of Q2 2020 – HWH 2011-2021 graph.

Delving deeper, LifeSearch, the UK’s leading life insurance broker, also polled over 3,000 Brits, including almost 400 Londoners and found a city of two halves; those in London who through a year of lockdown are feeling wealthier (30%) vs. those who don’t (27%), and those who feel healthier due to better exercise and diet (32% and 33% respectively) and those who feel less healthy (37% and 25% respectively) compared to at the start of the pandemic. Coupled with this is the stark contrast that almost half of adults in London (48%) are less happy now than they were pre-pandemic.

Looking in focus at the individual indices –

the Health Index tumbled to 50.4 amidst the first national lockdown in Q2 2020, a fall of 43% on the previous quarter and the largest fall in the series, before recovering to 84.2 in Q3 and then fell again in Q4 (75.8) and Q1 2021 (63.0)
the Happiness Index also suffered turbulent falls in the last year, with a record low of 76.4 in Q1 2021 and mirrored the same direction of travel as the Health Index, with a dramatic fall in Q2 2020, an uptick in Q3, followed by falls again in Q4 and Q1 2021.
while the Wealth Index did fall during the last year (plummeting to 76.3 in Q3) it is not yet as low as seen in 2011 (66.4), and actually rallied in Q1 2021 to 83.6. This was likely held up by Government interventions such as the furlough scheme, stamp duty holiday and the rise in the household savings ratio.

Emma Walker, Chief Marketing Officer at LifeSearch who commissioned the study said: “In living memory, matters relating to our nation’s health, wealth and happiness haven’t felt so loaded or emotive. We created a new Index to document this period and lock the UK’s health, wealth and happiness trends into history. The result is a major new addition to the socio-economic conversation that will be tracked long into the future.

“The last year has been like no other and it’s no surprise to see the downward pressure on measures of health, wealth and happiness. It’s also true to say that we found a tale of two halves, some were able to use the pandemic as an opportunity to reflect and make some positive change in their life from saving more money, exercising more or changing diet, while others have suffered in ways that have tested the fragility of our existence.”

HEALTH OF THE NATION

In 2020 the Health Index stood at 74.7, the lowest in the last decade and suffered its largest year on year fall (49%) in Q2 2020 as the spread of Covid-19 took its toll. The UK’s death rate was a key driver, yet some aspects saw moderate improvement; the prevalence of sick leave amongst workers fell across much of 2020 while, at the height of the pandemic, the number of GP appointments was down 31% and A&E admissions were down 57% on an annual basis, potentially masking the Index from further lows – Health Index 2011-21 graph.

Coupled with this, the study found a quarter (25%) of Londoners feel less healthy now in 2021 vs. pre-pandemic, rising to 29% of women. Meanwhile, 33% feel healthier now, rising among younger people aged 18-34 (50%). In addition:

over a third of Londoners (35%) say they have been comfort eating more in the last year, rising to 40% of women and 43% of young people aged 18-34.
21% have drunk more alcohol, rising to 24% of 18-34 years olds and 28% of 35-43 year olds. On the flipside, a further 35% say they have drunk less, rising to 41% of women. Despite pubs being mostly closed for the majority of 2020, spending on alcohol in the UK has not changed dramatically; from £19.30 per adult per month in 2019 to £19.70 in 2021.
Over a third (37%) of Londoners feel they are less fit now than pre-Covid, rising to 44% of women. On the flip side again, 32% feel fitter now vs. pre-Covid, rising to 47% among younger people aged 18-34 and 48% among those furloughed.

When it comes to our mental health, LifeSearch found far more adults in London say it has gotten worse (33%) rather than better (21%) over the course of the last year, rising to 38% of women and 37% of young people. Weekly survey data published by YouGov points to considerable spikes in the proportion of the UK population experiencing such feelings as stress, scaredness, sadness, and apathy during the pandemic. On each of these measures we saw respective all-time highs of 50%, 36%, 33%, and 24% in 2020. Despite this, LifeSearch found that only 14% of all UK adults have worked to improve their wellbeing in the last year and a further 24% have done less to actively improve their wellbeing vs pre-pandemic. Only 9% have sought professional counselling, rising to 17% of 18-34 year olds.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE

A key issue impacting many Brits’ mental health is work-life balance. The LifeSearch study found that 71% of all Londoners have worked from home at some point over the pandemic (compared to a 57% national average), and ONS data suggests the rising prevalence of home-working has led to an average of an additional 44 minutes per day per UK adult for entertainment and leisure in the last year. The study also found that more Londoners now (66% in 2021) feel their work life balance is just about right.

However, over a fifth (23%) of the workers living in London still feel they work too much. Four in 10 (40%) Londoners say they have worked more hours since the pandemic started (compared to a national average of 34%), rising among younger people (48%). In fact, 10.8 million UK workers1 have worked on average 6.1 hours more in the last year. Greater job demands (35%), time spent not commuting (33%) and finding it hard to switch off at home (17%) were the top reasons for this. While many may have had more leisure time as a result of working from home, it’s not been all plain sailing:

one in three (36%) have found it more stressful working from home
41% don’t have suitable home working set-up, compared to a national average of 34%
over half (56%) feel cut-off from colleagues.