Why being single costs thousands more each year – and how it affects all of us

Published

3 months ago

February 14, 2025

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Valentine’s Day might be a gift-giving occasion your wallet could do without, but it’s thousands of pounds cheaper than being alone.

Being single costs £2,533 more a year, Sky News can reveal. Suddenly, that box of chocolates doesn’t seem so expensive.

Single people are forced to spend 22% more on rent or mortgages, council tax and energy, 28% more on food and 32% more on broadband and phones.

This is according to Hargreaves Lansdown analysis shared exclusively with Sky News, which found singletons have just £42 left at the end of the month – £341 less than couples.

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“They just don’t have that extra money, so they’re making these huge compromises in every bit of their life,” said Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at the leading investment firm.

“And people who are in couples are lulled into a false sense of security and don’t think they have to worry about it.”

But be it via divorce or bereavement, everyone becomes single again if they live long enough, she said.

A single tax?

“It didn’t even enter my brain,” said Robert Macdonald, 56, from Swansea, whose relationship ended eight months ago.

“Definitely living a single life is a lot more expensive and people who haven’t done it probably don’t understand that.”

The refuse collector said everyday essentials have become dearer now he’s unable to split the likes of broadband and phone bills.

Communication devices cost singles £828 a year on average, while each partner in a couple pays £628, the data showed.

“The renting market out there is ridiculous,” added Robert, who has become one of 8.4 million people in England and Wales living alone.

He spends 41% of his £1,700 monthly salary on a one-bed flat, 11 percentage points more than what is considered affordable.

The average rent for a one-bed was £726 in 2015 – now it’s £1,095, according to estate agent Hamptons.

And there’s no one to help shoulder the burden of heating it either.

“Frightening” is how Hazel, 71, from London, described the price of keeping warm since her husband passed away.

“The costs of gas in this country are shameful,” said Hazel, who chose not to publish her surname.

“For the most part, I dress in 25 layers and I don’t put my heating on.”

Essential housing costs – rent or a mortgage, council tax and fuel – set single people back £7,974 a year on average, whereas couples spend £6,215 each, according to Hargreaves Lansdown.

This £1,759 bill dwarfs the 25% council tax discount available to people living alone.

‘Extortionate’ food bills

Food offers no respite to singletons, who can’t necessarily take advantage of bulk-buy discounts or get through family packs before the produce expires.

Steph, 30, from London, who chose not to publish her surname, said her weekly shop cost her £20 in 2015 – now it’s an “extortionate” £50, despite cutting out meat and fish to save money.

“In the past couple of years, being single is just so much more difficult than it used to be,” she said.

“I feel like I’m a bit forgotten.”

Food costs single people £574 more a year than each person in a couple.

Holidays are no break

The single tax doesn’t stop at the border.

Since her husband Hugh died, Hazel has continued to take the cruises they once shared together to escape the loneliness at home.

But she is often forced to pay a single-occupancy fee, a supplement that doubles the cost of a room, charging her the same amount as if Hugh were there.

“It’s fiendish,” the former travel agent said.

“Literally what I pay is what people next door pay for two of them. It’s horrible – and that’s the same for every single hotel.”

Death, love and savings

With higher outgoings and one income, singles find it more difficult to save for a house deposit – which they have to fork out for alone.

Lenders also typically consider a mortgage between four and five times a household’s annual salary, putting many properties out of reach for single people.

This can mean they’re left paying rent into retirement when couples have paid off their mortgage.

“It’s a very difficult situation for single people,” said Hargreaves Lansdown’s Sarah.

“You’re going to have to build a massive pension or you’re going to have to buy.”

Just 20% of people with a mortgage live alone, according to Hamptons, and building a “massive pension” is just not an option for people like Lisa McQuoid, 44, from Colchester.

Raising her 15-year-old son on one income – £1,300 a month plus £1,000 Universal Credit – has left the single mum unable to save.

“There’s no chance of me getting on the property ladder unless I find a boyfriend or my parents die,” said Lisa, who pays £950 a month in rent for the cheapest two-bed she could find.

“I can’t see life improving that much financially, you feel like you have to be in a couple.”

The average deposit in the UK is £24,543, Hamptons says, which would take a single person 11 years to raise if they put aside £185 a month.

Retirement

“Throughout retirement, the number of other people living on their own increases,” said Simon Sarkar, head of research at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

“It is something that is widespread, that people do face these changes in circumstances that we all should really think about.”

The association estimates it costs singles £31,300 a year to enjoy a moderate living standard in retirement, compared to £21,550 per person in a couple.

Yet less than a third (31%) of singles are on track with their pension savings, compared to almost half of couples (44%), according to Hargreaves Lansdown.

Often overlooked are the costs of physical and health needs in older age, Simon said.

Singles may have to buy in services that a partner would otherwise help provide, from gardening and DIY to personal care.

“Because it’s not in your face, you might think that you’re getting by, but the lack of long-term resilience is a big deal,” said Ms Coles.

Emergency funds

The financial resilience of single people is tested throughout their lives, with 46% of them having failed to save enough to cover three months of essential spending, compared to 16% of couples.

It makes it harder to absorb the financial hits dished out by life’s unwanted surprises.

When Lisa first answered the phone to Sky News, she had just parked a car that broke down the week before, costing her £250.

When Robert picked up, he asked if the gas man was on the other end of the line, who was scheduled to fix his boiler for £170.

“Again, there you go, if two people were here it would be cheaper,” he said.

Business

Interest rate cut to 4.25% by Bank of England

Published

17 hours ago

May 8, 2025

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Interest rate cut to 4.25% by Bank of England

The Bank of England has cut interest rates from 4.5% to 4.25%, citing Donald Trump’s trade war as one of the key reasons for the reduction in borrowing costs.

In a decision taken shortly before the official confirmation of a trade deal between Britain and the United States, the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted to reduce borrowing costs in the UK, saying the economy would be slightly weaker and inflation lower in part as a result of higher tariffs.

However, it stopped short of predicting that the trade war would trigger a recession.

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Further rate cuts are expected in the coming months, though there remains some uncertainty about how fast and how far the MPC will cut – since it was split three ways on this latest vote.

Two members of the nine-person MPC voted to reduce rates by even more today, taking them down to 4%. But another two on the committee voted not to cut them at all, leaving them instead at 4.5%.

In the event, five members voted for the quarter point cut – enough to tip the balance – with the accompanying minutes saying that while “the current impact of the global trade news should not be overstated, the news was sufficient for those members to judge that a reduction in Bank Rare was warranted.”

Even so, the Bank’s analysis suggests that while higher tariffs were likely to depress global and UK economic growth, and help push down inflation, the impact would be relatively minor, with growth only 0.3% lower and inflation only 0.2% lower.

Governor, Andrew Bailey, said: “Inflationary pressures have continued to ease, so we’ve been able to cut rates again today.

“The past few weeks have shown how unpredictable the global economy can be. That’s why we need to stick to a gradual and careful approach to further rate cuts. Ensuring low and stable inflation is our top priority.”

The Bank raised its forecast for UK economic growth this year from 0.75% to 1%, but said that was primarily because of unexpectedly strong output in the first quarter.

In fact, underlying economic growth remains weak at just 0.1% a quarter.

It said that while inflation was expected to rise further in the coming months, peaking at 3.5% in the third quarter, it would drop down thereafter, settling at just below 2% towards the end of next year.

Business

Trump set to announce US will agree trade deal with UK, Sky News understands

Published

23 hours ago

May 8, 2025

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Trump set to announce US will agree trade deal with UK, Sky News understands

Donald Trump is set to announce that America will agree a trade deal with the UK, Sky News understands.

A government source has told Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates that initial reports about the agreement in The New York Times are correct.

Coates says he understands a “heads of terms” agreement, essentially a preliminary arrangement, has been agreed which is a “substantive” step towards a full deal.

Three sources familiar with the reported plans had earlier told the New York Times that the US president will announce on Thursday that the UK and US will agree a trade deal.

Shortly after the report emerged the value of the British pound rose by 0.4% against the US dollar.

Mr Trump had earlier teased that he would be announcing a major trade deal in the Oval Office at 10am local time (3pm UK time) on Thursday without specifying which country it had been agreed with.

Writing in a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, he said the news conference announcing the deal would be held with “representatives of a big, and highly respected, country”.

He did not offer more details but said the announcement would be the “first of many”.

A White House spokesperson has declined to comment on the New York Times report.

Senior Trump officials have been engaging in a flurry of meetings with trading partners since the US president announced his “liberation day” tariffs on both the US’ geopolitical rivals and allies on 2 April.

Mr Trump imposed a 10% tariff on most countries including the UK during the announcement, along with higher “reciprocal” tariff rates for many trading partners.

However those reciprocal tariffs were later suspended for 90 days.

Britain was not among the countries hit with the higher reciprocal tariffs because it imports more from the US than it exports there.

However, the UK was still impacted by a 25% tariff on all cars and all steel and aluminium imports to the US.

A UK official said on Tuesday that the two countries had made good progress on a trade deal that would likely include lower tariff quotas on steel and cars.

Mr Trump said the same day that he and top administration officials would review potential trade deals with other countries over the next two weeks to decide which ones to accept.

Last week he said that he has “potential” trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.

Asked on Sky News’ Breakfast programme about the UK-EU summit on 19 May and how Mr Starmer would balance relationships with the US and EU, Coates said: “I think it is politically helpful for Keir Starmer to have got the heads of terms, the kind of main points of a US-UK trade deal, nailed down before we see what we have negotiated with the EU — or, more importantly, Donald Trump sees what we have negotiated with the EU.”

Coates said there was “always a danger” that if it happened the other way around, Mr Trump would “take umbrage” at negotiations with the EU and “downgrade, alter or put us further back in the queue” when it came to a UK-US trade deal.

US and Chinese officials to discuss trade war

It comes as the US and China have been engaged in an escalating trade war since Mr Trump took office in January.

The Trump administration has raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% while Beijing has responded with levies of 125% in recent weeks.

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer are set to meet their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this week to discuss the trade war.

China has made the de-escalation of the tariffs a requirement for trade negotiations, which the meetings are supposed to help establish.

Business

UK-India trade deal: Is Farage right to call out ‘big tax exemption’?

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2025

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UK-India trade deal: Is Farage right to call out 'big tax exemption'?

Britain’s trade deal with India has created a pocket of controversy on taxation.

Under the agreement, Indian workers who have been seconded to Britain temporarily will not have to pay National Insurance (NI) contributions in the UK. Instead, they will continue to pay the Indian exchequer.

The same applies to British workers in India. It avoids workers from being taxed twice for a full suite of benefits they will not receive, such as the state pension.

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Politicians of all stripes have leapt to judgement.

Nigel Farage has described it as a “big tax exemption” for Indian workers. He said it was “impossible to say how many will come,” with the Reform Party warning of “more mass immigration, more pressure on the NHS, more pressure on housing.”

But, is this deal really undercutting British workers or is it simply creating a level playing field?

Be wary of any hasty conclusions. In the absence of an impact assessment from the government, it is difficult to be precise about any of this. However, at first glance, it is unlikely that some of Reform’s worst fears will play out.

Firstly, avoiding double taxation is not the same thing as a “tax break.’ This type of agreement, known as a double contribution convention, is not new.

Britain has similar arrangements with other countries and blocs, including the US, EU, Canada and Japan.

It’s based on the principle that workers shouldn’t be paying twice for social security taxes that they will not benefit from.

Indian workers and businesses will still have to pay the equivalent tax in India, as well as sponsorship fees and the NHS surcharge.

Crucially, the deal only applies to workers being sent over by Indian companies on a temporary basis.

Those workers are on Indian payroll. It does not apply to Indian workers more generally. That means businesses in the UK can’t (and won’t) suddenly be replacing all their workers with Indians.

The conditions for a company to send over a secondee on a work visa are restrictive. It means it’s unlikely that these workers will be replacing British workers.

However, It does mean that the exchequer will not capture the extra national insurance tax from those who come over on this route.

The government has not shared its impact assessment for how many extra Indians they expect to come over on this route, how much NI they will escape, or how much this will be offset by extra income tax from those Indians. The net financial position is therefore murky.