Wealth Audit
Annual audit of household wealth
Resolution Foundation and abrdn Financial Fairness Trust
2020-2023
The Resolution Foundation and abrdn Financial Fairness Trust are working together to explore wealth in modern Britain. We produce an annual audit of wealth in the UK. We also examine specific areas such as savings, assets or incomes in depth. The audits are available to download below.
2023 Briefing - A wealth of variety
What are the effects of rising interest rates on household wealth in different regions and nations, and to what extent has this fall has impacted pre-existing regional wealth gaps?
Wealth Audit 2023 - Peaked interest
What do higher interest rates and inflation mean for wealth in the UK? This report explores two scenarios for the path of future interest rates and their wealth implications: a return to low interest rates or a continuation of higher interest rates.
Wealth Audit 2022 - Arrears fears
The scale and consequences of Britain’s recent wealth boom, which has created huge wealth gaps between people, places and age groups. Soaring levels of wealth across the UK, coupled with high levels of wealth inequality, mean the wealth gap between the top and middle tenth of households in the UK has grown to a record £1.2 million per adult.
Wealth Audit 2021 - (Wealth) gap year
The pandemic affected both the level and distribution of household wealth across Britain – from savings and debts, to property and other asset prices. Total household savings were £200bn higher than they were pre-crisis, household debts (excluding credit cards) had fallen by around £10bn, and house prices – which had fallen by an average of 22 per cent over the previous four recessions.
Wealth Audit 2020 - Rainy days
The report focuses on the distribution of wealth across Britain in the run-up to the pandemic, and how the pandemic had different impacts on the balance sheets of richer and poorer households. The research shows that lower-income households were twice as likely as high-income households to have increased their use of consumer credit during the crisis, and were 50% more likely to have saved less than usual, leaving them particularly exposed to the ongoing economic crisis.
