UK savings statistics 2026: how do your savings compare?

Wealth in the UK is very unevenly spread, so averages are pulled up by a small number of very wealthy households. The median, the point where half of people are above and half below, is usually a better benchmark.

The ONS Wealth and Assets Survey for April 2020 to March 2022 put median household wealth in Great Britain (including property and pensions) at £293,700. The wealthiest 10% of households had £1,200,500 or more, while the least wealthy 10% had £16,500 or less. The ONS has noted quality concerns with some detailed estimates from this round of the survey, so treat fine breakdowns with caution.

The FCA's Financial Lives 2024 survey, one of the largest surveys of UK consumers, found that:

• about 1 in 10 adults had no cash savings at all;
• a further 21% had less than £1,000 to draw on in an emergency;
• 24% of adults, around 13.1 million people, had low financial resilience, meaning little in savings to fall back on, heavy bill or credit commitments, or recent missed payments.

In other words, roughly a third of adults had less than £1,000 of cash savings. If you have built a buffer of £1,000 or more, you are ahead of a large share of the population. A common target is three to six months of essential costs; the emergency fund calculator works out yours.

Auto-enrolment has brought millions more employees into workplace pensions, but many pots are still small. The same FCA survey found that a third (33%) of adults with a defined contribution pension had less than £10,000 saved in it.

To judge whether you are on track, the Retirement Living Standards from Pensions UK (formerly the PLSA) set out what a minimum, moderate and comfortable retirement costs each year for singles and couples, and are updated regularly. Compare those budgets with your State Pension forecast and workplace pensions using our pension calculator. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week (about £12,548 a year) in 2026/27.

The ONS household saving ratio measures how much of their disposable income households save, including pension saving. It was 8.8% in April to June 2026, according to the ONS quarterly sector accounts published on 30 September 2026. That is an average across all households: higher-income households tend to save much more, and many lower-income households save little or nothing.

For up-to-date figures on mortgages, credit cards, personal loans and other consumer credit, the Bank of England's monthly Money and Credit release is the primary source. The Money Charity also publishes a monthly summary of UK debt statistics. Credit card and overdraft rates are far higher than savings rates, so clearing expensive debt usually beats saving beyond a small emergency buffer. See our guide to the debt snowball and avalanche methods.

Statistics are updated often, so check the original sources:

Use national figures to set realistic first goals, not to judge yourself. A practical order is: a starter emergency fund of £1,000, then three to six months of essential costs, then regular pension and ISA saving. Moving from no savings to some savings is a real achievement.

The habit matters more than the starting amount. SYM tells you how much to put aside each day, one tap logs it, and your streak helps you keep going.