British household incomes rise at fastest pace in five years

British households’ incomes from employment rose at the fastest rate in more than five years in early October, but many families still feel under financial pressure, a monthly survey showed on Wednesday.

Data company Markit said the rise in income reported in its monthly household finance index was the strongest since the survey started in early 2009, and could be due to higher wages, longer hours or a mix of both.

However, a broader measure of financial wellbeing - which also takes into account households’ savings, cash available to spend and general financial situation - slipped to its lowest level since January.

"People were all too often having to eat into their savings or take on more debt to support their spending," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

The Markit survey of 1,500 adults was conducted by polling company Ipsos MORI between October 8th and 13th.

Wage growth has been weak despite Britain’s strong economic recovery, but the number of people in employment and total hours worked have grown much more rapidly.

A separate ONS measure for the second quarter of 2014 showed that households’ incomes - after taking inflation, tax payments and benefits into account - were 1.1 per cent higher than a year earlier.