Financial Lives 2020 survey: the impact of coronavirus (FCA)
A research paper from the FCA
Abstract
Financial Lives, our flagship survey of UK consumers, provides a wealth of information about consumers’ attitudes towards managing their money, the financial products they have and their experiences of engaging with financial services firms. It is unique in the combination of its design, its breadth (over 1,300 questions covering all the retail sectors that we regulate) and its size (over 16,000 respondents in the latest wave). As a tracking survey, it provides evidence of how things are improving, worsening or staying the same, from the point of view of the consumer.
Our second Financial Lives survey ended in February 2020 before the pandemic. It therefore gives us an understanding of consumers’ financial positions before the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. This tells us much about their likely ability in February 2020 to deal with financial shocks. It also means that the survey acts as a baseline against which to understand changes in people’s financial situations during and after the pandemic.
To test how the pandemic had already affected UK consumers, we ran a survey – our Covid-19 panel survey – in October 2020 with over 22,000 respondents. We will use future research and analysis – including our next Financial Lives survey – to understand the changing shape of consumers’ financial lives after the pandemic.
Citation
FCA, Financial Lives survey (2020) [online] Available at: Financial Lives 2020 survey: the impact of coronavirus [Accessed on 4 February 2022].
Link
https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/research/financial-lives-2020-survey-impact-coronavirus