UK EARNINGS

National Statistics Figures for 2007   Average Full time weekly earnings Male £498 per week Woman £394 per week.   The top 10% earned more than £906 per week while the bottom 10% earned less than £252 per week.    The occupations with the highest earnings in 2007 were Health Professionals (average £1019 per week) followed by Corporate managers (£702 per week)

UK PLC

UK Government debt at the end of September 2008 was 645.3 billion pounds or 43.4% of GDP. This figure has increased by 30.9 billion in the last 6 months and up 130.8 billion in the last 12 months.   Figures released on 24/10/2008 show UK GDP dropped 0.5% in 3rd quarter. Two consecutive falls means UK is officially in recession.   In August 2008 the UK's goods deficit with the EU was 3 billion and 5.2 billion with non EU countries. Excluding oil and erratic items the volume of exports was 5% lower than July and imports 1% higher.   The August 2008 Report on jobs from the REC & KPMG shows that permanent placements fell at the sharpest rate since November 2001.Declining demand for staff and strongly rising candidate availability led to salary growth being the weakest for over 5 years.

STATISTICS PROVIDED BY UK GOVERNMENT

02/10/2008 Today the government published it's Annual UK Fuel Poverty Statergy Annual Report. Key Facts from it 3.5 million households spent more than 10% of income on heating and powering their homes.   Households suffering from fuel poverty in England rose from 1.5 million in 2005 to 2.4 million in 2006 and is expected to reach 3.5 million in 2008.   Across the UK 2.75 million vunerable households ie those with children, elderly, illness, were in fuel poverty in 2006.

HALIFAX HOUSE DATA FOR DECEMBER 2008

House prices rose 1.9% in December 2008   Average mortgage rate on mortgages taken out in August 2008 6.10%   Average mortgage rate paid on all outstanding mortgages 5.83%   House prices in December 2008 were 17.2% lower on an annual basis   Mortgage approvals in December 2008 was 31,000.(58% lower than December 2007)   Average house price in December 2008 £163,966

UK HOUSEHOLD DEBT FIGURES

Callcredit research has shown that 14% of people spend over 30pc of their monthly income on unsecured debt re-payments.   155600 households were 3 months or more in arrears.   Uk personal debt stood at £14569 billion in November 2008   73.2% of credit card balances attracted interest in October 2008   Average UK household debt excluding mortgages £9575   The average household pays £3744 interest each year on their debts.   2 million UK consumers are on debt re-payment schemes to energy suppliers.   15,297 people were declared bankrupt in the second quarter of 2008.   The average UK consumer is charged an interest rate of 17.45% on their credit card.   According to the FSA 1/3 of students at university are constantly overdrawn.   UK credit card borrowing is growing at an annual rate of 5.1%.   Citizens Advice offices report they dealt with 215,000 new debt problems in the first 2 months of 2008

UK Life Expectancy

Life expectancy at age 65 in the UK has reached its highest level ever for both men and women. Men aged 65 could expect to live a further 16.9 years and women a further 19.7 years if mortality rates remained the same as they were in 2004-06. Within the UK, life expectancy varies by country. The highest expectations of life at age 65 occurred in England at 17.1 years for men and 19.9 years for women and the lowest in Scotland at 15.8 years and 18.6 years respectively. The equivalent figures for Wales and Northern Ireland are a little lower than those for England. Life expectancy at birth is also at its highest level for both males and females. Boys and girls born in the UK could expect on average to live to 76.9 years and 81.3 years of age respectively. The increase in life expectancy among older adults has been particularly dramatic in recent years. Between 1980-82 and 2004-06 life expectancy at age 65 in the UK increased by 4.0 years for men and 2.8 years for females. Around one-quarter of this increase occurred over the last four years. In general the increases in life expectancy over the same period have been broadly similar for each country. However, on average, for males in Scotland the increase was lower at 3.5 years. Conversely, females in Northern Ireland experienced a higher increase of 3.3 years. By comparison, expectation of life at birth in the UK has increased by 6.1 years for males and 4.5 years for females over the same period. Women continue to live longer than men, but the gap has been closing in recent years. Improving mortality rates mean that the chance of a new born boy reaching age 65 has increased from 74 per cent (based on mortality rates experienced in 1980-82) to 84 per cent (based on mortality rates in 2004-06). For females the chance has increased from 84 per cent to 90 per cent. The above life expectancy figures make no allowance for future changes in mortality. Allowing for the latest projected future improvements in mortality from the 2006-based population projections the cohort life expectancy at birth in 2006 is projected to be 88.1 years for a boy and 91.5 years for a girl. Cohort life expectancy for those aged 65 in 2006 is projected to be 20.6 years for males and 23.1 years for females. It is estimated that a boy born in the UK in 2006 will have a 91 per cent change of reaching age 65 and a girl a 94 per cent chance. Source: Office for National Statistics;