By Mark Diffley

THE cost of living crisis may have been coming down the track at speed for many months but that hasn’t diminished the impact it is having on the lives of millions of Scots, leaving many in desperate need of urgent help.

The latest in our Understanding Scotland series of surveys – focussing on public experiences of and attitudes towards the economy and their own finances – reveals widespread pessimism, fear that the crisis is going to deepen, and worrying consequences which go beyond financial hardship and include impacts on physical health and mental wellbeing.

The levels of financial and economic pessimism in the population are overwhelming. More than nine in 10 of us (91 per cent) think that economic conditions are worse than a year ago, compared to just four per cent who think conditions are better, giving a net score of -87%. The equivalent score on the issue of personal finance is -57%, illustrating a widespread downturn in people’s experiences.

Moreover, the majority of us think that the current crisis has little sign of concluding: the net scores for optimism/pessimism in the next year are -78% for general economic conditions and -56% for personal finances. Adding to the likelihood of ongoing pessimism is the finding that 95% of us think the crisis will get worse before it gets better, and 96% agreeing with the statement that ‘the cost of living crisis and its impacts will continue to be felt for the next few years.’

Of course, while these numbers are concerning in themselves, they will also impact on people’s future behaviours and choices.

We know that the crisis is having profound effects on people, pushing them into greater vulnerability and riskier behaviours. Two in five have run down savings and 35% have taken on debt and/or borrowed money, rising to 44% among people who live in Scotland’s most deprived neighbourhoods. That is a full 20 percentage points higher than in the country’s most affluent communities, one of many examples in the survey demonstrating that this crisis is being felt most sharply among those most in need.

But the impacts go beyond financial hardship: one in six of us (17%) report skipping meals, rising to one in four among young people and those from the poorest social class. And over a quarter (28%) report losing sleep due to anxiety about their finances. Again, there is evidence of disproportionate effects here, with the figure rising to 36% among younger people (under 45) and 34% among those with children in their household.

These figures are a shocking sign of a population with many people struggling despite their best efforts, cutting down, working more, and making risky decisions to try and make ends meet.

It is clear that more help is needed now to avoid the effects of the crisis spiralling. Organisations in the public and private sectors are perceived by voters to have been ineffective in dealing with the crisis. They need to act speedily and effectively if we are going to come out of it.

Mark Diffley is Founder and Director, Diffley Partnership