Being single is not cheap, so much so that there’s a term called ‘the single tax’ that refers to the extra cost single people spend because they aren’t in a relationship.
Financial services provider Hargreaves Lansdown broke down how expensive it really is to be single, which Nicola Slawson, founder of The Single Supplement calls the ‘the single penalty.’
Single people are spending on average £1,851 on monthly bills compared to £991 if you live with a partner – which essentially means if you’re single you’ll have to spend £860 more a month than your couple-up peers.
It doesn’t just stop there, the report also found that single people were less likely to have an adequate amount of emergency savings, at 53 per cent compared with 79 per cent of those in relationships. Single people are also less likely to have enough cash remaining at the end of the month to be considered financially resilient, compared to those in a couple.
Single people who live alone already pay £7,564 more in living costs each year than those in a co-habiting couple, according to research from Ocean Finance.
The findings are bleak but unfortunately it’s not a shock for single people.
User @Ambravernuccio comments on The Times Instagram post saying “so true, especially for women. Basically, society is telling single women to couple up or stay in abusive relationships because many can’t afford to live alone.”
“Forget about getting your own property in London. Practically impossible! I feel Punished for being single,” another user says.
Patience Chigodora who is a spiritual life coach currently lives by herself and has been single for seven years. She doesn’t feel the pressure to be coupled up as she’s perfectly happy being single.
“Yes, having a joint income would help financially but it’s not a strong enough motivation or intention for entering into a relationship with someone else,” she adds. “I am happy being single and creating financial freedom for myself outside of depending on someone else - even if it would be helpful financially.”
Financial writer Ellie Austin-Williams, the founder of This Girl Talks Money and host of the Money Unfiltered podcast, says being single “can have a huge impact” on someone’s finances.
“Single people don’t have the more obvious benefits of splitting the burden of rising bills, sky-high rental costs, and increasingly pricey food shops, but there are also some less obvious impacts on single people,” she previously told HuffPost UK.“Even with the cost of living crisis, events such as weddings are still going ahead and the cost for single people to attend can often be far more than a couple, with hotel rooms costing the same for one or two people.
There are some ways in which single people are supposedly supported – for example, they are eligible for a 25% reduction on their council tax bill. But in the context of the cost of living, many are questioning why this discount isn’t 50%. Currently, single people in the average Band D property pay £113.60 per month on council tax, but individuals with partners paid just £75.75.