THE number of people living in Hampshire who struggle to make their money last until payday has dropped according to new figures from a leading insolvency trade body.

The figures from R3 reveal that at the start of the year nearly half of people in the south east said they struggled to make it to payday. Now that figure has dropped to nearly a third at 38 per cent.

The research from R3’s latest Business Distress Index also revealed that more than two-thirds of those struggling to make it to payday blamed the rising cost of food while just over half said that household energy costs was a factor.

James Stares, chairman of the Southern Committee of R3, said: “The cost of living is still too high for people on low incomes. Prices have been rising almost continually since the start of the financial crisis and although the gap has narrowed, wages still haven’t caught up.”