Cost of living crisis - Savings help cope with emergencies

Given the ongoing cost of living crisis, financial uncertainty is at a high for many, and Brits are now more than ever looking at how they can make informed decisions with their money and ensure they’ve enough cash saved for emergencies, such as sudden job loss. To find out how much an emergency fund should be across the UK, money.co.uk calculated the average costs of: six months of rent, monthly expenditure, childcare and council tax to determine an emergency savings fund amount for each UK region. These are the recommended saving amounts in the UK - the first figure for each region refers to the six-month emergency savings fund (with childcare); the second figure refers to the average actual savings regionally and the third figure refers to the additional savings needed (with childcare). Money.co.uk found that people living in London will need to put aside the most money for an emergency fund. A reliable emergency savings fund would total £28,430 without childcare, or £32,509 with childcare. Research found that on average, a person living in London has £28,978 already saved, enough to support a family without childcare for six months, although a family requiring child care would need to save an extra £3,530. The South East follows in second place, where recommended savings are £25,675 without childcare, or £29,000 with. On average, people in the South East have approximately £9,886 already saved, meaning that a family requiring child care would need to save around an additional £19,114 to pay for six months of living. The East of England requires the third highest emergency savings fund. The recommended savings here are £22,600 without childcare, or £25,737 with. People living in the East of England have, on average, around £8,032 already saved, so a family requiring child care would need to save approximately £17,703 more. Data was commissioned by www.money.co.uk/savings-accounts.htm site. Of the following regions, the first cost for each region shows the region's six-month emergency savings fund in £; the second the actual average savings in £ and ther third figure shows the additional savings needed by people in each of the regions in £. London - £32,509.21; £28,978.40; £3,530.81 South East - £29,000.08; £9,885.55; £19,114.53 East of England - £25,736.73; £8,032.85; £17,703.88 South West - £25,401.80; £7,140.18; £18,261.62 East Midlands - £22,666.77; £6,438.48; £16,228.29 North West - £22,327.59; £9,156.79; £13,170.80 West Midlands - £21,956.88; £13,318.35; £8,638.53 Yorks & Humberside - £21,567.45; £8,406.60; £13,160.85 Scotland - £20,295.04; £7,297.19; £12,997.85 Wales - £20,139.64; £9,648.91; £10,490.73 North East - £20,052.12; £10,022.58; £10,029.54 Northern Ireland - £19,392.96; £6,710; £12,682.96