Too broke to break up: 21% of young adults ‘stayed with partner to manage costs’

One in five young adults have stayed with a partner to make living costs more affordable, a survey has found.

Some 21% of people aged 18 to 40 said they had done this, according to the research published by Lifetime Isa provider OneFamily.

With day-to-day living often costing more for single people, the research also found that single people were less likely to have an emergency financial cushion to fall back on, compared with couples.

Nearly three in 10 (29%) young adults surveyed who are single do not have an emergency fund, compared with one in six (16%) people in a relationship.

Savers who are not in a relationship said they manage to put aside an average of £301 per month – around half the £609 that people who are in a relationship said that they have for monthly savings.

OneFamily CEO Jim Islam said: “These stats are shocking, people are potentially staying in unhappy relationships because the bills are too high to contemplate managing on their own. It’s a tax on being single, made worse by the rising costs of bills.”

Mr Islam, added: “Financial independence is crucial, since it enables freedom. It needs to be something that is talked about in schools alongside good savings habits.”

He said that “building a savings pot absolutely supports financial resilience, which means less vulnerability to the ups and downs of life”.

The financial company’s report quoted 36-year-old Chris Singleton, who lives in Leeds with his partner Emma but had previously been renting by himself in recent years.

Mr Singleton said: “Now we’re both contributing to our savings pot, it’s a shared thing. At the moment our priority is saving to travel. Our next holiday is in September this year and we’re also hoping to buy an old van to convert it.”

Opinium carried out the research for OneFamily in February, among 3,000 people across the UK aged 18 to 40.