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AMENDMENT TO SPEND FIGURES PLEASE IGNORE PREVIOUS MAILINGS 28 April 2002 COULD CHANGES IN SOCIETY BE REFLECTED IN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS? Despite an apparent upsurge in support towards the Monarchy since the sad loss of the Queen Mother, support for the Jubilee is waning, according to a recent study by Lloyds TSB LifeIndex. Over the past month Lloyds TSB LifeIndex research, undertaken to understand life, has been monitoring the nation's mood towards this year's Golden Jubilee celebrations. In the first wave of research conducted in March, 50% were not planning to participate in Jubilee celebrations, 13% had yet to make up their minds and 37% planned to celebrate. The second wave of research, conducted a month later (12-14 April), showed a significant increase of 5% to 55% in the number of people deciding against celebrating and a minor increase of 1% to 38% in favour of celebrating the Jubilee. The Lloyds TSB LifeIndex study showed the average likely spend on Jubilee celebrations in the UK is £40.45. Top spenders are Londoners who are looking to spend an average of £62.84, compared to Scotland where the average is likely to be a mere £14.45. Of those planning to celebrate, 22% will participate in a street party, 25% will be off to the pub and 39% plan to celebrate by staying in with the family. Chris Strange, who is responsible for customer research at Lloyds TSB, said: "Our LifeIndex research shows that attitudes towards celebrating the Jubilee are changing as the event draws nearer. We expected that the death of the Queen Mother would create a resurgence in interest in royal events, prompting more people to plan Jubilee celebrations. However, our research shows the opposite has happened. Although there has been a slight increase in the number of people favouring street parties we don't expect the streets to be as awash with colour this June as they were for the Silver Jubilee in 1977. "Changes in society during the last 50 years have diminished our sense of community spirit. Increased mobility has meant more people now enjoy activities away from their immediate community. Increased spending power may also have played a part with more money being spent on travel and holidays, home improvement and on home entertainment, perhaps reducing participation in social activities within our local communities." In today's society the largest proportion of disposable income is spent on non-essential goods* such as holidays, leisure activities and luxury items. After tax, the average household income has gone up from £190 per week (based at 2001 prices) in 1953 to £409 per week in 20011, with a third of spending in the 1950s going towards grocery items compared to only one sixth in 20011. It's also never been easier to buy the things you need. The introduction of the credit card has allowed us to increase our spending power to such an extent that holidays, leisure activities and social events are far more common and therefore taken for granted these days. In 1952 it was reported that only one in six households had regular use of a car, whereas today the figure has grown dramatically to approximately seven in ten1. This growth in car ownership has enabled people to spread their friendship base away from their immediate communities. Our jobs have a part to play too. More of us are working longer hours today than ever before, with over 14million people working between 31 and 46 hours per week2. Jobs are also taking people away from their home towns and on average we spend over 220 hours a year commuting to and from the work place3, leaving us little spare time to be involved in our communities. These are a few factors that could be taken into consideration when looking into reasons why fewer people than 50 years ago are interested in participating in community based activities such as the Golden Jubilee celebrations. Lloyds TSB LifeIndex also provides information and statistics over the past 50 years on the following areas: · Spending · Social Changes · Working Issues Power The Lloyds TSB LifeIndex is part of the Bank's commitment to better understand its customers' lives in order to be in a better position to meet their needs. It is designed to give the Bank an understanding of what is important in today's society. As well as providing an insight into people's views throughout the year, the Lloyds TSB LifeIndex provides a twice-yearly survey on the mood of the nation. -ends- Notes to Editors · The Lloyds TSB LifeIndex results came from market research by ICM conducted amongst a representative sample of over 1,000 adults · Lloyds TSB LifeIndex was launched in July 1999. Backdated statistics are available on request. · Full national and regional breakdowns are available on request · 1 source: Office of National Statistics · 2 source: Labour Force Survey · 3 source: Department of the Environment Transports - transport statistics. Figure is based on the average journey to work in 2000 being 25 minutes For further information please contact: Emma Wiseman Lloyds TSB Press Office Tel: 020 7356 2495/07789 553484 emma.wiseman@lloydstsb.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/04/28/20020428BIT00010/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/04/28/20020428BIT00010/wkr0002.pdf