20% have less than €150 a month after bills

One-in-five working adults has less than €150 left over each month after their essential bills are paid.

And half of those adults haven’t a cent left once these bills are paid, with the other half left with just €100 to €150 in disposable income.

Austerity is biting hard in many houses, with four out of 10 households putting off paying a bill on time because they can’t afford it — a figure that is up slightly on May.

But according to the Irish League of Credit Union’s “What’s Left” tracker, the proverbial green shoots are appearing as, compared to the first half of this year, there are 24,200 less people with no disposable income at the end of the month.

Kieron Brennan, the ILCU chief executive, said: “Once again we see further and continued signs of disposable income stabilisation into the second half of 2013.”

The research shows that the average disposable income has increased by 9% from €188 in May to €205 this month for an adult. However, this figure could drop again as fuel costs will increase over the winter months.

It also shows that four in 10 Irish people are saving on a monthly basis with the average amount they are saving increasing to €187.

However, according to Mr Brennan, this does not mean that many others are not stretched to their limits trying to manage the household budgets.

“This round of research shows us that nearly 40% are still struggling to pay their bills on time and have to sacrifice spending in other ways to get back on top of things,” he said.

The September tracker showed that since May:

- The average net income per household has increased to €2,604;

- 1.18m adults have €50 or less left at the end of the month, down by 20,700 people;

- 98% of people have sacrificed spending in other areas to pay for utilities;

- 60% of adults are still not in a position to save money month on month.