How the Autumn Statement affects the cost of incontinence items

If you keep up with the news, you might’ve noticed a lot of chatter around the Autumn Statement this year. With tax cuts here and price caps there, you may find yourself a little lost as to how it affects you. Will it affect the cost of everyday stuff like your incontinence items? Join us as we take a look through some of the most important bits of Jeremy Hunt’s announcement and relate them back to you as a buyer of incontinence products. 

If you’re still in employment and making national insurance contributions, you might be glad to know there will be a 2% reduction in the national insurance rate. According to The Independent, someone earning £35,000 will save more than £450. In a time when the cost of living crisis is putting a tight squeeze on buying anything, an extra £450 will go a long way. 

To put this figure into perspective for someone experiencing incontinence; our research revealed that someone using five Boots own brand incontinence pads per day would be spending a whopping £419.75 per year.

What might really surprise you is that the £419.75 a year you’re spending at Boots is 92% more expensive than our Vivactive equivalent. In fact, buying your products from Incontinence Choice rather than buying products from shops such as Boots, Superdrug or Morrisons would save you over £200 per year*. 

To make the most out of the national insurance reduction, maximise your savings and switch to buying Vivactive products so that you save even more money each year. 

Self-employed people might be pleased to know that the chancellor has abolished class 2 national insurance contributions (paid by self-employed people earning more than £12,570) from April. It will save the average self-employed worker £192 a year. Again, this potentially relieves some of the burden if you’re regularly buying incontinence items.

If you’re no longer in the world of work and you’re collecting your pension, specifically, your state pension, you’ll see an 8.5% increase from April. The Independent mentions the move will be worth up to £900 a year, putting a substantial amount of money back in your pocket. 

Having a bit of extra wiggle room in your wallet will be useful if you buy your incontinence items from the supermarkets. Between February and July, the UK’s leading supermarkets increased prices on certain incontinence products by up to a staggering 31%**. 

If you want to skip the price hikes and save loads of money, specialist online retailers like us are the way to go. Whilst bigger brands spend budgets on marketing, online-only brands like Vivactive offer the quality of a premium incontinence product, without the premium pricing – saving you up to 48% (11p) on every single pad***.

• Boots: 23p per pad
• Superdrug: 20p per pad
• Morrisons: 17p per pad
• Vivactive: 12p per pad

*based on usage of Boots Staydry Extra Pads - pack of 10, using 5 pads per day, in comparison to Vivactive Lady Discreet Extra – pack of 14, using 5 pads per day when bought on subscription. 

**Increases calculated using priceable.co.uk/ for Tesco’s price increases for Tesco Free Spirit Extra between March 2023 - July 2023, and ASDA’s price increases for ASDA Protective Pads Extra Plus between February 2023 - July 2023.

***based on price per unit for Vivactive Lady Discreet Extra when bought on subscription vs price per unit for similar products from Always, Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, Boots, and Superdrug. Per year amount has been calculated by taking the price per pad with a use of five units per day. Prices correct as of July 2023.