Summer ended with a small increase in consumer confidence, with around half of people reporting treating themselves to a meal out or new clothing in the last three months, says KPMG UK’s latest Consumer Pulse survey.

Original research of 3,000 UK consumers showed that 56% of people feel financially secure – rising +1 percentage point from the previous quarter.

Being able to afford their bills (51%), having savings or investments for unforeseen circumstances (44%) and being able to afford their monthly spend on groceries and other everyday items (38%) are the top three reasons why people currently feel secure in their personal finances.

While the majority of people (55%) believe that the UK economy is worsening, the measure fell from 60% last quarter and continued the downward trend from 62% when the year began. Meanwhile, those who feel the economy is improving increased by +1 percentage point to 13%.

Economic pessimism continues to impact spending, but the scale of impact reduced this quarter.

Among those feeling that the UK economy is worsening, over half (51%) report reducing everyday spend as a precaution (55% in Q2), 36% saving more (37% in Q2) and 33% deferring big-ticket purchases (38% in Q2).

“Healthy levels of summer spending activity were driven by resilient consumer financial confidence, the warm weather and coincided with marginal improvement regarding perception of the UK economy,” said Linda Ellett, UK Head of Consumer, Retail and Leisure for KPMG UK.

“The final quarter of the year, including Black Friday and Christmas, is key for retailers – who will be hoping to improve further upon the early summer months. But macroeconomic challenges, both domestically and globally, remain, as does the impact of an ongoing majority of consumers feeling the UK economy is worsening.”

Looking to the next three months, over a third (37%) of consumers said they were unlikely to spend more than during the previous quarter. Spending on a holiday is the most common big-ticket spending plan for 28%, but 42% said they had no plans for larger spending at all.