One in four UK adults now earns money through a side hustle as rising household costs continue to pressure family finances. Experts have warned that many people may not realise extra earnings from online sales or freelance work can still fall under HMRC scrutiny.
Research suggests side hustles are no longer mainly linked to hobbies or extra spending money. For many households, additional income streams are being used to cover essentials such as rent, food and energy bills as wages struggle to keep pace with living costs.
The warning comes as new figures from ecommerce marketing platform Omnisend estimate that side hustles are contributing around £8.5 billion every month to the UK economy. According to the study, around 25% of British adults now earn supplementary income, while more than half said they had started doing so specifically to help pay household bills and groceries.
Most people are not earning large sums through these activities. The research found that roughly two-thirds of side hustle workers make £500 or less each month after costs, while many earn under £100. Selling unwanted belongings through platforms such as eBay, Vinted and Facebook Marketplace was identified as one of the most common ways people generate extra cash.
Marty Bauer, an ecommerce expert at Omnisend, said the findings reflected the pressure many households are facing. He said that for many people, side hustles are “about making ends meet” rather than building businesses or pursuing personal interests.
Experts Say Side Hustles Reflect Pressure on Household Finances
Mortgage advisers and financial specialists said they were increasingly seeing people depend on multiple income streams. According to Rohit Kohli, director at The Mortgage Stop, the proportion of clients with additional earnings has risen sharply over recent years.
Kohli told Newspage that two or three years ago, perhaps two in 10 clients had extra income streams, while now the figure feels “closer to half”. He said the trend showed that “normal wages are not keeping pace with real life”.
Some advisers also warned that mortgage lenders are often reluctant to include side hustle income when assessing affordability. Hannah Vandervennin, mortgage adviser at The Mortgage Consultancy, said many high street lenders still rely heavily on predictable salaried income during underwriting checks.
According to Vandervennin, the mortgage market “hasn’t caught up”, with many lenders unwilling to fully account for additional earnings from freelance work or online selling.
Financial experts linked the growth in side hustles directly to wider economic pressures. Michelle Lawson, director at Lawson Financial, said rising household costs were pushing more people into additional work. She described the UK as having “some of the longest working hours in Europe, the most expensive bills and the least rewards”.
HMRC Scrutiny Increases as Online Selling Expands
Tax specialists also warned that some people may unknowingly breach HMRC reporting rules. Under current regulations, individuals can earn up to £1,000 annually through trading activities before they are required to declare the income under the Trading Allowance.
Kate Underwood, founder of Kate Underwood HR and Training, said HMRC now receives data directly from online marketplaces including eBay and Vinted. According to Underwood, “flying under the radar isn’t the option it once was”.
The findings also raised concerns about work-life balance as more people use spare time to supplement their income. Mitali Deypurkaystha, author and AI strategist at Impact Icon AI, said the figures pointed to what she described as the “death of downtime in modern Britain”. She said side hustles were once associated with holidays or passion projects, but are now increasingly being used to fund basic household needs such as rent, heating and food bills.
