Christmas gift spend across the UK is set to fall by 10% to £24.2 billion this year, according to annual research from the shopping comparison site, finder.com.

The average Brit is set to spend £476 each on gifts this year, which is down by £37 from last year’s average of £513.

Londoners are also looking to lower their spending to £595 in 2020. Despite reducing the amount spent on Christmas gifts, Londoners are still the second biggest Christmas spenders this year, £119 (14%) above the UK average.

The new report, Seasonal squeeze: How winter spending is set to change, found the highest spenders were people from Wales (£611). Following Londoners were the Scottish (£555), the Northern Irish (£519) and residents from the North East (£519). Those from the East Midlands are planning to spend the least (£397).

With many suffering financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic, half of Brits (49%) said they are planning to spend less on presents this year. Only 6% said they will spend more and 45% are planning to spend the same.

Once again, there is a wide range of amounts being spent, with 47% planning to spend under £250, and 2% planning to celebrate Christmas but not spend any money on presents.

Finder.com also looked into the reasons why so many people are planning to spend less. The most common reason was that people can’t afford to spend as much due to the impacts of the pandemic –  a fifth (20%) of those who plan to reduce expenditure said this.

A further 15% of Brits are unsure if they will be seeing friends or extended relatives over the festive period so are not buying presents as a result, while 14% don’t see the point in buying as many presents as usual when we face lockdowns and restrictions on our movement.

Across the UK, over a third of the public (35%) don’t intend to buy any Christmas gifts in-store this December, and 16% cited this as a reason for their reduced overall spend.

For the second year in a row, Gen X are set to be the most generous generation when it comes to buying gifts. Their average spend will be £576, compared to £207 for Gen Z’ers, who will once again spend the least on presents.

Younger people are also the most likely to spend less on gifts, with two thirds of Gen Z (67%) and 61% of millennials saying they will do so. Financial concerns appear to be the main driver, with 38% of Gen Z citing financial concerns along with a fifth of millennials (21%).