By Charlotte Beugge

This year will be a poor one for Britain's already-hard pressed retailers if the results of a new survey are correct - because Brits plan to leave their cards in their wallets and save rather than spend.

According to think tank the Resolution Foundation, one in three adults (32%) say they will spend less this year. When the survey was last completed in October, one in five (19%) said they expected to curtail their spending over the next 12 months.

About a quarter of those surveyed said they expected their finances to get worse this year, with those on low to middle incomes the most pessimistic.

The lowest-income households and those in full time work were most likely to cut back, with 38% saying this year will be an austere one for their families. A third of those surveyed said they'd spent less at Christmas than last and a fifth said they can't afford to go on holiday this year.

But this prudence does mean that more people are saving, with those putting away money each month rising from 22% in October to 30% now.

Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, says: "Families that are already hard-pressed are preparing for yet another very tough year ahead, with a big rise in the numbers planning to cut back spending as well as trying to save and reduce their debts."

While retail sales did rise marginally in the run-up to Christmas that was fuelled by aggressive price cutting by shops. Credit card spending in November was down 4% on November 2010, according to the Finance & Leasing Association, which will release the crucial December figures next month.