Category Archives: Consumer affairs

Public idea of dignified living is miles from what some can afford this winter

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Wifi, Netflix, a laptop, presents for family and the odd night out with friends are in this year’s Minimum Income Standard

What constitutes a no-fripperies minimum standard of living in the UK in 2022? It’s not just sufficient money for three meals a day, suitable clothes, heating and a roof over one’s head, according to the public, but enough for a Netflix subscription, a smart speaker, the odd night out with friends and a supply of Covid masks.

It’s about being able to afford things such as a smartphone, a laptop, wifi, a cooker, a TV, the odd alcoholic drink and also enough to take an unostentatious week’s holiday away in the UK once a year, treat yourself to an occasional takeaway, buy presents for the children and family, and make charitable donations.

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Energy price inflation: how the UK and EU could fight it

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What can be done about rising prices – and would nationalising gas and electricity firms help?

Governments across Europe have been funding relief measures to help people with energy and petrol bills. The UK announced a £15bn package in May, largely in the form of cash payments to households, while EU member states are estimated to have spent €280bn (£243m) over the past year on everything from subsidies and price caps to one-off payments. But bills for households and businesses are reaching unsustainable levels, with further increases expected next year, sharpening the debate over whether ministers should be intervening directly in energy markets to help bring prices down.

As Russia threatens to further reduce gas supplies, politicians in Italy, Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic are among those pushing for coordinated action. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Monday Brussels was considering measures to be adopted by the 27 member states. What are the options?

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UK food price inflation hits highest level since global financial crash

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Prices in shops rose by 5.1% in August, British Retail Consortium finds, as the war in Ukraine pushes up prices up for farmers

The rapidly rising price of food including milk, margarine and crisps pushed August shop price inflation to the highest levels since 2008 as the war in Ukraine raised costs for farmers.

Prices in shops rose by 5.1%, a big increase from 4.4% in July, as food producers passed on increases in the cost of fertiliser, wheat and vegetable oils, large amounts of which are produced in Ukraine and Russia, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and market research firm NielsenIQ.

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Gypsies and Travellers fear missing out on energy bills support

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Government urged to ensure thousands living in park homes in Great Britain receive £400 payments

Gypsy and Traveller groups are calling on the government to ensure thousands of households living in park homes are not excluded from its energy bills support scheme this winter as bills soar.

The scheme will pay out a total of £400 to all households in Great Britain with a domestic electricity connection between October and March, with monthly payments administered by their energy supplier.

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Rising energy bills put millions of UK households at risk of winter catastrophe

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Experts say 80% price cap increase will plunge people into destitution and cause avoidable deaths

Millions of households are bracing for a winter catastrophe of rising energy bills that experts say will plunge people into destitution and cause an increase in avoidable deaths without urgent government support.

After Britain’s energy industry regulator confirmed an 80% rise in the consumer price cap from October that will take a typical household’s gas and electricity bill to £3,549 a year, there were stark warnings about its potentially devastating effects.

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Truss and Sunak clash on energy costs at penultimate Tory hustings

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Truss remained loath to ‘bung money’ at those struggling to afford spiralling bills, Sunak said millions may be forced into destitution

Liz Truss has doubled down on her reluctance to “bung more money” at those who will struggle to afford spiralling energy costs this winter while Rishi Sunak said millions may be forced into destitution without extra support, as the pair clashed at the penultimate hustings of the Conservative leadership race.

With energy regulator Ofgem expected to raise the price cap to £3,500 a year from October for the average dual-fuel tariff, Truss warned the issue of spiralling fuel costs was not a short-term one. “If people think this problem is going to be over in six months they are not right. This is a long term problem,” she told the audience in Norfolk.

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British Gas to donate 10% of profits to struggling customers

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Company’s owner, Centrica, says extra support will begin in autumn and last for the ‘duration of the energy crisis’

British Gas has announced it will donate 10% of its profits to help its poorer customers manage rising gas and electricity bills for the “duration of the energy crisis”.

Ahead of an expected rise in the price cap on energy on Friday, the company’s owner, Centrica, said it would donate £12m this autumn into an existing support fund. Grants of £250 to £750 would be given to poorer customers, and the pledge to donate 10% of profits every six months would last for the duration of the energy crisis “backdated to the start of 2022”, it added.

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Economists demand urgent action on energy bills to avert ‘catastrophe’

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Millions of vulnerable people will be harmed without radical policies to ease cost of living crisis, say experts

Physical and financial harm will be caused to millions of vulnerable families unless the government takes action to avert a winter catastrophe by cutting energy bills, leading economists have warned.

In the run-up to the announcement of the new energy price cap tomorrow the Resolution Foundation thinktank said radical policies such as price freezes, solidarity taxes or lower social tariffs were needed to prevent the cost of living crisis worsening.

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Next PM could face £23bn autumn spend to cover £900 rise in energy bills

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Energy prices have soared above prediction and subsidies will require significant further spending

Ministers could face an additional £23bn price tag for covering extra household energy costs of £900 this autumn, rising to £90bn next year, a new paper by the Institute for Government has found.

The paper, looking at the options for Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak in No 10, also warned the government should plan for prolonged rises in energy bills by going a lot further in making public appeals to use less gas – for example by informing consumers about the cost savings from turning down thermostats – and in committing to building more energy efficient homes to help protect consumers.

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Cost of living crisis: some low-paid workers miss out on £326 help

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People on universal credit have payments reduced to zero because of a quirk in the system

Some low-paid workers on universal credit have missed out on the government’s first cost of living payment because of payroll quirks that removed their benefit entitlement during the key window set by the government.

“I was going to use it to load up my gas meter, get ahead on my electricity and fill up the freezer,” said David Evans, a 55-year-old IT apprentice, of his plans for the £326 payment that in recent weeks has been landing in the bank accounts of struggling Britons.

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Tory leadership: Sunak frustrated government attempts to realise benefits of Brexit, Truss allies claim – UK politics live

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Latest updates: foreign secretary’s supporters accuse former chancellor of resisting changes to EU regulation as sixth hustings looms

Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has used an article in today’s Guardian to propose that the government should halt the increases in the energy price cap planned for later this year and next year and, if necessary, take energy companies into public ownership to ensure that they keep prices down.

Alongside the Lib Dem plan, with which it has some similarities (they also want a price cap freeze, and more money raised through a windfall tax), it is the most radical and ambitious proposal on the table to tackle the energy bills crisis.

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UK energy bills – six ways to reduce the impact of soaring prices

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Be it a loft insulation drive or a lower price cap, there are many ways to help – but action must be swift and extensive

The UK government has been urged to take further action to alleviate the impact of soaring energy prices, and there are a number of measures it could take.

Any rescue package would need to be swift and extensive to prevent households being plunged into poverty this winter as home energy prices surge. Ministers will also need to dig deep to prevent more businesses hit by rising energy costs from defaulting on loans and declaring themselves bankrupt.

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UK braces for even higher bills as Norway threatens electricity export cut

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Water levels in southern Norway so low domestic consumers may be prioritised over international customers

British consumers could face even higher bills and potential energy shortages this winter after Norway threatened to ration electricity exports.

The UK receives hydroelectric power from Norway through a subsea interconnector cable running beneath the North Sea.

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Gordon Brown: ‘Set emergency budget or risk a winter of dire poverty’

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Former PM has warned of a financial timebomb awaiting families as Labour plans a major intervention to address crisis

Boris Johnson and the Tory leadership candidates should agree an immediate emergency budget tackling the spiralling cost of living, Gordon Brown has said, or risk “condemning millions of vulnerable and blameless children and pensioners to a winter of dire poverty”.

The intervention by the former prime minister comes as new figures seen by the Observer show that more than 4 million households are on course to spend a quarter of their net income on energy.

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Almost 6m UK households ‘struggling to pay telecoms bills’

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Which? says people are cutting food and clothes spending to pay for mobile, broadband and landline

Almost 6 million UK households are struggling to pay their mobile, landline and broadband bills, with the cost of living squeeze forcing many to cut back on essentials such as food and clothes, cancel or change a service, or miss payments to stay connected.

A report from the consumer group Which? estimates that 5.7 million households have experienced at least one “affordability issue” in April, as cash-strapped homes struggle to cope with soaring bills and other costs.

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More than one in eight UK households fear they have no way of making more cuts

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As energy bills soar, survey shows almost half of homes are worried about paying rent or mortgage

More than one in eight UK households fear they have no further way to make cuts to afford a sharp increase in annual energy bills this autumn.

More than a quarter of households earning less than £20,000 worry they will be unable to cope with higher bills, with families in Yorkshire, the south-west and Northern Ireland the least confident about covering their costs, according to the latest rebuilding Britain index of 20,000 people by Legal & General.

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School uniforms: UK parents urged to buy early amid supply problems

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Supplier warns of Covid-related disruption, amid calls for VAT on over-14s’ school clothes to be axed

The holidays have only just begun for many children but families are being warned not to leave uniform shopping to the last minute because of potential shortages of official school blazers and jumpers.

The specialist retailer School Uniform Direct, which supplies scores of UK schools, has written to thousands of customers urging them to place orders for branded clothing as soon as possible.

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Cost of living crisis: new website speeds up help for Britons facing hardship

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Online platform cuts the time it takes to get grants to needy households as their bills soar

With the cost of living crisis worsening, it is vital that those facing hardship can access financial help quickly.

A new one-stop online platform that allows people in need to receive grants and other support from charities and local authorities claims it is massively speeding up the process – in some cases cutting the time it can take from several weeks or even months to only a few days.

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Europe could face energy rationing as ‘really tough winter’ looms, Shell boss warns

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Ben van Beurden says Ukraine war fallout means big rise in bills and possible need to ration supplies

European consumers could face the prospect of energy rationing this winter as costs continue to soar amid the risk of Russia cutting off gas supplies, Shell’s chief executive has said.

“It will be a really tough winter in Europe,” said Ben van Beurden, speaking at the Aurora spring conference in Oxford on Thursday. “We will all face very significant escalation in energy prices. In the worst case, Europe will need to ration its energy consumption.”

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Boohoo starts charging shoppers £1.99 to return items

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Processing of unwanted items has become increasing problem for retailers since Covid online boom

The fast fashion website Boohoo has become the latest online retailer to start charging shoppers to return items.

Boohoo customers will now have to pay £1.99 when they send unwanted goods back, and the cost will be deducted from the amount they are refunded.

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