Category Archives: Money

Many cheered when banks eliminated ATM fees in 2017 – but now it’s a struggle to find one

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Bank-owned ATM numbers are down almost 60%, with many spots now taken by privately-owned machines charging about $3 per withdrawal

It is getting increasingly difficult to find an ATM and harder still to find one that doesn’t charge fees, prompting warnings that the push toward a cashless society is neither equitable nor wise.

Bank-owned ATM numbers are down almost 60% since 2017, according to regulatory data, with many spots now taken by third party-owned machines that typically charge about $3 a withdrawal.

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Unresolved water complaints in England and Wales rise to near-decade high

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Customer disputes over sewage spills, billing mistakes and water meters soar in past year

The number of customer complaints that were unable to be resolved by water companies in England and Wales has risen by almost a third to the highest level in nearly a decade.

There was a 29% increase in 2023-24 in cases escalated to the Consumer Council for Water (CCW) by households that failed to achieve a resolution from their supplier, the watchdog said.

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Martin Lewis says energy price cap is a ‘pants cap’

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Consumer champion urges consumers to head to a price comparison website to find a cheaper deal

The consumer champion Martin Lewis has said that the energy price cap should be called the energy “pants cap” because there are much cheaper energy deals available.

The cap is adjusted every quarter by Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, and imposes a maximum on how much suppliers can charge customers for each unit of gas and electricity. On Tuesday it increased by nearly £150 to the equivalent of £1,717 a year for an average dual-fuel household paying by direct debit.

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UK house prices hit highest annual growth since 2022

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Nationwide says yearly rise in house prices increased by 3.2% in September putting the average home at £266,094

UK house prices are growing at their fastest annual rate for nearly two years as borrowing costs continue to fall on expectations that the Bank of England will keep cutting interest rates, Nationwide has said.

The building society said prices grew by 3.2% in September compared with the same month last year, well above the 2.4% annual growth recorded in August, and the fastest pace since the 4.4% recorded in November 2022.

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GP visits costing Australians more than ever, survey finds

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Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ 2024 report shows rising out-of-pocket costs hit vulnerable with chronic, complex and mental illnesses hardest

Out of pocket costs to visit general practitioners are higher than ever, a survey from the peak body for GPs has found, along with the first indications in a long time of a boost in GP workforce numbers.

The gap has risen to an average $36.86 for a 20-minute consult in 2024, up from $34.91 last year, according to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ 2024 health of the nation report.

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Winter fuel cut savings will be far less than Reeves expected, new analysis finds

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A surge in claims for pension credit will make thousands more people eligible for the payments and other benefits

Rachel Reeves has been warned that her cut to pensioner winter fuel payments risks saving hundreds of millions less than anticipated, in a new blow to her attempts to close the hole in Britain’s finances.

The chancellor and her Treasury team are already re-examining parts of a plan to crack down on non-dom tax status over concerns that it may not raise any money.

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Major fears over Labour’s nursery plan for 9-month-olds in schools

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Early years experts warn of lack of staff, playgrounds and toilets

Primary schools may not have enough space, specialist facilities or staff to deliver the 100,000 new nursery places in England that the government has promised, early childhood experts have warned.

Labour is under intense pressure to create enough places to fulfil its promise of 30 hours of free childcare a week for eligible parents of children from the age of nine months to three years from next September – a commitment inherited from the previous government.

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How the most affluent Australians disproportionately benefit from negative gearing

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Those in the top tax bracket three times more likely to be negatively geared property investor, says economist

Negative gearing helps high-earning Australians the most, with those with income of more than $180,000 annually snaring almost one-quarter of the benefits, despite numbering just 5% of taxpayers.

Data from the Australian Taxation Office showed people who earn more than $180,000 were able to lower their collective tax bill by $1.3bn in 2021-2022 through negative gearing. The $1.3bn was roughly 25% of all the losses on rental properties claimed by taxpayers in that financial year.

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Winter fuel: thousands more could lose benefit if it becomes means tested, data suggests

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A further 175,000 pensioners are likely to stop receiving allowance under such plans, official figures show

A further 175,000 pensioners could lose the winter fuel allowance if the benefit becomes means tested, data suggests.

About 11.6 million people in the UK received the benefit last winter, an increase of 214,000 on the previous year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The overwhelming majority are to have this removed this winter under plans announced by the Labour government to cut spending on the benefit.

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Lack of City of London oversight hurting efforts to halt dirty money, FCA warns

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Bodies responsible for monitoring accounting and legal sectors not doing enough to stop money laundering, watchdog says

A lack of proper oversight across the City of London’s network of lawyers, bookkeepers and accountants is hampering efforts to crack down on dirty money being funnelled through the UK, the City watchdog has warned.

The latest report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) flagged concerns over the work of the UK’s 25 professional bodies – which oversee the accounting and legal sectors – and found that some were spending as little as £73 a year on anti-money laundering supervision or were outsourcing it entirely to third parties.

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Billionaire Guy Hands’ property firm takes housing reforms to European court

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Annington Property fears recent legislation will force it to offload some of the 38,000 freeholds it owns on UK military homes

A property company founded by the billionaire Guy Hands has taken a legal fight with the UK government to the European court of human rights over fears it could lose significant sums as a result of planned housing reforms.

Annington Property, which owns the freehold of about 38,000 military homes, has filed the claim against the housing minister, Angela Rayner, over concerns that the new Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act could force it to off-load the homes well below market value. Last month it launched a challenge in the high court on the same grounds.

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The great divide: are office workers more productive than those at home?

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Amazon has told staff they must return five days a week – but experts don’t all agree that flexible working cuts output

Four years ago when the world of work was upended by the Covid pandemic, confident predictions were made that a permanent shift in remote working would follow the removal of lockdown restrictions.

Much has clearly changed since. Some of the earliest preachers of the brave new teleworking world – including the US tech companies Google and Microsoft – are among the most vocal to repent.

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Teachers in England offered lie-ins to make job more appealing

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Other perks including nine-day fortnight and more planning time at home offered to attract recruits

Teachers in England are being offered a range of incentives to make the job more appealing, including two free periods a week to give them a lie-in, a nine-day fortnight and more planning time at home to help with work-life balance.

An escalating crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is forcing schools and academy trusts to come up with novel ways to attract new recruits into the profession and keep experienced staff in front of classes.

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Nurseries in England say new rules have reduced care to ‘crowd control’

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The first study into Tory shake-up of childcare shows staff are overwhelmed

The first major study into the Conservatives’ controversial shake-up of childcare has revealed that nursery staff are often doing more “crowd control” than education, because of the increased number of children they are looking after.

Since September last year, nurseries in England have been allowed to increase child-to-staff ratios, so one adult now looks after five two-year-olds rather than four. The change was intended to help deliver the party’s pledge of 15 hours’ free childcare a week from this month for working parents of children aged from nine months to three years.

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Airport parking: £100 fines in Bristol ‘could be unenforceable’

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Eagle-eyed reader and consumer solicitor say local bylaws are key to question of enforcement

Are private fines sent by Bristol airport’s contractor to motorists who pick up passengers outside its designated, paid-for, drop-off and pickup zone unenforceable?

It looks as though they may be, if an eagle-eyed Guardian reader and a leading consumer solicitor are correctly interpreting the bylaws that govern the airport.

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Surge in larger homes for sale amid capital gains tax fears, Rightmove says

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Speculation Rachel Reeves to raise tax in budget thought one reason for some homeowners cashing out

Growing speculation about a capital gains tax (CGT) raid in October’s budget appears to have prompted a surge in the number of larger homes being put up for sale, the UK’s biggest property website says.

Rightmove said in the week ending 9 September there had been “a flurry of activity at the top end” of the market. The number of larger homes – defined as four-bedroom detached houses and all five-bedroom and larger properties – being listed for sale in Great Britain was 15% more than in the same period last year. And in the east and south-west of England, which include some of the UK’s most popular coastal and countryside hotspots, the percentage was over 20%.

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Winter fuel allowance cut: who voted for this? – Politics Weekly UK

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The government saw off a rebellion over its plans to cut winter fuel allowance this week. John Harris speaks to Caroline Abrahams from Age UK about what this winter will look like for millions of pensioners losing out. Plus, he talks to columnist Rafael Behr about whether the technocrats (Starmer and Reeves) are taking the Labour party in the wrong direction

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More than a million British workers not having a single day of paid time off, says TUC

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Employees have lost out on holiday pay worth £2bn, according to new trade union research

Workers across Britain have lost out on holiday pay worth £2bn, with more than a million people going without a single day of paid time off, according to new research.

With unions gathering in Brighton this weekend for the first TUC conference under a Labour administration for 15 years, the body revealed new research showing the extent to which workers are being denied holiday pay. Workers are entitled to 28 days paid leave for a typical five-day week.

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Asos to charge shoppers who regularly return large amounts of goods

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Online fashion retailer writes to some customers to say they face £3.95 fee unless they keep up to £40 of order

Asos is to start charging UK shoppers who frequently return large amounts of goods a fee of £3.95 to send items back unless they keep up to £40 worth of their order.

The online fashion retailer, which until now has made free returns of unused items within 14 days an important part of its offer in Britain, has written to some shoppers saying it has updated its “fair use” policy for orders made from 8 October.

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Watchdog to investigate Ticketmaster over Oasis ticket sales

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Competition and Markets Authority to look at how ‘dynamic pricing’ may have been used to increase prices

The competition watchdog has launched an investigation into the Oasis ticket sales fiasco.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will investigate Ticketmaster’s handling of sales for the band’s forthcoming tour, including how “dynamic pricing” may have been used to adjust the price.

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