Major job provider accused of trying to get jobseeker to sign off on false work invoice

Woman claims APM threatened to cut off her jobseeker payment after she refused to sign false time sheet. APM denies any wrongdoing

One of the country’s biggest job providers is accused of pressuring a jobseeker to sign a false description of her employment status, an alleged deception which would have triggered a publicly funded payment to the company.

The Victorian woman, who did not want to be named, claims the employment service provider APM asked her to sign paperwork confirming she had worked four weeks when she had actually spent months on sick leave. APM has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

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Heatmaps show UK homebuyers look most at artwork and furniture before making decision

Zoopla puts average viewing time at 49 minutes, as eye tracking study shows focus on mirrors and plants, not floors and walls

A fifth of homebuyers spend less than 20 minutes looking at a home before deciding to make an offer, with viewers more likely to focus on artwork and furniture than structural features, research suggests.

The average time for looking around a property before settling on buying it was about 49 minutes, according to a survey of people who have attended viewings in the past five years.

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Jobs market and pay growth are cooling off, large UK employers and recruiters warn

Survey reveals net fall in permanent jobs last month amid lengthening slowdown in employment market

The UK’s largest employers have warned the jobs market is cooling amid a slowdown in wage growth in July and a fall in vacancies, extending an almost two-year downturn in hiring demand for permanent staff.

Figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the accountancy firm KPMG showed a fall in permanent staff placements in July as large employers made more redundancies and hired fewer new starters.

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UK pensioners left on ‘financial cliff edge’ by cuts to winter fuel payments

New analysis shows tens of thousands of older people may end up worse off than those who retain energy benefit

Tens of thousands of pensioners are on a financial cliff edge because of the government’s decision to radically restrict winter fuel payments, a new analysis has revealed. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, opted to introduce a means test for the payments, with only those on pension credit qualifying, stating it was one of the “difficult decisions” she had to make, as she accused the Tories of leaving £22bn in unfunded commitments.

The decision removes the payments from about 10 million pensioners in England and Wales. Officials said this weekend the policy would be among a package of measures “to fix the foundations of the economy”.

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Don’t be fooled by the interest rate cut – higher rates are here to stay

Mortgage payers and business owners vainly hope cut to 5% signals return to pre-pandemic era of cheap borrowing

Mortgage payers and business owners will be hopeful that a cut in interest rates to 5% by the Bank of England this week signals a return to the pre-pandemic era of low borrowing costs.

Unless much lower interest bills arrive soon, thousands of homeowners and businesses could be forced to sell up.

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Wealth taxes could raise £10bn to help plug Tory budget hole, say economists

Reforms to inheritance and capital gains taxes could reduce £20bn shortfall and combat UK’s widening wealth gap

Rachel Reeves could quickly find around £10bn a year to plug half of the fiscal hole left by the Conservatives if she were to raise taxes on soaring levels of unearned wealth, according to leading economists.

New research by the independent Resolution Foundation published today finds that Britain is a country of “booming wealth” but “busted wealth taxes”, leaving ample potential for the chancellor of the exchequer to raise desperately needed funds by raising taxes on the richest.

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Future of 1p and 2p pieces in doubt after Treasury orders no new coins

Treasury expected not to place order with Royal Mint in coming years

Treasury officials have for the first time ordered no new coins to be minted for general circulation, putting the future of the 1p and 2p pieces in doubt.

The government has not placed an annual order with the Royal Mint and does not expect to order any new 1p and 2p coins in the coming years, the Evening Standard reported.

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Surprise jump in number of UK people mainly using cash for daily spending

Banking body reports increase to 1.5m in 2023 – the highest since before Covid – despite move to cashless society

There has been an unexpected jump in the number of people who mainly use notes and coins for their daily spending, despite the UK moving closer to becoming a cashless society, a report has found.

The volume of contactless and mobile payments increased last year, while the number of cash payments resumed a downward trajectory after enjoying a brief comeback in 2022, the banking body UK Finance noted in its annual report on the UK payments market.

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‘It’s put so many families in poverty’: people on the impact of the two-child benefit cap

As Labour backbenchers call for Keir Starmer to scrap the cap, families reveal their struggles as a result of the two-child limit

Keir Starmer has launched a cross-government taskforce to tackle child poverty, but backbench Labour MPs are calling for the government to go further and scrap the two-child benefit cap. Here people reveal how the limit affects their families.

Alicia* is a mother of four children in Newcastle, and is separated from their father. She does everything she can to avoid going to collect a parcel from a food bank. She will often buy a big sack of potatoes and cook them in different ways throughout the week – jacket potatoes, fried chips, wedges – so her kids get variation. She often skips breakfast and lunch herself.

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Southern Water boss handed £183,000 bonus despite huge rise in bills

Award for Lawrence Gosden comes despite criticism over business plan and attempts to increase bills by 73%

The chief executive of Southern Water has received a £183,000 bonus despite submitting a business plan that has been criticised by the industry regulator and attempting to raise bills more than any other English water company.

Lawrence Gosden received the bonus as part of a £764,000 pay package, up from £428,000 a year earlier, according to the company’s annual report.

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US consumer prices unexpectedly fell in June, drawing Fed closer to cutting interest rates

Joe Biden says in statement that falling prices and rising wages are ‘thanks to my economic plan’

Prices unexpectedly fell in the US last month, lifting hopes that the Federal Reserve is on the verge of cutting interest rates.

As inflation fell 0.1% on a monthly basis in June, having been unchanged in May, the consumer price index’s annual increase was also the smallest in a year.

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A newly discovered letter by Thomas Jefferson shows ‘a regular guy with financial burdens’

The note, valued at $40,000, is for sale in honor of Fourth of July, also the 198th anniversary of the president’s death

He came from one of America’s wealthiest landowning families, and was ranked the fourth richest US president in a recent study. But Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president, harbored a secret during his time in the White House: he was almost constantly in penury, and struggled to pay his food bills, servants and other household expenses.

The revelation comes in a previously unpublished letter that Jefferson, who was president from 1801 to 1809, wrote to a friend who acted as his financial agent in October 1802.

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Next UK government poised to benefit from fall in inflation and fuel prices

Pressure on household finances eases as shop price rises slow to 0.2% and petrol costs drop for second month

Britain’s next government is poised to benefit from easing pressure on household finances after a slowdown in inflation in stores and a fall in fuel prices, but costs remain “too expensive” for many families.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that annual UK shop price inflation cooled last month to 0.2%, down from 0.6% in May – the slowest pace since October 2021 – as retailers cut the prices of many of their key products, including butter and coffee.

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Unpaid UK carers ‘face financial hit that can last decades’

Loss of income, curbs on benefits and soaring bills are piling pressure on people caring for family members

People who look after family members free of charge are taking a huge hit to their finances which could continue into their retirement as they find themselves unable to balance paid work with their caring commitments.

Recent analysis of official figures by the financial firm Just Retirement found seven in 10 people who were receiving carer’s allowance were not in paid work, and missing out on earnings and private pension contributions.

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Council tax: final-year students warned they could get surprise bills

Students are exempt during their course but as soon as they finish their final year they are liable to pay

Final-year university students have been urged to check that they do not owe council tax for the last few weeks of their rented accommodation.

While students are exempt from the tax during the course, they are liable to pay as soon as they finish their final year.

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Cost of toothpaste can double through the year in UK, study finds

Research discovers the cost of some healthcare products fluctuates wildly, according to time of year you buy them

Dentists agree that brushing twice a day is the best way to look after your teeth. But depending on what month it is, dental hygiene can be a dramatically more expensive habit to maintain.

New research has shown that the cost of a tube of toothpaste at some times of the year can be double its price at other times. The price of other popular health products such as Gillette razors can also double depending when they are bought.

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Tory welfare reform cost working-age families thousands while pensioners benefited – report

Retirees or those on disability benefit are biggest annual winners, while large families are £4,600 worse off, says Resolution Foundation

Pensioners and people on disability benefits are the winners from radical changes to the welfare system made by the Tories over the last decade, while working-age families are losing out by thousands of pounds every year, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation.

The Conservatives’ 14-year overhaul of social security has shifted spending away from children and housing to supporting elderly people, and broken the link between entitlement and need for some of the poorest households in the country, the report says.

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Vehicle damage claims in Wales fall 20% since speed limit cut to 20mph, says insurer

Campaigners say lower speeds reduce casualties but scheme has since been amended to give people more choice to rescind limits

Vehicle damage claims in Wales have fallen by 20% at one leading car insurer since the nationwide 20mph speed limit was introduced there last September.

Wales was one of the first countries in the world, and the first nation in the UK, to introduce legislation for a default 20mph speed limit in built-up areas last year.

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Starmer says Sunak ‘revealed character’ by lying about Labour’s tax plans – UK politics live

Labour leader says PM’s tactics in Tuesday night TV debate show he is dishonest when put under pressure

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has been fined for speeding after being caught doing 73mph in a 60mph zone on the M1, PA Media reports. PA says:

Details of the case, dealt with under an administrative system called the single justice procedure, were revealed by the Evening Standard newspaper.

Davey wrote a letter of explanation in which he said he had tried to pay a speeding ticket issued by Bedfordshire police after he was caught speeding on the M1 near Caddington.

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Asda now the most expensive UK supermarket to buy fuel, study shows

Chain once prided itself on selling the cheapest fuel but RAC analysis shows it is now the dearest

Asda is now the UK’s most expensive supermarket fuel seller, research shows, after the retailer’s private owners ditched its long-held pledge to be the cheapest on the market.

The retailer, which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and their private equity partner TDR Capital in 2021, charged an average 2.1p a litre more for unleaded petrol than rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons at the end of May, according to an analysis by the RAC motoring organisation.

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