Category Archives: Money

Energy bills could fall to average of £2,053 as Ofgem prepares to lower cap

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But campaigners say it will not give much relief to struggling households as government support ends

Household energy bills could fall to an average of £2,053 a year this summer as the regulator prepares to lower its cap on energy prices next week, according to analysts.

However, campaigners have warned that the lower cap on energy bills, to be announced on Thursday, is unlikely to provide much relief to households that struggled to pay their bills over the winter because the government’s support schemes have come to an end.

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Young Australians now the least likely to attend arts events as cost of living bites

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Report finds over-55s feeling more confident about spending and avoiding Covid-19 – but younger Australians and families are feeling the pinch

Older Australians are attending more live cultural events and spending more on tickets than they were six months ago despite the rising cost of living – but Australians under 35 are feeling the squeeze, attending fewer events and hunting for more freebies.

Inflation is leading half of Australian audiences to spend less on tickets and favour local events, according to a new report released by the Australia Council, which surveyed 1,318 recent attenders of cultural events.

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Ofgem orders three energy firms to pay £8m compensation over late bills

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E.ON Next, Octopus and Good Energy did not supply final bill on time to many households that had switched

Three energy suppliers have been made to pay compensation totalling £8m for failing to supply a final bill on time to more than 100,000 households that had switched provider.

The energy regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, said E.ON Next was ordered to pay £5.5m to almost 95,000 customers because it did not provide them with a final bill within six weeks of moving to another supplier, nor did it pay compensation for the delay within 10 days of the missed deadline.

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One in five workers will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 – IFS

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Jeremy Hunt’s freeze on allowances and thresholds will put a quarter of teachers and one-eighth of nurses in 40% income tax bracket

One in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 as a result of the government’s record freeze on income tax allowances and thresholds, according to a leading thinktank.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said better-paid public sector workers will be among the almost 8 million people – one in five of all taxpayers – who will pay income tax at 40% or above as result of the Treasury’s attempt to reduce the UK’s budget deficit.

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John Lewis boss faces confidence vote as business considers ways to seek new funds

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Sharon White wants to bring in investors to build flats above stores, potentially leading to the sale of stake in the business

The boss of John Lewis will face a confidence vote by staff members on Wednesday as the business considers the option of bringing in outside investment in a change that could threaten the decades-old employee-owned model.

Chairman Sharon White is considering radical ways to bring in up to £2bn to help secure the future of the John Lewis Partnership, including diversifying into building flats for rent above shops, after reporting hefty losses from its chain of department stores and Waitrose supermarkets.

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UK mortgage lender to offer first 100% loans since 2008 crisis

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Skipton building society aims product at renters who cannot save enough for a deposit

A leading lender plans to launch a 100% mortgage aimed at would-be first-time buyers who cannot save for a deposit, the first since the 2008 financial crisis.

Standard home loans where the borrower does not have to put down a deposit used to be fairly commonplace but the last was axed in the wake of the financial crisis.

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Clampdown on cold calls and mass texting technology announced in UK

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New fraud strategy responding to web- and phone-based scams will result in recruitment of 400 new ‘specialist investigators’

Ministers have announced a clampdown on the use of cold calls to sell financial products and on technology which allows mass texting of numerous phones as part of a strategy to combat fraud, now the UK’s most common crime.

The new fraud strategy, a response to the massive growth of web- and phone-based scams, will alsoresult in what was billed as 400 new specialist investigators across police and the National Crime Agency recruited as part of a revamp for how the the crime is investigated.

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US states opposing student loan forgiveness made false claims, files reveal

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Republican states fighting Joe Biden’s plan falsely said they’d be financially impacted by the scheme, debt forgiveness group claims

Newly uncovered documents show that the Republican states fighting Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan have made false claims that they will “suffer injuries”, or rather, be financially impacted by the scheme, a debt forgiveness campaign group has claimed.

The supreme court case that will decide the fate of Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, Nebraska v Biden, rests on one of the plaintiffs, Missouri’s state attorney general, who claims Mohela – as the higher education loan authority of the state of Missouri is known – will be financially affected by the plan for the worse.

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UK house prices rise for first time in eight months

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Nationwide expert hails ‘tentative signs of a recovery’ as buyers’ confidence improves

UK house prices rose by 0.5% in April after seven months of declines, according to Nationwide building society.

The modest increase took the average price of a home to £260,441 last month, from £257,122 in March. Compared with April last year, prices were down 2.7%, after a 3.1% annual decline in March.

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Vulnerable UK women forced into ‘sex for rent’ by cost of living crisis

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Some women are turning to escort work to meet basic housing costs, charities warn

Women are increasingly being forced to engage in “survival sex” because of the cost of living crisis amid worsening conditions for Britain’s most vulnerable.

Charities warn rising costs paired with years of underfunding mean women, including those with trauma and mental health issues, are having to turn to sex in exchange for housing or to meet other basic needs.

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‘I was in tears’: Briton with valid passport barred from flight over Brexit rules

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Experts say it is vital to check you meet EU requirements, or you could risk losing your holiday

Travellers who have not used their passport for a while were this week being urged to dig it out and check it conforms to the post-Brexit rules for entering the EU – because if it doesn’t, you will almost certainly be denied boarding this summer.

Despite previous warnings in Guardian Money and some other publicity, UK travellers trying to enter the Schengen zone are being turned away on a daily basis by airline staff at boarding gates – in most cases because their UK passport was issued more than 10 years ago.

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More fruit and veg shortages to come as weather in UK and Spain hits crops

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Record heat in southern Europe and chilly start to British growing season spell more misery for shoppers

Shoppers have been warned they face more fruit and vegetable shortages, as temperatures in southern Spain soar to unprecedented levels while the UK growing season gets off to a late start because of cold, overcast weather.

Temperatures were expected to reach a new April record of 39C (102F) in parts of Andalucía on Friday amid a long-lasting drought that has affected the production of vegetables in Spain. Córdoba reached a record 38.8C on Thursday.

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Asking price of properties popular with UK first-time buyers hits record

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Average of £224,963 for homes with one or two bedrooms is 2% higher than a year ago, says Rightmove

Those people hoping to get on to the UK housing ladder are facing record asking prices, as calm returns to the sector after last autumn’s mini-budget spooked the markets.

Rightmove, the property portal, reports that the average asking price of properties popular with first-time buyers – those with one or two bedrooms – has hit a record price of £224,963 in the last month. That is 2% higher than a year ago, even though higher mortgage rates have made homes less affordable.

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Harry Styles fans left out of pocket as ticket scams jump 529%

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Huge increase in fraud accompanies record number of UK live entertainment tickets sold in 2022

Concert ticket scams have soared by more than 500% over the last year, with those defrauded losing an average of £110, as criminals target fans of leading acts including Harry Styles and Lewis Capaldi.

The UK’s live music industry has bounced back after the pandemic, but gig-goers have been warned to be on their guard against ticket scams, particularly as the festival season prepares to kick off.

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Real value of UK pay continues to slide as inflation bites

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Wage increases in February outstripped by rises in cost of living, as unemployment rate rises

The real value of UK workers’ pay has continued to fall at the fastest rate for more than a decade, as wage increases in February were outstripped by high inflation.

The Office for National Statistics said annual growth in average pay, excluding bonuses, held steady at 6.6% in the three months to February despite a small rise in unemployment and decline in the number of job vacancies.

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New prepayment meter rules must be properly enforced, says Grant Shapps

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Suppliers in Great Britain have agreed code banning them from installations in homes of over-85s

The energy secretary, Grant Shapps, has urged Ofgem to turn words “into action” to ensure new industry rules designed to protect vulnerable people from being forced on to prepayment meters are properly enforced.

The Guardian revealed on Monday that all energy suppliers in Great Britain had signed up to a code of conduct banning them from putting the meters in the homes of people aged 85 and over as well as those with severe health conditions.

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More house price drops expected despite signs of market stabilising

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Rics monthly poll shows new buyer inquiries in UK are flat as volume of agreed sales falls further

UK house prices are expected to continue to fall despite surveyors’ expectations that the housing market will stabilise over the next 12 months, a study has shown.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (Rics) monthly survey, which measures the proportion of surveyors reporting new buyer inquiries against those saying they fell, found the net balance was -29% in March, almost flat on the -30% recorded in February.

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Actor Leonardo DiCaprio testifies in money laundering and bribery trial

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At the heart of the case is Jho Low, a fugitive accused of being the mastermind behind the Malaysian 1MDB scandal

Leonardo DiCaprio testified in a federal court on Monday morning as part of a trial involving international money laundering, bribery and a prominent rap artist.

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel – a founding member of the iconic 1990s hip-hop group, The Fugees – is accused of funneling money from a fugitive Malaysian financier through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Five years later, prosecutors say he tried to squelch an investigation into that same financier under Donald Trump’s administration.

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Calls for energy ‘social tariff’ as UK government support ends

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Low-income household will spend on average £200 more on bills than last year, Which? warns

Some of the UK’s least well-off households could be left more than £200 worse-off on their energy bills this year because of reduced government support, the consumer body Which? has warned.

Joining calls made by other campaigners, it said the government urgently needed to introduce a “social tariff” for gas and electricity to protect the most financially vulnerable.

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Watchdog to block shareholder payouts if UK water companies miss targets

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Ofwat says new powers will be used if firms fail to reach performance and environmental goals

The UK water regulator is to use new powers to block companies from shareholder payouts if they fail to hit performance and environmental targets.

Ofwat, which in December heavily criticised some of the country’s biggest suppliers over the size of dividend payments relative to their financial performance, said the new rules would also mean water companies would “maintain a higher level of overall financial health”.

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