Spike in inflation and threat of rising energy prices likely to add to cost of living crisis, say analysts
Credit card borrowing jumped in June at its fastest annual rate in 17 years as struggling households appeared to rely on extra borrowing to cope with the escalating cost of living.
Credit card borrowing rose by £740m month on month, 13% higher than the year before, according to Bank of England figures that showed the biggest year on year rise since October 2005.
Continue reading...Move could see synchronised strikes in autumn as new prime minister takes office
Britain is facing a wave of coordinated industrial action by striking unions this autumn in protest at the escalating cost of living crisis, the Observer can reveal.
A series of motions tabled by the country’s biggest unions ahead of the TUC congress next month demand that they work closely together to maximise their impact and “win” the fight for inflation-related pay rises.
Continue reading...Nadhim Zahawi says energy price hike will be ‘really hard’ for middle-earners, as well as society’s most vulnerable
People earning around £45,000 a year, as well as those on benefits, could need government help to pay their energy bills this winter, the chancellor has said.
Britain’s energy industry regulator, Ofgem, on Friday confirmed an 80% rise in the consumer price cap from October that will take a typical household’s gas and electricity bill from £1,971 to £3,549 a year.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...President delivers on campaign promise and outlines debt relief measures for those on lower incomes in White House speech
Millions of Americans received welcome news on Wednesday when Joe Biden delivered on a campaign promise to provide $10,000 in student debt forgiveness.
Borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year will be eligible for loan forgiveness, with those whose low incomes qualified them for federal Pell Grants receiving up to $20,000 in relief. About a third of US undergraduate students receive Pell Grants.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Analysis: £15 an hour is ‘logical next step’ amid cost of living crisis but neither Labour or Tories likely to back campaign
• Minimum wage should be increased to £15 an hour as soon as possible, says TUC
The TUC has chosen its moment well. With Britain gripped by a cost of living crisis, the umbrella body for trade unions has called for the minimum wage to be raised from £9.50 to £15 an hour as soon as possible, and by 2030 at the latest.
It is an ambitious target, as the TUC openly accepts. The minimum wage is now 64% of median earnings. A £15-an-hour minimum wage by 2030 would be 75% of median earnings, the highest of any of the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development group of rich countries.
Continue reading...Monthly look finds deepening pessimism about personal finances and prospects for the economy
Consumer confidence in the UK is weaker than during the four major recessions of the past half century as rapidly rising inflation saps morale.
Although the UK is technically yet to enter recession, the latest barometer of sentiment from the data company GfK found the public gloomier than at any time since the survey began in January 1974.
Continue reading...Party aims to get out message on plan to tackle cost of living before new Conservative PM enters No 10
Labour is planning a campaigning blitz in order to take ownership of its new energy price cap policy in case the next Tory leader bows to pressure and cancels the 80% rise expected in October.
Keir Starmer has vowed that his party “wouldn’t let people pay a penny more” on their gas and electricity bills this winter, proposing freezing the price cap at current levels and preventing the average household bill from reaching £3,600.
Continue reading...Supermarket Iceland is part of scheme to offer sums of £25 to £100 to buy everyday items
A zero-interest loans scheme aimed at helping thousands of people who are struggling to put food on the table is being rolled out across the UK.
The initiative, the result of a link-up between the supermarket chain Iceland and a charity-owned lender, is the latest interest-free loans scheme to launch in response to growing concern about households who find themselves at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis and are unable to access or afford existing forms of credit.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer says people won’t pay ‘a penny more’ and that plan would reduce inflation
Keir Starmer has put a beefed-up £8bn windfall tax on energy company profits at the heart of a new plan to stop people having to pay “a penny more” on fuel bills this winter.
The Labour leader confirmed that under his plan the energy price cap would be frozen at the current level, meaning that an expected 80% rise in October – taking an average household bill to about £3,600 – would not go ahead.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lib Dem leader says new PM should let government pay £36bn cost in new ‘energy furlough scheme’
Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak should cancel the £1,400 energy price cap increase in October in a new “energy furlough scheme” and government should absorb the £36bn cost of the hike, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said.
Ed Davey said neither candidate appeared to have any policies that grasped the magnitude of what could happen this autumn. “We are facing a catastrophe this winter, a drop in living standards unlike anything we have seen in my lifetime,” he said.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Increased workloads, class sizes, low pay and Covid legacy are leading to more absences and an exodus of staff
Teachers have spent at least 1.5 million days off work owing to stress and mental health issues, new figures have revealed, amid continued concerns over the increasing pressures they are facing in the classroom.
With long-running concerns about workloads and growing class sizes, new data seen by the Observer suggests that the number of days lost to mental health issues in some council-controlled schools in England and Wales has increased by 7% from the previous year. It is also up by almost a fifth compared to three years ago.
Continue reading...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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