Jump in borrowers unable to make payments with landlords particularly hit and ‘worse to come’
Mortgage arrears jumped by 13% in the second quarter of the year to the highest level since 2016, according to Bank of England figures that underscore the stress in the UK mortgage market.
Rising interest rates and unemployment over recent months have put pressure on household disposable incomes, forcing some families to cut or suspend their monthly mortgage payments.
Continue reading...Survey finds cost of living crisis has increased both number of children needing extra support and level of need
Schools are handing out clothing and food to children amid the cost of living crisis, while teachers report deteriorating hygiene among pupils as families cut back on brushing teeth, showering and even flushing the toilet.
According to a survey of schools in England, nine out of 10 said they were providing clothing and uniforms for students, while seven out of 10 were giving out food in the form of parcels, food bank provisions, vouchers or subsidised breakfasts.
Continue reading...Sales of health and beauty products help high street stores bounce back after a disappointing start to the summer
Britain’s retailers have received a boost from consumers making themselves beach-ready by increasing their spending on skincare and makeup before their summer holidays, despite the cost of living crisis.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said sales of health and beauty products helped drive up spending on the high street as shoppers made the most of brief spells of sunshine in August, although squeezed consumers were holding back elsewhere.
Continue reading...Compact teaching timetables will allow cash-strapped undergraduates to dovetail jobs with studies
Universities are reducing the number of days students are required to be on campus to enable them to work part-time as they struggle to survive the cost of living crisis.
Compact teaching timetables, where lectures and seminars are scheduled over two or three days rather than dotted throughout the week, are being introduced by a number of institutions. The move makes it easier for the growing number of undergraduates who have to take on part-time jobs to make ends meet. More than half of students now work alongside their studies, up from 45% in 2022 and 34% in 2021.
Continue reading...Half have maximum of a month’s worth of rent put by as costs rise, Shelter survey finds
A third of working tenants in England do not have enough savings to pay rent if they lose their job, putting them at risk of losing their home, according to research by the housing charity Shelter.
Record rents and the rising cost of other household bills are putting tenants’ finances under pressure and mean many are unable to set money aside for emergencies.
Continue reading...A profit warning from housebuilder Crest Nicholson has compounded fears of a housing market slowdown, as Rightmove data reveals a further drop in asking prices
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said that while weak house price data (as was “hardly a surprise”, Crest Nicholson’s profit warning has “laid bare the the scale of the impact of a housing slowdown on the housebuilding sector.”
Sales of new homes have plunged alarmingly and, while not all developers in the space are created equal, the news, allied to Rightmove’s latest reading on the property market, has had a knock-on effect on share prices in the rest of the sector this morning.
The £7,000 drop in the average asking price observed by Rightmove in the last month, allied to a big drop in transaction volumes, is the kind of statistic to make estate agents distinctly uneasy.
Continue reading...Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardest
The cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.
Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Charities call for an end to the outsourcing of public debt as firms’ turnover rises nearly 50% in a year
Bailiffs hired by councils to recover unpaid debts have seen their profits rise to record levels during the cost of living crisis, company filings show.
Newlyn Group, which is hired by councils to recover unpaid traffic fines and council tax, saw its turnover from debt collection increase by 43.8% to £25.8m in the year to December 2022, while its gross profit rose to £15.5m. Company documents describe the figures as Newlyn’s “best ever results”.
Continue reading...Economic experts say it will take until third quarter of 2024 for output to return to pre-pandemic peak
Rishi Sunak will fight the next election against a backdrop of an economy suffering from five years of lost growth and a widening of the gap between the prosperous and less well off parts of Britain, a leading thinktank said on Wednesday.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said it would take until the third quarter of 2024 for UK output to return to its pre-pandemic peak and that there was a 60% risk of the government going to the polls during a recession.
Continue reading...British Retail Consortium and KPMG report shows steep annual drop in volume of sales and a rise in promotional offers
Britain’s hard-pressed retailers are being forced to slash their prices to drum up business after dismal summer weather and ever-higher interest rates combined to depress consumer spending in July.
The monthly health check of high street and online spending patterns from the British Retail Consortium and the consultancy KPMG reported a steep annual drop in the volume of sales and an increasing number of retailers offering promotional offers to woo consumers reluctant to part with their cash.
Continue reading...Rise to 5.25% comes as no surprise but Bank of England’s language will frighten many
If it isn’t hurting it isn’t working. That was the message from John Major, then chancellor, in 1989 during a previous period when interest rates were being used to combat high inflation. And it was the message rammed home by the Bank of England on Thursday.
Any hard-pressed households or struggling business looking for comfort from Threadneedle Street would have been disappointed by news that the pain will continue and is likely to intensify. Interest rates may not yet have peaked.
Continue reading...Other retailers say they are working with government on implementing industry-wide comparison service
Asda has begun publishing local fuel prices at its forecourts online, becoming the first retailer to launch the service following pressure from the competition watchdog and MPs over widened profit margins at the pump.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has called on the government to introduce legislation to ensure fuel retailers provide up-to-date pricing for a new industry-wide comparison service.
Continue reading...Rightmove says average advertised rent in Great Britain is at all-time high of £1,231 a month outside the capital
Private rents in Great Britain have soared to fresh all-time highs and the average amount being asked for outside London is now a third higher than four years ago, figures from Rightmove show.
Despite rental growth running well ahead of inflation, the property website said homes were continuing to be let quickly, with many landlords “still being met with long queues of prospective tenants wanting to view and rent their property”.
Continue reading...Premier Foods reports 21% rise in sales but pledges no more price rises this year
The maker of Mr Kipling cakes, Oxo cubes and Bisto gravy granules has said it believes recent food cost inflation has peaked, and it is not planning any more price rises for its food products for the rest of the year.
The news came as owner Premier Foods reported a 21% increase in sales in the first quarter of the financial year, compared with a year earlier.
Continue reading...The government has offered rises of between 5% and 7% to workers including teachers and doctors
Millions of public sector workers ranging from teachers to prison offers are in line for pay rises of between 5% and 7% as part of a government offer that could head off some strikes.
Before the announcement, ministers had stressed the need for “discipline” at a time of rising inflation. Rishi Sunak said pay increases could not “fuel the fire” of inflation running at 8.7%.
Continue reading...UK capital as ‘huge generator of wealth’ under threat as a third of visual artists struggle to pay for studios
What makes Britain’s capital city so magnetic? Familiar landmarks? The nightlife? Or its financial, fashion and art trades? Maybe. But behind the glamour and money a network of artists is giving London the crucial appeal of a place where new things happen, while working on the edge of poverty.
A survey released on 13 July is to reveal just how close many of London’s visual artists are to giving up on a career that has pushed them to the bottom of the pile. Close to a third of those asked said lack of funds might force them out within five years. And just under half said they cannot afford to build savings or pay into a pension plan.
Continue reading...Labour leader says ‘money is a big factor’ as he also declines to promise 6.5% pay rise for teachers
Keir Starmer has refused to commit to supporting free school meals for all primary school children, as he stuck to a tough fiscal position despite pressure from inside and outside of his party.
The Labour leader also declined to commit to a 6.5% pay rise for teachers as he urged the government to resolve the dispute at the centre of strike action.
Continue reading...Promotion is designed to help parents who are struggling to afford clothes amid cost of living crisis
Families are being offered money off children’s clothes in Marks & Spencer if they donate school uniform hand-me-downs, as part of a push designed to help parents struggling to afford them amid the cost of living crisis.
The second-hand uniform collected will be sold via Oxfam’s high street chain as well as via a new “back-to-school” eBay shop. The tie-up is an extension of M&S’s existing “shwopping” partnership with Oxfam, in which customers drop off old clothing in exchange for loyalty card perks.
Continue reading...UK economy became reliant on cheap money due to the Bank’s actions, warns former permanent secretary to the Treasury
The Bank of England’s quantitative easing money-printing programme enabled high inflation to take root in Britain, while creating “windfall gains” for the rich, a former Treasury mandarin has warned.
Nick Macpherson, who was permanent secretary to the Treasury under the last Labour government and during David Cameron’s premiership, said the central bank’s £895bn bond-buying stimulus programme had gone “too far” and made the inflation shock hitting Britain worse.
Continue reading...Anguished families talk about how the Bank of England’s 13th consecutive interest hike is affecting them – and their fears for the future
Liam, 36, a senior IT manager and married father-of-one from Newcastle upon Tyne, is one of millions of homeowners whose mortgage payments will rise even higher after the Bank of England on Thursday put up the base interest rate to 5% – a 15-year high.
Together with his husband, Liam bought his four-bedroom house in 2019 for £269k, and the couple’s three-year mortgage deal, refixed at 1.64% in 2020 just before the first lockdown, expired in March.
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