Financial news

• Boots cuts price of morning-after pill after weeks of controversy over costs

  31-08-2017 23:39
  High street chemist will sell a cheaper generic version of the pill in all its stores by October, but it is still more expensive than at competitor pharmaciesBoots has cut the price of emergency contraception weeks after it sparked outrage by refusing to do so in case it encouraged women to have sex.The high street chemist announced on Thursday that it had started to sell a new, cheaper generic version of the morning-after pill in 38 of its stores and would make it available in all 2,500 by Octo
  
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• Aberdeen joins councils raising money by selling bonds as cuts bite

  31-08-2017 21:49
  Panel of economic experts hired, but move raises risk speculators could bet against council should oil prices wobbleAberdeen city council has taken the unusual step of appointing economic advisers to assess its prospects for the bond market, as a growing number of local authorities turn to the world of high finance amid central government cuts.Councillors in Scotland’s third largest city will get advice from three experts on the state of the regional economy, and will help the panel with t
  
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• John Lewis rolls out scheme to take the hassle out of finding a tradesperson

  31-08-2017 21:00
  Pool of independent plumbers, electricians, decorators and gardeners, who passed a ‘rigorous’ process, have signed up to the Home Solutions serviceCan they fix it? John Lewis reckons it knows someone who can. Middle England’s favourite retailer has signed up an army of plumbers, electricians, decorators and gardeners to offer a new home maintenance service launching next month.The retailer, which has built up one of the most trusted brands in the UK partly thanks to its highly
  
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• Bank of England's talk of rate rise while winding down QE beggars belief | Phillip Inman

  31-08-2017 21:00
  MPC members do themselves little credit, as withdrawing the only stimulant that still works at this time would be negligent Michael Saunders surprised many when he voted in June for the Bank of England to increase interest rates. The former Citigroup economist, who joined the Bank’s nine-strong monetary policy committee (MPC) last year as one of the four external members, warned that the UK economy was performing well enough for inflation to become a challenge. The response, he said, shoul
  
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• Doorstep lender Morses swipes customers and agents from Provident

  31-08-2017 20:54
  Financial firm, which charges interest of up to 82% on cash loans, says customer numbers are up by 12% in past yearBritain’s second-largest doorstep lender has recorded a big increase in lending after poaching customers and agents from rival Provident Financial.Morses Club, which offers cash loans from £100 to £1,000 to people in financial difficulty, said its gross loan book had grown 12% in the six months to the end of August. Customer numbers were also up by 12% to 233,000.
  
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• Brexit healthcare deal is ‘good news for pensioners’

  31-08-2017 19:54 via theguardian.com
  David Davis says negotiators have agreed to maintain reciprocal healthcare for British and EU retirees affected by Brexit
  British pensioners who have retired to other EU countries will continue to have their healthcare paid for by the NHS post-Brexit, after a deal in principle was agreed by negotiators in Brussels.In one of the few advances made in discussions about EU citizens’ future rights, the Brexit secretary, David Davis, said there had been agreement on four key areas, including rec
  
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• Profit margins at big six energy firms hit highest level on record

  31-08-2017 19:21
  Average pre-tax margin rose to 4.48% in 2016 despite falling wholesale and environmental costs, says OfgemProfit margins at the big six energy providers have hit the highest level on record, according to the regulator, Ofgem, in data that comes just weeks after British Gas raised some prices by 12.5%.The Ofgem data reveals that the average pre-tax margin among the major power companies rose to 4.48% in 2016, up from 4.15% the year before and just 0.89% in 2009, when the regulator began collectin
  
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• UK gambling industry now takes £14bn a year from punters – report

  31-08-2017 19:18
  Annual sum gambling firms win from their customers has risen 65% since gambling laws were liberalised a decade agoThe British gambling industry has ballooned in size over the past decade, thanks to the growth of online games and the liberalisation of gambling laws by Tony Blair’s government.The Gambling Act 2005, which came into force in 2007, opened the door to TV advertising for sports betting, online casinos and poker, giving betting companies direct access to people’s homes. Cont
  
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• Popularity of cash Isas collapses in space of year

  31-08-2017 18:58
  Tax rule changes and low interest rates blamed after amount invested fell from £58.7bn in 2015-16 to £39.2bn last yearCash Isa savings accounts have collapsed in popularity, with a £20bn fall in the amount invested in the space of 12 months.A combination of changes to tax rules and continuing low interest rates have been blamed for the 33% decrease in the amounts being invested in cash Isas during the 2016-17 tax year. Revenue & Customs said the total fell to £39.2bn,
  
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• Why the rise of the robots could allow humans to flourish again | Giles Fraser: Loose canon

  31-08-2017 17:05 via theguardian.com
  Nobody’s job is safe. But a citizen’s income in a post-work world could see us avoid the Terminator scenario and return to pre-capitalist sources of valueSemi-automated truck convoys are soon to be tested on UK roads. Perhaps, one day, human beings won’t be allowed to drive. Perhaps it will be considered too risky to put an easily distractible human being in charge of a ton or more of fast-moving metal. Future generations may think of driving as terrifyingly retro.It’s ye
  
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• Share your best money saving tips

  31-08-2017 16:35
  Big or small, time honored or unique, we’d like your tips on how to save moneyFrom collecting coupons to joining cashback sites and switching energy providers, there are tactics available for those seeking to reduce weekly bills and improve their personal finances. If you have come up with any crafty tactics for saving money, and are the kind of person who gets a warm fuzzy feeling from sharing such tips with fellow citizens, you’ve landed on the right webpage.
  Whatever stage of life
  
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• Ryanair chief: May should be doing Brexit deal, not drinking sake

  31-08-2017 16:30
  Michael O’Leary warns Brexit puts flights between UK and Europe at risk, saying EU27 can use issue to ‘stick it to the British’Ryanair has stepped up warnings that flights between the UK and Europe are imperilled by Brexit, with the airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary claiming that the prospect of disrupting aviation was one of the quickest and best ways for the EU27 to “stick it to the British”.O’Leary said that only “panic and fudge&r
  
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• Asda urged to drop equal pay challenge and raise shop-floor wages

  31-08-2017 16:20
  Employment appeal tribunal backs ruling that store staff do jobs comparable to mostly male warehouse workers
  Asda is being urged to drop a legal action and increase pay on the shop floor after the supermarket lost its appeal against an equal pay claim from 15,000 workers.On Thursday, the employment appeal tribunal backed an October ruling that workers in roles across the shop floor can compare their jobs with those done predominantly by men for a higher wage in Asda’s warehouses. Continue
  
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• Refund for table shattering and rise in personal borrowing cools

  31-08-2017 15:44 via theguardian.com
  Plus, sky-high pension deficits among UK top companies, and a parking firm meets its legal match over fine• Sign up to receive Money Talks each weekHello, and welcome to this week’s Money Talks – a roundup of the week’s biggest stories and some things you may have missed. Continue reading...
  
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• Euro is about to plunge EU economy back into crisis, fear top policymakers

  31-08-2017 14:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  EUROZONE monetary policymakers are frantic the euro is about derail the bloc's fragile economic recovery, according to sources at the European Central Bank .
  
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• Pension warning: Retirees are making this BIG mistake with income drawdown policies

  31-08-2017 14:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  RETIREES are putting their pension income at risk by making key errors with income drawdown strategies, experts have warned.
  
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• North Korea latest - Markets shrug off World War 3 fears as FTSE 100 and Dow Jones RISE

  31-08-2017 12:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  NORTH Korea nuclear war worries were brushed off by investors on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 and global stock markets rising higher.
  
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• Royal Mail and Provident Financial DUMPED from the FTSE 100

  31-08-2017 12:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Royal Mail and Provident Financial have crashed out of Britain's top stock index the FTSE 100 in a humiliating relegation for the troubled firms.
  
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• Pound v US dollar: GBP falls as UK consumer confidence remains gloomy despite August rise

  31-08-2017 12:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  A SLUMP in the UK’s business outlook has cancelled out the positive effect of rising consumer confidence to keep the pound on the decline versus the US dollar this morning.
  
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• The pre-teen superstars stopping disease in Iraqi refugee camps

  31-08-2017 10:00
  Junior health workers are raising awareness about handwashing and drinking clean water to prevent diseases like polio, typhoid, measles and choleraIn the 45-degree heat and billowing dust of Kapartu camp in northern Iraq, staying neat and tidy presents a challenge, but there is one group of people who are always immaculately turned out and easily identifiable as humanitarians: a collection of children aged 11 to 13 who take great pride in their roles as junior health workers (JHWs). Smartly dres
  
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• POUND LIVE: Pound dips as Bank of England policymaker urges interest rate rise

  31-08-2017 09:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound edged down against the euro as a key Bank of England policymaker called for an immediate interest rate rise.
  
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• Living on the breadline makes me cry. I dread to think how it affects my children | Kathleen Kerridge

  31-08-2017 09:30 via theguardian.com
  It’s shocking that so many young people worry about parents’ ability to pay the bills – but on the poverty line, childhood is increasingly an unaffordable luxuryChildren are at their unhappiest since 2010. This headline, from the Good Childhood Report, was one I glanced over at first. I rolled my eyes a little bit. Children have never had it so good, what with all their human rights, better life chances, better health. They have it all, right?Wrong. Continue reading...
  
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• REVEALED: State pension losers and winners from major National Insurance changes

  31-08-2017 09:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  SELF-employed workers face huge changes to National Insurance that will affect their entitlement to the state pension from next year, experts have warned.
  
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• Slowdown in consumer credit growth spells trouble for UK economy | Phillip Inman

  31-08-2017 08:37
  With investment in the doldrums and exports ailing, the shopper is the linchpin stopping the economy from stallingIt is too early to tell whether the slowdown in UK consumer credit growth in July was the result of waning confidence among the nation’s shoppers or the restraints placed on banks by the regulator.Either way it spells trouble for an economy dependent on consumer spending to drive GDP growth. With business investment in the doldrums and exports unable to make much headway despit
  
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• Westfield has put an expiry date on our wedding gift voucher

  31-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  When we went to pick it up from the east London shopping centre, we were told it was too lateWe were given a £50 gift voucher for Westfield Stratford City shopping centre as a wedding present in May last year, which had to be collected from the centre. We went to pick it up this June and were told it had expired the previous month. Nowhere on the details of the order confirmation form, which we had to take along as proof of purchase, does it mention a 12-month deadline.Continue reading...
  
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• Forget stereotypes ... how to recruit talented, neurodiverse employees

  31-08-2017 08:00
  By improving workplaces and recruitment, firms can attract neurodiverse talent. Entrepreneurs and workers with autism and dyspraxia offer adviceJames Neely used to work in an open-plan office. His journey to work included busy, stressful train journeys. “I tended to isolate myself from people, so I had my headphones on and turned up all day and I wore a cap to limit my peripheral vision and reduce the light,” he says. However, the 33-year-old data analyst struggled to find the quiet
  
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• Report slams distribution of government's £9bn childcare spending

  31-08-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Report finds that just £250m of the fund will go to the UK’s most disadvantaged families, with most of the money going to wealthier homesChildren from families most in need will receive a startlingly low proportion of government spending on early years education and childcare, a report warns.The report, which was published on Thursday by Labour MP Lucy Powell and the Social Market Foundation (SMF), found that a mere £250m worth of the extra £9bn of spending over the next
  
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• The Co-operative group emerge as favourites to buy-out Nisa Retail

  31-08-2017 01:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Co-op Group has emerged as the favourite to buy the convenience shops chain Nisa Retail after entering exclusive talks.
  
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• Luton rated Britain's worst airport for fifth year in a row

  31-08-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  ‘Penny-pinching’ Bedfordshire hub receives lowest ever score in annual poll of passengers carried out by Which?Luton airport has been named the worst in the UK for the fifth consecutive year, after passengers branded it a “rip-off” charging penny-pinching prices despite constant overcrowding.The Bedfordshire hub received a score of 29%, the lowest ever in the annual airports survey carried out by Which? consumer group.Continue reading...
  
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• The Gym Group pumps up half-year profits as councils cut back

  31-08-2017 01:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Gym Group is eyeing the gap left by councils shutting facilities as it pumped half-year profits up by nearly 42 per cent.
  
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• Pound V euro: GBP tumbles as Eurozone inflation accelerates faster than expected

  31-08-2017 01:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound fell from a weekly high against the euro this morning as the Eurozone's inflation rate rose faster than expected in July.
  
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