Financial news

• English town had seven banks four years ago...soon it will be left with just one

  14-03-2023 23:53 via express.co.uk
  
  Boris Johnson's old seat had a thriving high street a few years back but now shops and facilities are closing.
  
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• Martin Lewis pension warning as little-known fact means savings could go to wrong person

  14-03-2023 23:13 via express.co.uk
  
  Martin Lewis urged people to make sure they nominate who they want their pension to go to when they die.
  
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• Pre-pay energy meters banned 'until firms put house in order'

  14-03-2023 22:21 via express.co.uk
  
  Ofgem's boss told MPs on a joint parliamentary committee he expected a code of practice to be in place by the end of the month.
  
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• ‘Great surprise!’ Martin Lewis tip gets pensioner £7,800 in council tax back payments

  14-03-2023 21:45 via express.co.uk
  
  The 88-year-old woman followed a Martin Lewis tip and was able to secure a council tax discount for severe mental impairment after she had a stroke.
  
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• Why public swimming pools must be saved from closure | Letter

  14-03-2023 18:42
  
  Philippa Edmunds highlights the mental and physical health benefits of swimming, especially for disabled peopleMembers of the government do not care about public pool closures as they can afford to pay for private clubs or even build their own pools, like our prime minister (England has lost almost 400 swimming pools since 2010, 12 March). Swim England estimates that regular swimmers seem 12 years younger than their real age. This is because there are massive mental as well as physical benefits
  
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• Why is it only women who have to juggle jobs and childcare? | Brief letters

  14-03-2023 18:42
  
  Working parents | Rooftop farms | French or English | When a spade is not a spade | Fridge organisationInstead of women doing the juggling yet again (‘I did standup with my baby strapped to me’ – the comics motherhood can’t stop, 14 March), when will we see a story headlined “The men who juggle comedy gigs with childcare”? Give us some male juggling role models please. And please champion the opportunity for all parents to work and care for children. Sheena Ro
  
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• Cost of living payment warning as payment could be 'later' if you 'change bank account'

  14-03-2023 18:42 via express.co.uk
  
  Millions of Britons on low incomes are to receive a £900 cost of living payment over the coming financial year.
  
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• POLL: Should the Government do more to help parents with childcare costs?

  14-03-2023 18:11 via express.co.uk
  
  Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to announce changes to childcare support for parents claiming Universal Credit in his Spring Budget.
  
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• Ban on forced prepayment meters will continue beyond March, says Ofgem

  14-03-2023 17:37
  
  Head of Great Britain’s energy regulator tells MPs installations will not resume until suppliers found to be adhering to code of practiceA ban on the forced installation of prepayment meters by energy companies has been extended beyond the end of March, Ofgem has said.The energy regulator’s chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, told MPs that suppliers would not resume the installations until a code of practice was published and Ofgem was satisfied it was being adhered to. Continue read
  
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• PIP rates are changing next month - how much you can expect from April 2023

  14-03-2023 17:24 via express.co.uk
  
  Personal Independence Payments support many Britons who have a health condition that affects their daily life or ability to get around.
  
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• UK hair salons and chippies among indie shops ‘most hit’ by cost of living crisis

  14-03-2023 16:50
  
  Analysis by Local Data Company finds closures in the most affected categories have been offset by new openings in othersHairdressers, dry cleaners and fish and chip shops were among the independent retailers hardest hit by surging energy bills and a consumer spending squeeze last year, putting a dampener on growth for locally owned businesses during the pandemic.Richard Lambert, the chief executive of the National Hair & Beauty Federation trade body said salons, which were often led by women
  
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• Energy bills could be fixed below £2,500 price guarantee as suppliers ‘bring back deals’

  14-03-2023 16:29 via express.co.uk
  
  Households may be able to get a new deal from their energy supplier which will be below the price the average household will pay, according to experts.
  
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• Human Rights Watch Film Festival reveals unforgettable stories of courage

  14-03-2023 16:15 via express.co.uk
  
  Some of the most compelling films about our world and individual courage and determination will be coming to London's Barbican Cinema from March 16 to 24 as The Human Rights Watch Film Festival screens 10 award-winning, international documentary works in partnership with the cinema and the support of players of People's Postcode Lottery.
  
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• The dream job: why it could be as elusive as your soulmate

  14-03-2023 15:49
  
  Fewer than a third of us think we are in our dream job – and for a growing number, the idea that it even exists is fading fastName: The dream job.Age: It’s been out there ever since hunter-gatherers started grunting about getting into the slash-and-burn agriculture game. Continue reading...
  
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• The biggest lie the rich ever told? That money can’t buy you happiness | Arwa Mahdawi

  14-03-2023 15:40
  
  New studies confirm that having more money can improve our wellbeing. So much for the story powerful people have always tried to pushNews just in: money does buy you happiness. Duh, you might say. Anyone could have told you that; it’s hardly a Nobel-prize winning insight. Well, actually, it kinda is: in 2010, Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel prize-winning economist and psychologist, came out with the theory that there was a monetary “happiness plateau”. Once you hit an annual household
  
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• ‘So many working parents are screwed’: mothers on Britain’s childcare costs

  14-03-2023 15:00
  
  Parents describe plight as pressure builds on Jeremy Hunt to provide help in the budgetJoanna Jayarajan, 41, a self-employed mother of two from London, is one of many thousands of working parents in Britain for whom the current childcare offer simply does not work.She used to work five days a week providing extracurricular activities in schools and nurseries, until she lost her last au pair a year ago, and subsequently a chunk of her income (her wages more than offset the cost of the childcare).
  
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• UK workers: how would an increased tax-free pension allowance affect your career plans?

  14-03-2023 12:28
  
  We’re keen to hear from people in the UK whether a bigger allowance for tax-free pension contributions might entice them to put off retirement or work more hoursChancellor Jeremy Hunt is likely to announce a significant increase of the annual tax-free allowance for pension contributions from £40,000 to £60,000, as well as the so-called lifetime allowance (LTA) – the maximum amount workers can pay into their pension pot tax-free – by more than half a million pounds.W
  
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• UK pay growth slowdown adds to inflation squeeze on households

  14-03-2023 10:48
  
  Employment increased in January as younger employees returned to workplace, says ONSHunt aims to push people back to work just as jobs market weakensUK wage growth slowed in the three months to January, despite inflation staying stubbornly high, prolonging the cost of living crisis affecting millions of households.Wages growth fell to 5.7% from a revised 6% in December to leave the average pay rise 3.2% below the rate of inflation, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Continue reading.
  
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• House price crash averted! Homeowners get mortgage lifeline as 'rates can't rise now'

  14-03-2023 10:07 via express.co.uk
  
  In a bizarre twist, the US banking crisis could end up saving the UK's beleaguered property market from disaster.
  
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• I have got into debt and can’t pay bills due to Royal London delays

  14-03-2023 08:00
  
  The insurer told me it would take up to six weeks to get an annuity, but it’s been 13 and countingIn November I applied for an annuity from Royal London, and was told that the processing time would be four to six weeks.After five weeks I was told there was no progress and that it would take “as long as it took”. I formally complained in January, and have had no reply from that. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘She’d been sending herself payments from me’: Venmo users on discovering secrets on the app

  14-03-2023 06:00
  
  Two in five Venmo users reveal ‘sensitive information’ on the app – we hear from those who discovered something bigOfficially, Venmo is an app for transferring money from one person to another. In the US, where most banks do not offer instant free money transfers, it was revolutionary for simple things like splitting the bill on dinner, or sending their roommates half of the rent. But because the Venmo app has a “home feed”, an endless scroll that shows payments bet
  
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