Financial news

• Grant Shapps appears to row back on supermarket petrol prices law

  17-07-2023 20:56
  
  Energy secretary backs voluntary price comparison scheme in meeting with supermarket bosses rather than new lawThe energy secretary, Grant Shapps, appears to have rowed back on plans for a law to force supermarkets to make fuel prices more transparent, instead backing a voluntary price comparison scheme in a meeting with supermarket bosses.Shapps on Monday endorsed the non-mandatory scheme, which had been suggested by the competition regulator, after a summit with retailers that he had promised
  
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• The Guardian view on 'rip-off' degrees: another low-value government intervention | Editorial

  17-07-2023 20:14
  
  Proposals to cap course numbers according to economic outcomes are inegalitarian and misguidedThe Conservative philosopher Michael Oakeshott described one of the boons of student life as the opportunity “to look for some meaning in the things that have greatly moved mankind”. Higher education, he wrote, should be an interval during which the undergraduate will have “learned something to help him lead a more significant life”.On that basis, one suspects that Oakeshott woul
  
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• ‘I only eat once a day’: life under the UK two-child benefits cap

  17-07-2023 20:03
  
  One woman tells how the limit, which Labour has said it will keep, has affected her and her five childrenUK politics live – latest updates“As a single parent, I feel like I’m letting my kids down,” one mother of five affected by the two-child benefits limit, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian. She said she is on antidepressants and skipping meals.About one in 10 children are affected by the two-child benefit limit, a policy introduced by George Osborne that p
  
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• CMA is in danger of securing pyrrhic victory in Call of Duty battle | Nils Pratley

  17-07-2023 19:35
  
  Regulating Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard could make UK games market international outlierThere are still a few more scenes to play out in the tangled regulatory saga of Microsoft’s attempt to buy the Call of Duty creator, Activision Blizzard, for $69bn (£53bn) but, for the first time in months, one can probably say this: the deal is more likely to proceed than not.Look at what’s happened since the UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, said no
  
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• Actors on strike: Hollywood stars join the picket line – in pictures

  17-07-2023 17:02
  
  With a Screen Actors Guild strike joining the recent Writers Guild of America strike, major names such as Olivia Wilde and Susan Sarandon have been showing their support at protests in New York and Los AngelesAs Hollywood actors strike, here’s why A-listers are next in the firing line Continue reading...
  
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• Best savings accounts to switch to this week for ‘maximum’ returns

  17-07-2023 16:29 via express.co.uk
  
  Savers risk "squandering hard-earned money" by failing to cash in on some of the highest interest rates seen in decades.
  
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• Shoppers pay the price of ‘shocking inflation’ as food triples in cost

  17-07-2023 16:14 via express.co.uk
  
  Supermarket products have nearly tripled in price in the past two years as prices went up by 25.8 percent.
  
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• NS&I warns Premium Bonds savers about days they cannot cash in each month

  17-07-2023 16:01 via express.co.uk
  
  Premium Bonds have the advantage that a person can cash them in at any time but this changes in the days leading up to the monthly prize draw.
  
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• Premium Bond prize warning as savers urged to check if they're missing out on millions

  17-07-2023 14:39 via express.co.uk
  
  More than two million Premium Bond prizes still need to be claimed by NS&I savers.
  
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• Pensioners with medical conditions could get hundreds more monthly - see if you're covered

  17-07-2023 14:03 via express.co.uk
  
  Millions of state pensioners could be eligible for further support if they are living with health conditions.
  
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• Pension Credit warning as DWP urges thousands to cash in on 'life-changing' boost

  17-07-2023 13:07 via express.co.uk
  
  Pension Credit is hugely underclaimed with some 850,000 pensioners on low incomes thought to be missing out on the income boost.
  
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• Inflation misery has lost savings accounts over £4,000 on average in past 10 years

  17-07-2023 12:40 via express.co.uk
  
  Latest figures show inflation was 6.27 percent higher than the average savings rate in May 2023.
  
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• ‘I saved £500 on food!’ Woman ‘counting pennies’ shares app that helps slash costs

  17-07-2023 12:35 via express.co.uk
  
  The app allows people to reserve a bag of food from restaurants, cafes, bakeries, or supermarkets for incredibly low prices.
  
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• ‘Joy and Zen’ of cleaning gives brands TikTok-influenced makeovers

  17-07-2023 12:20
  
  With how-to cleaning videos regularly going viral, Unilever says it’s paying more attention to the ‘hedonics’ of its productsHousework used to be a mundane weekend task with a boring choice of fluids and sprays to get the job done. But with how-to videos regularly going viral, cleaning brands are reinventing themselves for the social media age with fashionable colours, sound-effects and tips from “toilet cleaner” influencers.Given the drudgery associated with chores
  
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• 'Devastating' pensions technicality means 260,000 risk inflation hit with no protection

  17-07-2023 12:00 via express.co.uk
  
  Campaigners are calling for compensation as they claim some 260,000 pensioners are deprived of inflation indexation.
  
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• Swiftly resolved? The problems in concert ticketing – and how to fix them

  17-07-2023 11:40
  
  After an outright debacle in the US, European fans of Taylor Swift have still found getting tickets to be a nightmare. Industry experts explain how to improve the experienceLast year, thousands faced disaster when trying to buy tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in the US. Fans said the presale access codes they were given didn’t work properly and the Ticketmaster website crashed repeatedly. As a result, the main sale was cancelled and a group of fans filed a lawsuit accusing the c
  
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• Barclays confirms more bank closures this year - see if your branch is axed in our list

  17-07-2023 11:10 via express.co.uk
  
  The move will see up to 156 Barclays branch closures in 2023 and 2024 as more customers move their business online.
  
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• In the balance: with rates rising, is overpaying your mortgage a good move?

  17-07-2023 10:00
  
  Homeowners are desperate to find ways to reduce the bill they face each month, but should any spare cash be put into the home loan, or a savings account? We weigh up the argumentsRising interest rates have pushed mortgage overpayments to their highest levels in more than 20 years as householders struggle to reduce their debts.Many people with money to spare are choosing to reduce the amount they owe in an effort to tackle the spiralling rates that have left so many others with huge bills once th
  
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• Grant Shapps to meet supermarket bosses over ‘sky high’ petrol prices

  17-07-2023 09:53
  
  Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons to explain why they have failed to pass on savings to customersSupermarket bosses will meet Grant Shapps on Monday after the energy secretary pledged to hold “rip-off retailers” to account for charging motorists “sky high” prices for fuel.Executives from Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – as well as those from the fuel providers BP, Shell and Esso – will come under pressure to explain why they have faile
  
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• UK housing slowdown hits market confidence as asking prices fall

  17-07-2023 08:00
  
  Homeowners’ worries are affecting national mood, poll shows, as figures reveal small drop in pricesHomeowners’ worries about falling house prices are affecting the national mood, according to a poll supported by a separate survey showing a small drop in asking prices.Consumer confidence fell by 1.7 points to 101.6 in June, according to the YouGov/Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) index, a reading that remains in positive territory. The biggest drag on the index was ho
  
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• I don’t qualify for London living rent, so pay more to a private landlord. What are my options?

  17-07-2023 08:00
  
  I thought scheme would be perfect but my £30,000 salary is less than minimum requirementQ This is a long shot but out of my desperation I thought it’s worth at least trying to raise the question, even if you won’t be able to help.I am a single mum and have been renting from a private landlord in Hounslow since 2016, paying £1,100 a month for a one-bedroom flat for most of the time, until the rent was increased to £1,300 a year ago. I thought that the concept of Lond
  
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• How can we get Wizz Air to pay the money it owes us?

  17-07-2023 08:00
  
  We submitted a claim to a dispute resolution scheme, which ruled in our favourIn June 2022, my partner and I were due to fly from London to Athens with Wizz Air, but as we were sitting in the terminal waiting to board, it cancelled the flight.The earliest we could rebook with the airline was three days later, so, to avoid missing a significant chunk of our holiday, we bought a flight with British Airways the following morning for £1,236. We also had to pay £279 for one night’s
  
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• Thanks to Threads, Meta just got bigger. Should we be concerned? | Niamh Dunne

  17-07-2023 07:00
  
  The growing size and market dominance of Facebook’s parent company is coming under greater scrutiny from the US, UK and EUMeta Platforms launched its Threads app earlier this month. In less than five days, it had 100 million new users, surpassing ChatGPT’s recent record as the fastest-growing online platform in history.The company that owns the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms has long faced competition law scrutiny over its acquisition and exercise of market power. It has
  
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• UK installations of heat pumps 10 times lower than in France, report finds

  17-07-2023 06:00
  
  Analysts call on government to make pumps mandatory for all new homes and scale up grants for installation in existing propertiesThe UK is lagging far behind France and other EU countries in installing heat pumps, research has shown, with less than a tenth of the number of installations despite having similar markets.Only 55,000 heat pumps were sold in the UK last year, compared with more than 620,000 in France. Twenty other European countries also had higher installation rates than the UK. Cont
  
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• Has Britain become a country of shoplifters? – podcast

  17-07-2023 04:00
  
  Shopkeepers complain the number of thefts from stores is soaring. Is the cost of living crisis to blame or organised gangs?It could be laundry tablets, lipstick or even baby milk. According to shopkeepers in the UK the number of thefts is rising. The British Retail Consortium said there were 8m instances of theft from shops last year, which cost businesses nearly £1bn. The Office for National Statistics reports a 22% rise.For shop assistants and managers it is a daily struggle, which can b
  
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• Labour would keep two-child benefit cap, says Keir Starmer

  17-07-2023 01:18
  
  Leader says party in power will stick with Tory policy seen as driving low-income families into deeper povertyKeir Starmer has confirmed that a Labour government would keep the Conservatives’ controversial two-child benefits cap, despite unease among his top team and leading academics over the policy, which has been blamed for pushing families into poverty.Starmer said on Sunday that he was “not changing that policy”, when asked if he would scrap it if Labour wins the next elec
  
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