Financial news

• MPs call for carer’s allowance review as numbers overpaid soars

  22-04-2024 20:38
  
  Figures show 34,500 people incurred overpayments last year after falling foul of rules, landing many with huge debtsMPs have called for a full-scale review of carer’s allowance and an end to harsh benefit rules that have resulted in tens of thousands of unpaid carers being fined huge sums and in some cases prosecuted for minor infringements of earnings limits.The calls came as new official figures showed that the number of unpaid carers incurring fines after inadvertently falling foul of e
  
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• The Guardian view on disability, illness and work: there is no 'sicknote culture' in Britain | Editorial

  22-04-2024 19:48
  
  Rishi Sunak’s latest plan to cut benefits was presented in misleading packagingEven by the low standards of his government, Rishi Sunak’s speech about the benefits system on Friday was disappointing. Worsening public health across the UK is widely recognised to be among the most serious challenges facing the country. For 2.8 million working-age people to be “economically inactive”, as they are, is not a good or sustainable situation. But there is no such thing as a &
  
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• FTSE 100 nears record high amid rate cut hopes; Asking prices for UK homes rise – business live

  22-04-2024 15:38
  
  Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsFootsie turns 40: FTSE 100’s rise, rise and stagnation over four decadesThe City money markets are brought forward their forecast for the Bank of England’s first interest rate cut to August.City investors are pricing in a more rapid easing from the BoE this morning, after its deputy governor Sir Dave Ramsden predicted on Friday that UK inflation could be lower than expected over the next few years. Continue reading...
  
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• Thousands of flights to and from Europe affected by suspected Russian jamming

  22-04-2024 14:49
  
  About 46,000 aircraft have logged GPS problems over Baltic Sea since August, says reportFlights in and out of Britain are among thousands that have been affected by suspected Russian jamming of GPS systems.More than 2,300 Ryanair flights have reported incidents of GPS interference since last August, according to a report, as well as almost 1,400 at Wizz Air, 82 at British Airways and four from easyJet. Continue reading...
  
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• Royal Mail owner’s chair seeks to charm investors after Czech billionaire’s bid

  22-04-2024 14:46
  
  Keith Williams says £3.1bn offer from Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group is opportunistic and undervalues IDSBusiness live – latest updatesThe chair of Royal Mail’s owner is to conduct a charm offensive with investors in an attempt to convince them of its strategy, in the face of a potential £3.1bn hostile takeover by a Czech billionaire.Last week, it emerged that the postal firm’s parent company, International Distributions Services, had received
  
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• Bank of England rate-setter issues new UK inflation update before interest rates decision

  22-04-2024 14:23 via express.co.uk
  
  Dave Ramsden said the UK is moving from being an "outlier" to a "laggard" in terms of inflation, suggesting a gradual convergence with global trends seen in the US and eurozone economies
  
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• Aslef drivers to hold more train strikes in early May

  22-04-2024 13:26
  
  Rolling 24-hour walkouts to halt many services on c2c, Thameslink, Southeastern, LNER and moreTrain drivers will strike again in early May in a series of rolling 24-hour walkouts that will bring many services around Great Britain to a halt.The Aslef union has called a set of strikes from 7 May to 9 May across all the national rail operators contracted to the Department for Transport (DfT), falling within a six-day overtime ban that is also likely to cause severe disruption on some networks. Cont
  
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• TikTok says it will fight US ban or forced sale after bill passes

  22-04-2024 13:02
  
  Platform’s future in US in doubt after House approves bill ordering Bytedance to sell stakeTikTok has said it will fight any ban or forced sale of the app’s US operation in the courts, after the House of Representatives passed legislation targeting the viral video platform.The company’s future in the US was placed in further doubt over the weekend after lawmakers in Washington passed a bill that will ban the app if TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its stak
  
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• Thames Water could raise bills to £627 a year to help fix leaks

  22-04-2024 11:28
  
  Embattled water supplier promises to invest up to £3bn more over the next five yearsBusiness live – latest updatesThames Water could raise bills to as much as £627 a year to pay to fix its leaky network, after promising to invest up to £3bn more over the next five years.The embattled water supplier said on Monday that it had updated its spending plans for 2025 to 2030 after discussions with the industry regulator, Ofwat. Continue reading...
  
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• Elon Musk postpones India trip, citing ‘heavy obligations’ at Tesla

  22-04-2024 11:26
  
  CEO was due to meet Narendra Modi but carmaker is likely to report worst performance in seven yearsBusiness live – latest updatesElon Musk has postponed a trip to India, including a planned meeting with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, after citing “very heavy obligations” at Tesla.The Tesla chief executive was due to visit on 21 April and 22 April, where he was expected to announce an investment of $2-3bn in the country, according to Reuters, with the spending plans focused
  
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• Unregulated ‘identity tracers’ harass people for debts they do not owe

  22-04-2024 10:00
  
  Debt collection agencies in the UK are using fair means or foul to link people to an address where an unpaid debt has been run up, sometimes years after they have moved outThe letter from the debt collection agency arrived out of the blue, and it was intimidating. It informed Joshua Simpson* that he owed £2,212 to Octopus Energy, and accused him of ignoring previous requests to settle the bill. If he did not stump up within 14 days, he was told, further action would be taken to recover the
  
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• Tesco accused of undercutting local shops via its wholesale business

  22-04-2024 09:00
  
  Independent shopkeepers say prices they pay at supermarket’s cash-and-carry arm Booker are often higher than in Tesco storesVillage shopkeepers say Tesco is consistently undercutting them by selling products for less in its stores than via its wholesale business Booker, stoking concerns about the power of the UK’s biggest supermarket chain.Tesco, which has 27% of the UK grocery market, bought the cash-and-carry group in 2017 for £3.7bn, promising that the deal would benefit sho
  
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• Lawsuit in London to allege Grindr shared users’ HIV status with ad firms

  22-04-2024 08:00
  
  High court action will claim US owner allowed access to app users’ private information in breach of UK lawGrindr faces the prospect of legal action by hundreds of users who will allege that the dating app shared highly sensitive personal information, including in some cases their HIV status, with advertising companies.The law firm Austen Hays is to file a claim on Monday in London’s high court alleging that the US owner of the app breached British data protection laws. Continue readi
  
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• How to refurnish your garden for free (or at a low, low cost)

  22-04-2024 08:00
  
  From renovating existing wood and plastic to scouring the local tip for anything that can be recycledGetting your garden ready for the warmer months is not only about planting. We take a look at how to furnish your outdoor space for less. Continue reading...
  
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• Counterfeit barcode stamps furore carries echoes of Horizon scandal

  22-04-2024 08:00
  
  Royal Mail admits its scanners ‘make mistakes’ but stands by the process it uses to detect fakes as ‘robust’I received a card through the post from a friend, along with a demand for a £5 fee, as Royal Mail claimed the barcoded stamp was counterfeit. The joke is she says she was sent this stamp by Royal Mail when she exchanged her old ones for the new barcoded kind under its Stamp Swap Out scheme.SR, Sevenoaks, KentSS of Robertsbridge, East Sussex also received a let
  
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• Ravaged by austerity, chastened by Brexit, how can Britain have a ‘place in the world’ when it’s destitute at home? | Nesrine Malik

  22-04-2024 07:00
  
  Our shabby domestic reality is a far cry from the imperial grandeur of the Foreign Office. Politicians must recognise thisDeciding on what the UK’s place in the world should be has been like watching politicians spin a wheel. Then spinning it again when the option they landed on doesn’t work out. First, it was the imperial power projections of Brexit, the reassertion of Britain’s place in the world unshackled by the limitations of equal partnership with Europe. You don’t
  
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• M&S and Oxfam trial postal donation bags for ‘unwearable’ clothes

  22-04-2024 07:00
  
  Scheme is part of effort to reduce ‘staggering’ quantities of textiles going to landfill or incineratorInstead of throwing stained, ripped and misshapen clothing in the bin, Britons are being asked to stick the dregs of their wardrobe in the post in a trial aimed at tackling the “staggering” quantity of textiles sent to landfill or incinerated each year.A third of consumers do not know what to do with tops, dresses and trousers that can no longer be worn, figures show, wi
  
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• High interest rates could add billions to UK green energy transition, says report

  22-04-2024 01:01
  
  Resolution Foundation calls for fourfold increase in renewable power investment to reduce pressure on household billsA permanent shift to higher interest rates could add billions of pounds to the UK’s renewable energy transition, a leading thinktank has warned.Borrowing costs have soared since the easing of pandemic lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the world’s leading central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation – pushing up the costs of investment
  
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