Financial news

• Scotland scraps universal winter fuel payment and prepares for more cuts

  14-08-2024 16:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Shona Robison says decision forced by chancellor’s withdrawal of benefit in other parts of UKScottish ministers have scrapped a universal winter fuel payment and are preparing deep cuts in other spending after the UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, warned of a £22bn black hole.Shona Robison, Scotland’s finance secretary, accused the UK government of preparing for austerity by stealth after she ordered civil servants to rein back on all non-essential spending. Continue reading...
  
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• Planning changed Britain for the better in the postwar years – and it can do the same now | Phineas Harper

  14-08-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Labour’s proposals for reform are a start, but the system needs to be more ambitious, more imaginative and more proactiveNew rules could allow local authorities across England to purchase land for house building at affordable prices, even when landowners don’t want to sell. Under draft legislation, councils would be given more powers to issue compulsory purchase orders, forcing landowners to hand over sites that could host housing schemes in return for “fair but not excessive&r
  
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• Decorating tips and DIY hacks: how to transform a rental home on a budget

  14-08-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Interiors experts share their favourite low-cost ideas, from adding colour with cushions to removeable wallpaperThis is all about creating “a feeling of permanence and warmth”, says Katherine Ormerod, the author of Your Not Forever Home: Affordable, Elevated, Temporary Decor for Renters. Achieving this begins by changing the acoustic environment. “There is nothing more depressing than a square box so empty you can hear a pin drop,” she says. Continue reading...
  
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• Car insurance error took cost to more than £2,000

  14-08-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  General Accident recorded two accidents against his name instead of one, so his policy soaredMy 19-year-old son, CO, passed his driving test in the summer of 2022 but unfortunately had an accident and wrote off his car later that same year.Due to an error, two accidents have been entered on the motor insurance database by his insurer, General Accident, and when his new insurer, WiseDriving, discovered this, it added an extra £860 to his premium, taking the overall cost to £2,000. Con
  
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