Financial news

• UK workers: tell us how you feel about working beyond your contracted hours

  19-08-2024 16:56 via theguardian.com
  
  We would like to hear how often people are working overtime and what the proposed employment rights bill could mean for themThe UK government has plans to introduce the ‘right to switch off’ for workers, as part of a new employment rights bill. The new policy would establish a legal barrier between workers’ professional and private lives, meaning employers are expected to only contact employees during an agreed set of hours.An employer repeatedly breaching this agreement by mak
  
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• Thames Water barred from billing customers for pension shortfall

  19-08-2024 16:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Company faces scramble for funds after Ofwat says deficit is for managers and shareholders alone to deal withDebt-laden Thames Water faces a scramble to find further funds as it fights to avoid a government-handled administration, after plans to charge customers £157m to repair a hole in its pension scheme were rejected.The water company, which has said it could run out of cash by next June, had asked the regulator for permission to charge customers £156.6m through bills to plug the
  
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• Energy bills could rise to average of £1,714 a year in Great Britain from October

  19-08-2024 10:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Cornwall Insight analysts predict quarterly price cap through to end of December will increase by 9%Business live – latest updatesEnergy bills across Great Britain could rise by 9% from October to an average of £1,714 a year for the typical household’s gas and electricity, according to forecasts.Analysts at Cornwall Insight, a well-respected energy consultancy, have forecast that the government’s energy price cap will rise for the average dual-fuel energy bill, up from it
  
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• Busy August bank holiday road getaway expected as Britons go ‘day-trip crazy’

  19-08-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Highest traffic levels since 2015 anticipated, though overseas visitors remain below pre-pandemic levelsBritain is set for the busiest August bank holiday getaway on the roads in nearly a decade, with severe delays expected on routes towards the Leeds and Reading music festivals, despite overseas tourists continuing to stay away.An estimated 19.2m leisure journeys by car are expected over the weekend, according to the RAC – the highest level since the breakdown services company began recor
  
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• Blue Light Card ‘reward’ has now turned into £3,941 loss

  19-08-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Discount service for emergency and healthcare workers says it’s ‘here for you’, but won’t refund us after we used it to buy flooring from Carpetright for our new homeIn early June, my partner and I completed the purchase of our first house. It needed new carpets and flooring throughout, and we chose Carpetright because it was offering 6.5% off to customers, such as me, who have a Blue Light Card. The card offers savings to emergency and healthcare workers, and I used mine
  
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• Timelapse: ride the new Sydney Metro from Central to Sydenham, in under 90 seconds - video

  19-08-2024 07:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Tens of thousands of commuters have begun riding on the Sydney Metro’s city section as the first new train line running underneath the city centre in more than four decades opened to the public on Monday morning. Guardian Australia took a quick trip from Central Station to Sydenham to try out the new line Continue reading...
  
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• Victims of Norton Motorcycles pension scandal receive £9.4m compensation

  19-08-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Payments finally received into accounts set up for each victim more than a decade after the fraudVictims of the Norton Motorcycles pension scandal have finally been paid £9.4m in compensation more than a decade after they had seemingly lost their life savings.The move represents some long-awaited good news for more than 200 people who fell victim to what is known as a pensions liberation fraud during 2012 and 2013, when they were tricked into allowing about £11.5m to be transferred o
  
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• Race for UK banks to repay £100bn in Covid loans could help savers

  19-08-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lenders may look to attract more deposits from savers to raise funds to repay Bank of England pandemic-era loansBritain’s biggest banks are facing a deadline to repay more than £100bn of pandemic-era loans, which experts say could benefit savers as banks and building societies compete for customers with attractive rates in a “messy” dash for cash.More than 70 lenders ranging from high street banks and building societies such as HSBC and Nationwide to digital and specialis
  
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• Unpaid carer says DWP’s fraud prosecution threat was ‘like blackmail’

  19-08-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Clemency Jacques told to pay extra £1,300 for accidental carer’s allowance breach or have case sent to CPSA vulnerable unpaid carer threatened by benefits officials with prosecution for fraud unless she agreed to pay a £1,300 penalty for an accidental breach of carer’s allowance earnings rules has described her experience as “like blackmail”.Clemency Jacques, a carer for her disabled son, was told by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) investigators her cas
  
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• ‘I was petrified’: how DWP threatened woman over carer’s allowance breach

  19-08-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Clement Jacques was questioned under caution and agreed to pay penalty for error that could have been spotted sooner Clemency Jacques’s interview under caution by benefits officials is seared into her memory. She was accused of benefits fraud and, utterly bewildered, she tried to defend herself. It did not go well. “I sat there for two hours crying,” she recalls.In a room at the local jobcentre, officials had read her her rights “just like in the movies”. She was wa
  
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• Interest rate cut fuels immediate upturn in UK property market

  19-08-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Figures from Rightmove show inquiries to estate agents since 1 August up 19% compared with a year agoThe first Bank of England rate cut in four years has triggered an immediate upturn in the UK property market, as cheaper mortgages prompt interest among buyers and drive up house prices.Figures from the property website Rightmove show the number of potential buyers contacting estate agents about homes for sale since 1 August jumped by 19% compared with the same time a year ago. Contacts in July w
  
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