Financial news

• Worker who mistakenly sent abuse to customer wins unfair dismissal claim

  21-09-2024 21:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Meliesha Jones sacked by Vale Curtains and Blinds after replying ‘he’s a twat’ to customer complaintA worker who was sacked after calling a customer “a twat” in an email she mistakenly sent to him has won more than £5,000 in an unfair dismissal claim.Meliesha Jones, who had been a part-time administrator at Vale Curtains and Blinds since 2021, was dealing with a customer complaint with a colleague when she hit the wrong button. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• No more sticking-plaster solutions: Britain’s green agenda is on solid ground | Joss Garman

  21-09-2024 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Showing climate delivery can be done effectively and fairly would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Keir StarmerA well-intentioned but badly designed and poorly communicated energy policy from the German government, and more recent protests by farmers in France and the Netherlands, have knocked the confidence of European political leaders that environmental progress can be delivered in a way that works for people and enjoys democratic support. Unashamedly popular climate policies from Keir
  
  Read more

• Keir Starmer appears to hate pensioners and this is why I fear he's only just got started

  21-09-2024 19:00 via express.co.uk
  
  Mel Stride explains why he believes the Winter Fuel Payment cut is just the tip of the iceberg in a fight against 'codgers'.
  
  Read more

• Want the family firm to thrive? Then call in the professionals | Torsten Bell

  21-09-2024 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Placeholder CEOs might get the job done but stall when it comes to aiming high, research revealsRegents, stand-ins for monarchs who are too young or incapacitated, feature prominently in the history books. Scotland managed six regents for the young David II during the 1330s. Then there’s Richard III’s brief period as lord protector for (and deposer of?) his 12-year-old nephew, Edward.There’s not much call for regents these days. But new research reminded me that modern ones, of
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• A rise in fuel duty needn’t be a car crash for Rachel Reeves | Phillip Inman

  21-09-2024 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With petrol prices and inflation both low, motorists can absorb a reversing of Sunak’s 5p cut – and it could even boost electric car salesA chancellor desperate for ready cash, as Rachel Reeves finds herself, has one immediate source of new funds: increasing the tax on petrol again.More than 14 years have passed since fuel duty was last increased, in 2010. That’s a legacy of concessions by the Conservatives to the car lobby. Now it’s time to tell drivers that the days of
  
  Read more

• Revealed: MPs accepted more than £700,000 in free gifts and hospitality last year

  21-09-2024 17:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Furore over freebies like tickets to Taylor Swift concerts and football games has led to calls for reform to MPs’ gift declarations and an overhaul of the ministerial codeMore than £700,000 worth of free gifts and hospitality has been received by MPs in the past year for everything from Taylor Swift tickets to helicopter rides, new analysis reveals.The figures, based on data from the MPs’ register of interests between September 2023 and August 2024, come during a growing furore
  
  Read more

• Rachel Reeves unleashing war on pensioners as next blow 'in the pipeline' revealed

  21-09-2024 17:07 via express.co.uk
  
  Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly mulling a shake-up of pension tax reliefs ahead of the Budget.
  
  Read more

• HMRC issues £1,000 warning to people and adds ‘Check if you need to register’

  21-09-2024 15:36 via express.co.uk
  
  You don't need to wait for Government correspondence to fill out a Self Assessment tax return, HMRC warns.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Former Harrods worker says manager ‘brushed off’ Fayed complaints

  21-09-2024 15:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Woman says store’s former owner told her he was her ‘boyfriend’ and kissed her on the foreheadA former Harrods worker has criticised Harrods for the way it handled the alleged misconduct of the store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed.Five women have alleged they were raped by Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, and a number of others have alleged sexual misconduct. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Anger as Labour 'points finger at very wealthy pensioners' for winter fuel payment chop

  21-09-2024 14:54 via express.co.uk
  
  Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: 'I think most people will accept that the very wealthiest shouldn't be in receipt of a free allowance'
  
  Read more

• Maybe Rachel Reeves can lend some of her freebies to OAPs so they don't freeze to death

  21-09-2024 14:47 via express.co.uk
  
  For years the left have been calling for Labour to wage war on what they call "unearned wealth". Next month, chancellor Rachel Reeves will oblige. Has she no shame?
  
  Read more

• UK public washing their clothes too often, says major laundry brand

  21-09-2024 13:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Ecover, backed by activist model Lily Cole, calls for fewer washes to reduce microplastics and other sources of water pollutionA company that sells cleaning products is giving customers some surprising advice: wash your clothes less.Ecover is calling for a change in our laundry habits after research found people felt under societal pressure to wash their clothes more frequently, and were unaware that this could damage the environment. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• How tycoons and oligarchs are pushing corporate spies out into the cold

  21-09-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Business intelligence firms who compile reports on corporate subjects find their targets are fighting backIn John le Carré’s landmark espionage novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, undersecretary Oliver Lacon ­outlines the obvious ­problem in unearthing a traitor at the heart of the British secret service. “It’s the oldest question of all, George,” he muses to the hero, George Smiley. “Who can spy on the spies? Who can smell out the fox without running wi
  
  Read more

• WASPI double boost as MPs pledge support for compensation

  21-09-2024 12:59 via express.co.uk
  
  A landmark report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has set out that the women should get payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950
  
  Read more

• I'm a solicitor - couples make this one costly mistake when going through divorce

  21-09-2024 12:31 via express.co.uk
  
  Going through a divorce is often a stressful process but making sure your assets are protected is an important part of securing your future.
  
  Read more

• Best ways to buy and how to complain: what I’ve learned as a consumer champion

  21-09-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As I leave my desk after 20 years of tackling readers’ problems, here are my top tips for trouble-free financesAfter 20 years of writing for the Guardian – at first on Jobs & Money and more recently as one of the Consumer Champions – this is my last week before I cycle off into the sunset. Over that period I have seen, and reported on, the 2008 financial crash, the boom in bank fraud – and, more recently, the crazy time in people’s finances that was Covid.This i
  
  Read more

• UK savers urged to find better deals after several banks cut interest rates

  21-09-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Bank of England may have kept rates steady this week but TSB, NS&I and others have all announced cutsInterest rates may have been kept on hold this week, but the direction of travel is clearly downwards, with savers being urged to check the returns they are getting and switch to a better deal now if their rate isn’t competitive.On Thursday, the Bank of England kept its base rate at 5% after cutting it in August, though many economists think there will be another cut, to 4.75%, at the n
  
  Read more

• State pensioners handed £233 after losing Winter Fuel Payment

  21-09-2024 09:00 via express.co.uk
  
  More financial support with energy bills is available for state pensioners losing their £300 Winter Fuel Payment.
  
  Read more

• Economist Group cancer conference cancelled due to links to tobacco firms

  21-09-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Speakers and attendees pull out of Economist Impact event over ties to Philip Morris and Japan TobaccoA division of the publisher of the Economist has been forced to cancel a high-profile cancer conference at the last minute amid a backlash from speakers and attendees over its association with the tobacco companies behind brands including Marlboro and Benson & Hedges.Economist Impact, part of the Economist Group, which owns the eponymous weekly business magazine, was due to hold i
  
  Read more

• Can a traffic-free Oxford Street match its global rivals?

  21-09-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The London mayor has big plans for the famous shopping street. We look at how similar schemes in Paris, New York and Barcelona have faredFrom the rooftop of London’s original John Lewis, the mayor, Sadiq Khan, never knowingly underselling himself, laid out the changes in store for the Oxford Street below: “We want this street to overperform … We want a public realm that is world class, green, healthy and safe – but also increases footfall in the shops.”Unveiling a
  
  Read more

• Martin Lewis urges Brits to check if they can cut energy bills by 7% - with days left

  21-09-2024 08:00 via express.co.uk
  
  The Money Saving Expert said that households on certain tariffs could have to pay more now to have a far smaller bill later
  
  Read more

• Supermarket convenience stores ‘charge up to 21% more than their larger branches’

  21-09-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Which? study of 42 popular items such as pasta and milk revealed price difference even greater for loyalty card membersShopping at a local convenience store can cost you up to a fifth more than buying the same items at larger branches of the supermarket chains who own them, according to a new study – with the difference even greater for loyalty scheme members.Which? compared the cost of 42 popular grocery items – from cheese and pasta to blueberries and ice-cream – on three occ
  
  Read more

• Fayed’s predatory behaviour was an open secret when I worked at Harrods. His victims deserve to be heard | Fiona Sturges

  21-09-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Though Fayed cannot be brought to justice, there is power in those who suffered being able to express themselves and condemn him publiclyWhen I heard about the death of the 94-year-old billionaire businessman and former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed last year, my response wasn’t exactly charitable. Good riddance, I thought, to my one-time employer who had presided over a workplace rife with misogyny and abuse. I was 18 and had just finished my A-levels when I worked at the store in the 199
  
  Read more

• Labour’s tax red lines have left Reeves with ‘one hand tied’ for budget, says IFS

  21-09-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Ruling out of rises to four main taxes could lead chancellor to make ‘economically damaging’ decisions, says thinktankRachel Reeves has “one hand tied behind her back” as she considers how to balance the books next month in her first budget, a leading economic thinktank has said, after she ruled out increases to the four main taxes that account for 75% of all revenues.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Labour had promised not to raise income tax, national insuran
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!