Financial news

• DWP gives state pensioners unexpected £921 payment on Tuesday

  21-12-2025 23:20 via express.co.uk
  The DWP is giving out up to £921 in early payments this Tuesday.
  
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• Martin Lewis confirms £154 from energy firms including British Gas, EDF and EON

  21-12-2025 21:52 via express.co.uk
  Money expert Martin Lewis has issued the full list of energy firms including Octopus Energy, British Gas, OVO and EDF which will pass on the £154 cut.
  
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• Older state pensioners given £440 extra cash in 2026

  21-12-2025 20:53 via express.co.uk
  State pensioners born in these years get a handy £440 extra cash in 2026, it has been confirmed.
  
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• Major UK bank giving out £200 for customers who open 5 types of bank accounts

  21-12-2025 19:52 via express.co.uk
  One of the UK's major banks is giving out £200 to customers who give out their customers who switch their main bank account.
  
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• Increase tax-free Personal Allowance to £28,322 with 5 HMRC rules

  21-12-2025 18:16 via express.co.uk
  EXCLUSIVE: These huge tax-free boosts could see you collect nearly £30,000 in a single year without paying tax on it, when added together.
  
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• Rachel Reeves deals huge tax blow to state pensioners - ‘3 years of pain’

  21-12-2025 17:45 via express.co.uk
  Rachel Reeves' Budget has sparked concern around the state pension.
  
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• Nationwide customers must claim free £50 payment before January

  21-12-2025 17:26 via express.co.uk
  Customers of Nationwide have been given a deadline to claim the money or they could miss out.
  
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• State pensioners born in these years given £575 extra by DWP

  21-12-2025 17:08 via express.co.uk
  State pensioners born in these years will get up to a handy £575 more from the DWP in 2026.
  
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• Tom Gauld on the last-minute Christmas rush at the bookshop – cartoon

  21-12-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
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• Footage shows US forces seizing second oil tanker off Venezuela – video

  21-12-2025 16:53 via theguardian.com
  A video posted on the X account of the US homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, shows aerial footage of a helicopter approaching a vessel at sea. She wrote: 'In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela.' It follows the seizure of another oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on 10 December. Both vessels were heading to AsiaUS intercepts second merchant vessel off co
  
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• There are reasons to be cheerful about UK plc in 2026. Here are four | Heather Stewart

  21-12-2025 12:48 via theguardian.com
  Be it better prospects for consumer spending or the tentative signs of rising productivity, the doom and gloom of 2025 could be behind usStalling growth, sticky inflation and fragile bond markets, the UK’s economic record in 2025 has hardly been one to inspire cheer. But in the spirit of the festive season, here are a few reasons to hope for a happier new year.The first is that, barring external forces, 2026 should not involve a repeat of this year’s fiscal drama. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Bills keep going higher’: community ‘warm spaces’ on the rise in the UK

  21-12-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  As places such as Walworth Living Room step in to help people in need, charities lament lack of government helpWhen Fatma Mustafa began attending Walworth Living Room, a community project in south London, a few years ago, she began to feel like it was her second home. The registered “warm space” is designed to feel like a living room: comfy sofas, a communal table, activities and food in a warm environment.Mustafa, 48, says that on universal credit (UC) it is hard to cover bills and
  
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• ‘The anxiety never disappears’: Monmouth businesses recover from severe flooding

  21-12-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Restaurants, bars and shops are happy to be back after Storm Claudia – but there are fears for the future“It was heart-wrenching,” says Andrea Sholl, recalling the Friday night last month when flood waters started rising inside Bar 125, the restaurant she and her husband, Martin, own in the Welsh border town of Monmouth.The Sholls and a couple of colleagues were still clearing up after a busy evening serving diners when the building started to fill with water at about 1am. Cont
  
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• ‘It can be quite a thankless job’: why driving examiners are quitting

  21-12-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  A staff exodus and a broken booking system are helping to cause huge jams in Britain’s driving test system It has long been a stressful rite of passage for many young people but, in recent years, passing the actual driving test is the easy part. Now, many people seeking a test need to wake up early to snag a date before the bots do and, even then, they are looking at a long and arduous wait.Despite moves from the government to address the issue, an audit report released this week found pla
  
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• ‘Help! I need money. It’s an emergency’: your child’s voicemail that could be a scam

  21-12-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Steps to help combat fraud in which criminals use AI-generated replica of a person’s voice to deceive victimsThe voicemail from your son is alarming. He has just been in a car accident and is highly stressed. He needs money urgently, although it is not clear why, and he gives you some bank details for a transfer.You consider yourself wise to other scams, and have ignored texts claiming to be from him and asking for cash. But you can hear his voice and he is clearly in trouble. Continue rea
  
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