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Less than £100 in the savings pot for a quarter of UK adults

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07/11/2022

Less than £100 in the savings pot for a quarter of UK adults

New figures suggest that a quarter of UK adults have less than £100 in savings.

Data from the Money and Pensions Service which commissioned the survey, showed that people are borrowing to cover rising costs, which is causing financial stress in the run up to Christmas.

Debt advisors are expecting a sharp increase in enquiries over the winter as people struggle to pay energy and fuel bills, and deal with the ever-increasing cost of basic food items.

Seek help from debt charities

The research found that of 3,000 people, one in six held no savings. Another 5% had less than £50 and a further 4% had between £50 and £100 set aside.

If those figures reflect the UK as a whole, then millions of people have very little savings.

Energy providers are asking people to seek help from debt charities, if they are unbale to pay their bills.

Talk to loved ones

The Money and Pensions Service runs the Moneyhelper website, which includes a free debt advice locator.

It is running a week-long Talk Money campaign urging people to speak up about their financial position and is encouraging people to plan for the future, taking free debt advice as soon as they realise they could be facing difficulties.

Caroline Siarkiewicz, chief executive of the government-backed organisation. said: “Millions of people find it a challenge to save, and this leaves them vulnerable when sudden expenditure items arise. When you add in the anxiety that they feel with their credit commitments, the weight of that worry can quickly become overwhelming.”

“We want everyone to start the conversation with family or friends and share the burden of any money worries. By dealing with the problem head on, people can discover just how helpful free debt advice can be and see the importance of talking to their creditors early. They can also begin to find a way forward, no matter how difficult their situation might feel.”

UK employees don’t claim £1.3 billion on “petty” expenses

Helen Greaney

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04/11/2022

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UK employees don’t claim £1.3 billion on “petty” expenses

Workers in the UK don’t claim £1.3 billion in expenses that make them look “petty” according to new figures.

Pleo, the business spending solution group, ran a poll that found unclaimed expenses amount to around £245 per employee.

And even despite the cost of basic foods, rising energy and fuel bills, Brits say they don’t wish to claim expenses that would make them look ‘petty’.

But almost half (48%) of those quizzed said they didn’t want the hassle of claiming it, whilst 40% said they felt embarrassed over claiming cash back for certain items.

Many respondents said they wouldn’t bother claiming for expenses worth less than £15, but 37% of staff are shelling out for their companies at least once a week.

Anita Szarek, Pleo’s chief financial officer said: “With rising costs and at a time when every penny matters, these poor processes are biting Brits even harder; over 50 per cent of employees are experiencing increased anxiety towards overall outgoings when making work purchases due to the cost of living crisis.”

She added that firms should move away from “a legacy expense management system to an inexpensive and simple spending solution” allowing people to claim expenses are easily.

West End Christmas intake forecast at £1.5 billion

News
Finance

Helen Greaney

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03/11/2022

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West End Christmas intake forecast at £1.5 billion

West End Christmas shoppers are set to spend £1.5 billion this year – a quarter (24%) up from last year but still almost a third (28%) down on pre-Covid figures.

Retailers are facing a tough festive trading period amidst the rising cost of living and a continued absence of high-spending international travellers, despite it being the first restriction-free Christmas in three years.

The latest figures from New West End Company – which represents 600 retail, restaurant, hotel and property owners across Bond Street, Oxford Street, Regent Street and Mayfair – forecast that sales this peak season will hit £1.5 billion, making up a quarter of all sales across the year.

Footfall to remain at 2019 levels

Footfall figures for the district are also due to remain at 83% of those in 2019.

With footfall expected to remain consistent with last month’s figures, it is suggested that many shoppers are looking to spread their Christmas shopping across the eight week trading period in order to more easily budget.

Dee Corsi, Interim Chief Executive of New West End Company said: “We know that this year’s festive season may be particularly challenging with the continued cost of living increases, and we’re expecting some families to be more cautious with how they spend. However, the West End is much more than shopping and there are plenty of festive experiences – such as our world-renowned lights – which we encourage families to visit and enjoy for free.”

Review of Sunday trading hours needed

“Whilst I’m heartened to see the West End’s recovery continue to grow this winter, for us to succeed in the long-term we need to ensure that the nation’s high street and the wider country remains globally competitive. There are a number of simple routes to achieving this that the Government is overlooking, or simply ignoring. Without an independent assessment of tax-free shopping and a review of Sunday trading hours in London’s International Centres, we risk putting London and the UK at a severe global disadvantage.”

NWEC, along with a growing number of retailers, is calling on the Treasury to reconsider its decision to reverse plans to reintroduce VAT free shopping for international visitors.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Many West End businesses are facing another uncertain winter as they navigate the fallout from the pandemic and the cost of living crisis which is also impacting the cost of doing business. Whilst I’m delighted we can now welcome everyone back to the West End, it is clear more needs to be done to ensure this vital part of the London economy returns to full strength after three challenging years.

“My campaign, ‘Let’s Do London’, the biggest international tourism campaign the city has ever seen, is bringing visitors back to our city.

“The government must do all it can to support businesses and this should start with the reintroduction of tax free shopping for tourists, making London and the UK a more attractive place for international tourists to visit, bringing in far more money to the Treasury than it costs.”

Glencore ordered to pay £281 million over Africa oil bribes

Helen Greaney

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03/11/2022

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Glencore ordered to pay £281 million over Africa oil bribes

A London crown court has ordered a UK subsidiary of Glencore to pay £281 million over an international bribery scandal.

The mining giant’s agents and employees had given bungs worth £25 million to officials in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast between 2011 and 2016 to get access to oil.

Glencore Energy UK, which is wholly owned by the FTSE 100 company Glencore, pleaded guilty to seven corruption offences in June.

The company was ordered to pay a fine of £182.9m by Judge Peter Fraser at Southwark Crown Court, who also approved £93.5m to be confiscated from the company.

Mr Fraser said the offences showed high culpability for the “highly corrosive” offence.

Glencore received a one-third discount on the fine for pleading guilty to the bribery charges, which were brought by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

It is the largest amount that will have ever been recovered through confiscation in the UK, the Serious Fraud Office said.

In addition to the five charges of bribery, the subsidiary admitted charges of failing to prevent agents from using bribes to secure oil contracts in Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan.

The judge said the company “played a leading role in organised and planned unlawful activity”, using agents and corrupting local officials in what was “an abuse of the defendant’s dominant market position”.

For some of the charges, he added, there were not “isolated acts of bribery that occurred on single occasions” but rather “the same techniques were used month after month, for the whole period covered by the relevant count in the indictment”.

Founded in 1974, Glencore is one of the largest multinational commodity trading and mining companies in the world.

Its subsidiaries operate in more than 35 countries, but Glencore’s London office primarily dealt in oil, with one of its crude oil divisions responsible for West Africa.

Glencore has 30 days to make all of the payments.

Major employers to pledge help for fertility treatment

News
Health

Helen Greaney

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02/11/2022

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Natwest, Metro Bank and the Co-op are among major employers backing a pledge to help millions going through fertility treatment.

MP for Cities of London and Westminster, Nickie Aiken has launched the campaign in parliament hoping it will support more than 3.5 million who can’t conceive naturally.

The Fertility Workplace Pledge will help families who require treatments like IVF which is a long process, whilst also giving companies a clear route to becoming a #fertilityambassador and protecting their employees.

More than a third of people undergoing fertility treatment have considered quitting their job. Many feel they cannot tell their employer for fear of being overlooked for a promotion or being made redundant, leading to a “shockingly high” number simply taking sick leave or hiding it from their employers.

Four steps for employers

The new pledge will give employers four simple steps to follow including accessible information about fertility, awareness in the workplace, staff training and more on flexible working.

With a substantial number of people going through fertility treatment, the pledge has been backed by major employers including banks, law firms, supermarkets and charities.

“It’s unacceptable in today’s day and age that the issue is still taboo in the workplace and in society in general,” Ms Aiken said.

“Not only are employees having to deal with multiple cycles, side effects and complications in silence, I’ve heard of women injecting themselves in the toilets at work, just so their bosses or colleagues don’t find out.”

“Economic sense”

She said the pledges make economic sense as companies “will improve their workplace culture and the wellbeing of their staff”, thereby also reducing sick days.

She also believes the plans will reduce retention rates and reduce turnover with no unnecessary burden on the business.

Everyday essentials surge in price as food inflation rises to a record 11.6%

Helen Greaney

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02/11/2022

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Having already been hit with rising fuel and energy bills, shoppers are now being stung at the till will soaring prices for everyday essentials like milk and sugar.

According to new figures from the British Retail Consortium, food inflation soared to a record 11.6% in October.

Overall shop prices are now 6.6 per cent higher than they were this time last year – also a record – but food inflation jumped well above September’s 10.6 per cent and the three-month average rate of 9.7 per cent, according to the Nielsen Shop Price Index.

Fresh food prices are now 13.3 per cent more than last October, up from 12.1 per cent in September.

Non-food inflation accelerated to 4.1 per cent, up from 3.3 per cent.

Downturn in purchases

It had previously been up for sale in September after a major downturn in customer purchases took its toll, amidst the cost of living crisis.

The retailer, which only last year was valued at £775 million, had stopped taking customer orders and paused returns.

It aims to fulfil orders it has already received but is not offering refunds at this stage.

Administrators seeking a sale

Made said the administrators Pricewaterhouse Coopers, would still seek to secure a sale of the firm.

In May, the retailer warned losses could be as much as £35 million for 2022.

The retailer was originally founded by former Lastminute boss Brent Hoberman and investor Ning Li along with several other financiers who have since left the company.

Only a few days ago, Eve Sleep, a mattress company in Camden, entered administration after failing to find a takeover.

Octopus Energy takes on collapsed Bulb

Energy
News

Helen Greaney

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29/10/2022

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Octopus Energy has struck a deal to takeover Bulb Energy’s 1.5 million customers after gaining approval from the government.

The company collapsed amidst the sudden spike in gas prices and despite a year-long sales process by administrators.

Bulb has spent the last year being state-run under ‘special administration’.

Octopus will pay the government to take on Bulb’s existing customers, with taxpayers to benefit from profit share.

Business secretary Grant Shapps said the sale would bring “vital reassurance and energy security to consumers across the country at a time when they need it most.”

Octopus boss Greg Jackson said the firm would work “unbelievably hard to deliver value for taxpayers” as it took over control of Bulb.

“We started off as rivals but shared the same mission – driving a greener, cheaper energy system with people at the heart,” he said.

Octopus Energy will be in touch before system transfer and until then, customers will remain with their current Bulb teams. They expect that the transfer of ownership will not have a significant impact on Octopus customers.

Bulb customers’ credit balances will automatically get transferred to their new account with Octopus together with their existing direct debits.

PM under pressure to expand windfall tax

Helen Greaney

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27/10/2022

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New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is already being urged to expand the windfall tax on energy giants.

Shell swerved the bill despite doubling its profits amidst soaring oil and gas prices.

The multinational made almost £10 billion earlier in the year and is on track for a record year for profit.

But Shell says it shouldn’t pay the windfall because it made investments worth $400m in the UK during its third quarter and this meant, it made no profit here.

The Energy Price Levy – or windfall tax – on the profits of energy firms was announced by Sunak when he was chancellor. He had said it would raise £5 billion in its first year.

Climate activists and opposition MPs are urging the Prime Minister to go further on his windfall tax as oil and gas giants see profits soar over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Energy Profits Levy also has a measure that allows energy companies to apply for tax savings worth 91p of every £1 invested in fossil fuel extraction in the UK.

Downing Street said that any changes to the windfall tax would be a matter for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement.

Oil and gas prices began to rise after the end of Covid lockdowns but have surged since February after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, resulting in bumper profits for energy companies.

Higher oil and gas prices has also fuelled the rise in energy bills for both households and businesses.

The government is limiting gas and electricity bills through the Energy Price Guarantee scheme but instead of lasting for two years as originally planned, it will now end in April.

Picture by Simon Walker / HM Treasury, OGL 3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124686916

Seek help from debt charities

Talk to loved ones

Footfall to remain at 2019 levels

Review of Sunday trading hours needed

Four steps for employers

“Economic sense”

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Downturn in purchases

Administrators seeking a sale

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