The BBC TV licence fee is due to increase by £10.60 in April, leaving many questioning whether they truly need to fork out for the larger expenditure. Anyone who streams live TV or watches BBC iPlayer must pay the licence fee, which is currently £159 – soon to be £169.50 – every year. However, a […]

Claimants of Universal Credit or PIP (Personal Independence Payment) planning their holidays for this year should note the DWP rules regarding travelling abroad. People must inform the DWP of any upcoming trips abroad as this could affect their payments. A person can go away for up to a month but they have to stick to […]

Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea threaten to push up inflation and mortgage rates, experts have suggested. Increased shipping costs caused by Yemen-based Houthi rebels targeting ships on the key route between Europe and Asia could lead to increased prices of goods including clothing, electricals and furniture in the UK. Lewis Shaw, owner of […]

Britons may be able to boost their wealth by tens of thousands of pounds by retirement by opting into a salary sacrifice scheme. Salary sacrifice is a Government-backed scheme designed to help both employees and employers save on tax. An employee agrees to give up part of their salary in exchange for the extra money […]

Eurozone inflation has ticked up sharply, putting hopes of a cut in interest rates in jeopardy, with Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank warning prices could continue to increase for months. The 2.9 percent figure released today was up from the 2.4 percent annual inflation recorded in November – albeit well down from […]

Petrol prices dropped 6p last month, but the RAC warns they’re still too high. The motoring group reported that a litre of unleaded fell from 146.7p to 140.6p, marking the second consecutive monthly drop and bringing petrol prices to a level not seen since early February 2022. Despite this decrease, the RAC insists pump prices […]

A HMRC scam text message is doing the rounds with the fake text telling people they are owed a tax refund of £277. The Fraud Advisory Panel shared a screenshot of the bogus text on Twitter this week. It reads: “HMRC Refund: You have an outstanding Tax refund of £276.74 from 2020 to 2021. Follow […]

Households have received a £16 billion boost from higher interest rates, helped by “forced” saving during the coronavirus pandemic and trends in the mortgage market, a think tank has calculated. But the boost has not been felt evenly by households across the UK and it could also be significantly unwound this year, presenting a fresh […]

More tax increases could be needed to fund the state pension after the move to slash National Insurance, an expert has warned. From tomorrow, the main rate of National Insurance (NI) paid by employees will drop by two percentage points, from 12 percent to 10 percent. Steven Cameron, pension director at Aegon, said: “The cut […]

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, outlined changes to benefits in order to incentivise those on Universal Credit to get into work during his Autumn Statement. Around nine million Britons of working age are currently unemployed. If a claimant does not find work within 18 months of receiving support from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), […]