Responding to the latest Ofgem price cap, Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Today’s price cap rise pushes energy prices to a three year high. It’s another sign of the relentless erosion of living standards across the country: energy bills are simply too high, prices leapfrog incomes, and debt levels continue to…
Money News
Get help if you’re struggling to pay your bills
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/budgeting1/get-help-with-bills/ There are things you can do if you’re struggling to pay your bills – for example your energy bills, rent and council tax. If you owe money and you’re struggling to pay You should speak to the organisations you owe money to – they might let you pay smaller amounts or take a break…
Millions in England to pay higher water bills after suppliers appeal
Anglian, Southern, Wessex and South East allowed to raise charges more than originally permitted by watchdog
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/mar/10/england-higher-water-bills-anglian-southern-wessex-south-east?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other Millions of households in England will pay even higher water bills than previously expected, after the competition regulator gave its final verdict on industry spending plans for the coming years. Five water companies had appealed to the Competition and Markets Authority to let them raise bills higher than was initially allowed by Ofwat, the…
Proposed benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-and-pension-rates-2026-to-2027/proposed-benefit-and-pension-rates-2026-to-2027 Coming into effect in April 2026, note the LCWRA reduced rate is for new claimants only there after. And from rightsnet, https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/resources/benefit-rates#universal_credit
The government has today confirmed increases in the universal credit standard allowance from April 2026
In Budget 2025, the government has set out that – the universal credit standard allowance will increase by more than 6 per cent in April 2026 in line with the Universal Credit Act 2025;other working age benefit rates covered by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statutory review will be increased by 3.8…
CPI inflation has held steady at 3.8% in September.
CPI inflation has held steady at 3.8% in September. This means the Universal Credit standard allowance will be uprated by at least 6.2% in April – a boost worth nearly £6 per week. Had inflation hit 4% in Sept, as widely forecast, UC would have got a lightly bigger 6.4% boost next spring.
No need for a moral panic about the welfare system
https://www.ft.com/content/ee67c643-01bc-41f6-a4e2-c738deef129e Britain is in the grip of a moral panic over welfare benefits. The preferred adjective for the costs of social security benefits to those not yet at pension age is “spiralling”, and it is used as much by Labour ministers as by the opposition. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has expressed horror at 6.5mn working-age…
Consumer price inflation, UK: July 2024
While CPl is back in target range, private rent rises are stubbornly high – with avg annual increases for England unchanged from last month at 8.6% (up £104 per month), and in London at 9.7% (up £186 per month). These are BIG extra amounts to find from your monthly income.. https://x.com/r_earwaker/status/1823642835209384073?t=8idIeaSSSQJTXezLXR8C-A&s=19 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/july2024
Bank of England cuts interest rates to 5% in first reduction since March 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/01/bank-of-england-cuts-interest-rates?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other It is the first reduction in borrowing costs since the Bank began ratcheting up interest rates from a record low of 0.1% in December 2021 to 5.25%, their highest level since before they were slashed in the 2008 financial crisis.
Friends Against Scams.
https://www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/ Friends Against Scams is a National Trading Standards Scams Team initiative which aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams by empowering people to take a stand against scams. What is Friends Against Scams? Friends Against Scams is designed to inspire action, highlight the scale of the problem, change the perceptions…