Posted by Jake on Thursday, September 05, 2013 with No comments | Labels: Roundup
20% of British
Workers earning 'Below Living Wage'
The think tank The Resolution Foundation said it meant that
a total of 4.8 million Britons, 20% of all UK employees, were paid at a level
below the rate deemed necessary for a basic standard of living, an increase
from 3.4 million in 2009. They said: "Britain has a sorry story to tell on
low pay. Only a handful of our close competitors do worse and the large
majority have much lower rates of low pay - sometimes half as much." SKY NEWS
Bank of England:
consumers turn to loans, credit cards and overdrafts
Data from the Bank of England, released on Friday, show that
the 3.5% annual increase in consumer credit, which includes borrowing on
overdrafts, credit cards and unsecured loans, was the most rapid increase in
four-and-a-half years. The fresh evidence of consumers' willingness to turn to
costly borrowing on personal loans – which charge average rates of more than 7%,
compared with the Bank's base rate of 0.5% – will increase fears that the UK is
experiencing an unsustainable, "Alice in Wongaland" recovery, a
phrase coined recently by the economist Ann Pettifor. GUARDIAN
Wonga profits leap
35% as demand for loans increases
Wonga, the short-term loans provider, has reported pre-tax
profits of £84.5m for 2012, an increase of 35% on the previous year. In its
annual statement, Wonga reported £1.2bn in lending, an increase of 68%. Wonga
has also opened a business lending arm, and expanded abroad. So called
"payday loan" firms, which often lend to those who cannot get a loan
from a High Street bank, are currently the subject of a Competition Commission
review. BBC NEWS
G20 summit: states
chase tax evaders with plan to swap data globally
World leaders attending the annual G20 summit are expected
to promise to develop powerful tools to help the authorities combat
international tax evaders, with a deadline of next June. New treaties will
require financial institutions to automatically disclose customer assets to
overseas tax bodies. This bold approach has been pioneered by the US and has
attracted accusations from tax havens of human rights abuses and economic
imperialism. But the G20 nations will all sign up to the measures. Meanwhile,
the G20 heads of state are also expected to give their formal backing to an
unprecedented programme of tax reform designed to curb widespread tax avoidance
strategies pursued by multinational corporations. GUARDIAN
Mis-sold Payment Protection
Insurance complaints about finance firms push total to record high
Complaints about financial firms have surged to a record
high as a huge insurance mis-selling scandal continues to weigh on the
industry. The ombudsman said some lenders continue to drag their heels on
repaying mis-sold PPI, causing "long waits and unnecessary delays"
for customers. Complaints about Lloyds Banking Group were almost five times
higher than a year earlier, at 129,293. They also rose 38% on the prior six
months to make the part-nationalised lender the most complained-about group.
The compensation payout, first estimated at around £9bn, has now doubled to
over £18bn. STANDARD
Postcode divide in
state pension, says TUC
A study of England by the TUC showed that women living in
East Dorset - which has the longest life expectancy for men and women - could
expect to live nine years longer than a woman in Corby, the area with the
shortest female life expectancy. It worked out that, because they lived longer,
they receive £67,000 more in state pensions over a lifetime. The difference for
men living in East Dorset and in Manchester - the area with the shortest male life
expectancy - would be £53,000. BBC NEWS
First pay-outs for small
businesses mis-sold “rate-swap” loans by banks
So far, 10 firms have agreed to accept payments, averaging
£50,000 each. Up to 25,000 more businesses could be in line for compensation,
according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It is thought about 40,000
small businesses were sold the products in the years between 2001 and 2008. Those
affected include vets, care home operators, hauliers and pub owners. BBC NEWS
Owners of empty properties
offered £15k loans to bring UK's uninhabitable homes back to life
Loans up to £15,000 will be provided to homeowners to help
bring some of England’s 710,000 empty properties back to life under a new
scheme announced today. The scheme, which aims to tackle Britain's housing shortage,
is a joint initiative between the charity Empty Homes, Ecology Building
Society, central government and 39 participating local authorities. Owners of empty properties are often unable to access funds
to bring them back into use, creating a vicious decline in areas with a high
number of empty properties.
The intention behind the fund is that the empty property
must be let at an affordable rent level that will have been agreed at the time
of the application once it has been refurbished. DAILY MAIL
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.