Ahead of the publication of a wide ranging Which? report on the state of the credit market, Which? calls on banks to Stop Sneaky Fees and Charges on unauthorised overdrafts, as more than two thirds of users say charges are too high or unfair. New Which? research reveals that around 2.5 million people, approximately the same number as those that have used a payday loan, say they have used an unauthorised overdraft in the last 12 months.
Three Business Gateway specialist advisers are coming to Thurso next week (Tuesday 2 September 2014) to offer local businesses advice and practical guidance on three topics: Accessing Finance Winning Public Contracts Taking on Staff You can book a one-hour appointment with any or all of these advisers. All appointments will be based at the Naver Business Centre in Thurso.
Members of The Highlands Council's Resources Committee have pledged their support to The Highland Hospice's full refurbishment of Ness House and the new Netley Centre in Inverness by agreeing to contribute £200,000 of funding towards the total project cost of £6.500m. The money comes from the Council's Capital Discretionary Fund for 2014/15 and at the committee (Wednesday 27 August 2014) members also agreed a further £285K of funding from this Fund to support four more projects.
Children's services in Highland are moving forward with the creation of Family Teams as part of the community services to children, young people and families. This means that most staff involved in providing services to children, such as social workers, health visitors and school nurses will all be part of the new Family Team.
The scrapping of higher-rate tax relief on UK pensions would prompt more middle class earners to transfer their pension pots out of Britain, says the boss of one of the world's largest independent financial advisory organisations. Nigel Green, the founder and chief executive of deVere Group, is commenting after speculation grows that after the next general election, this tax benefit will be cut - whichever political party takes power.
- Consumers would trust supermarket brands such as Waitrose (45%), Morrisons (18%) and Aldi (12%) to do their banking[1] - Three quarters (77%) would trust John Lewis to manage their money[1]while three in ten (30%) would opt for Debenhams (30%) and a quarter (27%) would pick House of Fraser[1] - Consumers are most likely to pick a bank based on how financially secure it is (87%), its reputation (86%), and competitiveness of interest rates (85%)[2] - While 88% regard online banking as essential, nearly two thirds (62%) place an importance on telephone banking, and 45% value mobile banking. - A quarter (23%) say new entrants have learned from the mistakes of traditional banks and offer better value for money (15%).
Britain's bus passengers have been let down by a lack of competition and a failure of deregulation, according to a new report from the think tank IPPR, published today. The report calls for local transport authorities modelled on Transport for London to be rolled out across the country, with stronger powers to introduce London-style bus regulation.
*Three-quarters say they're more likely to make a purchase if they spot an item that's reduced *Being on holiday also found to loosen purse strings *1 in 5 respondents say payday increases the likelihood they'll spend Spotting a bargain is the thing most likely to convince Scottish people to spend their money if they had not already been planning to. A new survey* conducted on behalf of Debt Advisory Centre Scotland revealed that nearly three-quarters of Scottish respondents (72%) admitted seeing an item was marked down or in the sale was the scenario that made them more likely than normal to get their spending money out.
Toyota UK switch on almost 13,000 solar panels on Thursday (21 August 2014) to power the car manufacturer's Deeside factory in North Wales. The solar array, designed and installed by British Gas, can produce up to 3,475,000 kWh a year - enough electricity to build up to 22,500 engines.
This week's supermarket price war has brought drivers in the UK a bank holiday boost with the average prices of petrol and diesel falling to new three-year lows. However, UK price falls have so far been lagging behind most of its European neighbours', the August AA Fuel Price Report reveals.
* Average value of savings per household has increased from £27,896 in 1974 to £126,278. * The savings ratio, proportion of income saved by households, has halved to 4.8% in 2014, down from 9.9% in the decade 1974 to 1984.
£1.5 MILLION AID FOR HISTORIC BUILDINGS. More than £1.5 million has been awarded to help repair seven historic buildings across Scotland as part of Historic Scotland's Building Repairs Grants scheme.
Last week, fourteen North Highland College UHI students celebrated the completion of a new six week summer programme aimed to help young people into employment, by providing essential training to progress into sustained employment within the Engineering Sector. From July to August the students have developed engineering employability skills, industry standard training and gained a suite of statutory certificates.
Weekly update from CNSRP - week commencing 18th August. Energy & Business services: It is encouraging to see this week that Denchi Power, who purchased the lithium-ion battery facility at Thurso Business Park from ABSL Power Solutions, is recruiting staff as it continues to make good progress.
The green light has been given on Thursday 21st August 2014 to kick off the first phase of the MeyGen project - the world's largest tidal power development which will be installed in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is backing the project with a £3.3m grant.
The award winning ScotGrad Graduate Placement Programme has reached a milestone in the Highlands and Islands by delivering its 200th graduate placement. ScotGrad is funded and delivered in the region by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the European regional Development fund (ERDF).
In 2010, the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano closed most of Europe's airspace for around six days, affecting more than ten million travellers and costing the aviation industry millions. Now, as the Icelandic meteorological office increases its eruption warning for the Bardarbunga volcano, Gocompare.com is warning bank holiday flyers to check their travel insurance before they head off.
The University of the Highlands and Islands has announced a new masters-level course to help life science graduates and those already employed in the life science sector improve their practical and laboratory skills to better meet the needs of employers conducting research in an industrial environment. While science graduates have the theoretical knowledge required and fundamental laboratory skills, current degree provision often doesn't provide those most important to industry and commercial research, notably hands-on laboratory training and the concepts of quality control, regulation and intellectual property.
* 66% of Brits regularly save cash in a coin jar - the average coin jar contains £40.80. * Over half (54%) of coin jar savers think it's a good way to save money.
There were 955,000 young people (aged from 16 to 24) in the UK who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), a decrease of 20,000 from January to March 2014 and down 138,000 from a year earlier. The percentage of all young people in the UK who were NEET was 13.3%, down 0.3 percentage points from January to March 2014 and down 1.8 percentage points from a year earlier.