Thousands of unpaid carers in Scotland can apply for a new benefit from today. Carer Support Payment, the replacement for Carer's Allowance, is now available in Angus and North and South Lanarkshire.
Moneyfacts Unsecured Lending Trends Treasury Report data, which studies the UK personal finance market (Credit Cards, Personal Loans and Overdrafts), reveals the cost to borrow on a credit card rose to a new record high and the availability of 0% purchase offers stalled during Q2 2024. Between the start of March 2024 and the start of June 2024 (Q2 2b]024), the average purchase APR (which includes card fees) rose to [35.3% APR, the highest on our electronic records[/b] which started in June 2006.
My generation of baby boomers in the UK generally grew up with reasonable expectations of buying a home in our mid-20s with a 25-year mortgage, happily being able to afford a family, and maybe retiring in our early 60s with a comfortable pension. How different today.
In launching Labour's manifesto, Keir Starmer sought to shed his party's "tax and spend" image. Instead, Starmer pressed home that Labour's core mission is to increase UK economic growth - the manifesto mentions the term more than 200 times.
People with connections to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are being investigated by the Gambling Commission, reportedly over allegations they placed bets on an election being called on July 4, shortly before it became public knowledge. Sunak's former parliamentary private secretary and Conservative candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, Craig Williams has admitted to betting on the election, saying: "I put a flutter on the general election some weeks ago.
Rishi Sunak's very limited legacy will include the creation of freeports. They are, however, deeply dangerous places where the normal rule of law is suspended for the benefit of financial capital, usually at cost to the workers in the places and the communities that host them.
Many stories of political wrongdoing involve an element of plain stupidity - at least the ones we find out about. In fact, many of the most famous scandals in modern history have involved moments where one thinks, "Crikey, these guys aren't half as smart as they think they are." Partygate is a pretty good example.
The next government faces difficult choices on higher education funding, with tuition fees frozen and international student recruitment falling. 1.
Billions of pounds are languishing in zero or low rate interest accounts and for long time it may not have mattered when interest rates were so low. More recently however thing have changed.
Oil and Gas has come up in many of the election broadcasts in Scotland so lets take a look at an article by Mairi Spowage the Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute published on 5 June 2024. As we enter the third week of the election campaign, the policy announcements from the main parties are coming thick and fast.
Parties have pledged lots of ‘fully costed' spending policies but these tell us little about the actual funding each public service might receive. The Institute for Fiscal Studies takes a deep look at the problem.
Legislation to amend the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 has been passed by the Scottish Parliament. The Act, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2018, sets an objective that 50% of a public board's non-executive members should be women.
Help for first-time buyers across the country on low to medium incomes. A scheme to help first time buyers and certain priority groups step on to the property ladder has reopened for applications.
Overall retail footfall remained broadly unchanged in the week to 16 June 2024 when compared with the previous week but was 4% lower when compared with the equivalent week of 2023 (MRI OnLocation). Section 3: Consumer behaviour.
CGA by NIQ's Daily Drinks Tracker shows average sales in managed venues in the seven days to last Saturday (15 June) were 10% behind the same period in 2023, making it one of the worst weeks for sales of the year so far. Low temperatures and rain brought tough trading conditions in many parts of Britain for most of the week, keeping consumers out of beer gardens and terraces.
Why are most of the election programmes hardly mentioning Council Budgets that affect most people very directly across many services. NHS has often been highlighted but councils across UK are in serious trouble financially.
The benefits bill is frequently the subject of intense political debate. But since the pandemic, working-age health-related benefits have moved centre-stage in these discussions, as policy makers aim to understand what sits behind the historical rise in claims, and to contain future pressures too.
More than 1 in 5 (22%) trading businesses reported that their turnover had decreased in May 2024 compared with April 2024, which is broadly stable from last month; in contrast, 17% reported that their turnover was higher, while the proportion that reported turnover stayed the same was 52%. Nearly a quarter (24%) of trading businesses reported an increase in the prices of goods or services bought in May 2024 when compared with April 2024, down 4 percentage points.
There has been a recent increase in reports of scam emails offering grants or funding for solar panels. Some say that having the panels installed will increase your property value and decrease your energy bills, while others mention 'free electricity'.
