Money Box

This week has seen a new Prime Minister and a new Chancellor of the Exchequer. As soon as John Healey was appointed the announcements began. First came the announcement to cut VAT on household energy bills from October, next a plan to cap bus fares in England from January, then a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England starting from April. B...

Major reforms are planned to shake up house selling in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The government hopes the plans could end gazundering and gazumping and make buying and selling homes faster, cheaper and less likely to fall through.

Gazumping happens when a seller switches buyer at the last minute, usually because someone else can pay more, gazundering is wh...

Urgent action is needed to help people in their sixties on low incomes who face a delay of up to a year before they can claim their State Pension. That is the main recommendation of a new report from the Work and Pensions Committee. Pension age rises over the next two years from 66 to 67 and the committee of MPs fears some of the people affected by that delay face poverty unl...

New regulations begin today (Wednesday July 15th) for shoppers using Buy Now Pay Later. Consumers using services like Klarna and Clearpay will now be given more protection but also a greater risk of rejection, as new affordability checks begin.

BNPL schemes often provide interest free payment options over several months and have proved immensely popular. Experian estim...

A deadline approaches for 860,000 self-employed people and landlords who must start reporting their income and expenses in a new way. It is called Making Tax Digital and it affects small businesses with a turnover or gross income above £50,000 a year. They have until 7th August to report their income and expenditure to HMRC. What do they need to know?

It is “unacceptabl...