UK Economy on the Up

The UK economy grew faster than the 1.1% expected rise predicted by top financial experts. These findings were according to official data from the Office for National Statistics who predicted a rise of 0.6%. This growth showed the fastest quarterly increase since 2006 and a huge improvement from the 0.3% within the first quarter of [...]

Income Tax Revenue Set to Raise

The HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have said that it is likely to see a huge rebound in tax revenue this year and expects to raise an extra £10 billion in income tax over the next fiscal year.  They have suggested that nearly all of this will be from 40% & 50% rate taxpayers. This [...]

Toyota Knew about dangerous cars 4 months before recall

Toyota faces a whopping $16.3m (£10.6m) fine from the US government after it was found out that they knew of life-threatening safety problems with accelerator pedals in its cars at least 4 months before they recalled them. This fine will be the biggest civil fine ever to hit a car manufacturer after not informing the [...]

Darling will force Banks to provide accounts for all

Alistair Darling to announce tomorrow that banks will be legally obliged to provide a basic bank account to all UK citizens.  The new rules have been designed to reduce financial exclusion. Banks would be forced to offer accounts to all applicants, and those who did have problems accessing an account could be offered the right [...]

Inflation falls to 3%

In February, inflation fell, it was revealed today.  Figures have been released prior to tomorrow’s Budget by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which show that the consumer prices index fell after a 14-month high of 3.5% in Jan to 3% in Feb. Hopes have been raised that inflation, which was boosted by the VAT [...]

Fears over UK Trade

Since August 2008 in January, The UK’s goods trade deficit with the rest of the world unexpectedly widened to its biggest yet.  Exports saw the greatest drop in more than 3yrs, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The UK’s trade gap in physical goods widened to .99billion pounds above the economists forecasted £7bn. [...]

UK finances deteriorate further

The state of the UK’s public finances deteriorated further in January, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics said the government had borrowed a further £4.3bn last month. It is first time the government has borrowed money in January since records began in 1993. January typically brings the government a large income from [...]

Estate agency probe ‘disappoints’

Satisfaction with estate agents has improved, a study has found, but a trade body says an opportunity to regulate the sector has been missed. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has given a clean bill of health to estate agents in a year-long report into standards in the industry. The OFT said customers could shop [...]

Over-55s entering retirement ‘saddled with debt’

Two-fifths of people approaching retirement are failing to save anything to help support themselves when they leave work, research showed today, with many of these “pre-retirees” having a substantial amount of debt. The first Real Retirement report from the UK’s largest insurer, Aviva, which reviews the finances of three ages of retirement – pre-retirees (55-64), [...]

Minister sparks repossession row

The housing minister, John Healey, has told the BBC that, for some people, having their home repossessed “can be the best option”. Speaking on Radio 5 live, he said some households would struggle to keep up with mortgage repayments even if the terms were re-negotiated. The Conservatives called for Mr Healey to apologise to families [...]

Brits Are Europe’s Top Web Spenders

British shoppers splashed almost a third of the cash spent on the internet in Europe last year, making them comfortably the continent’s top online spenders. Online sales in UK defied the recession with double-digit growth last year Consumers in the UK spent an estimated £38bn online in 2009, accounting for 30% of total European internet [...]

Estate agency probe ‘disappoints’

Obama Bids To Repair ‘Hurting’ US Economy