Archive for the ‘Government’ Category
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
The devastating 0.5% decline in Britain’s national output in the three months ending in September was far worse than anyone had forecast. These shocking figures indicate that we are already in recession, that the downturn is going to be deep and prolonged and that many businesses will close down and that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost. Just to add to the pain caused by the spectacular plunge in the pound, which began when Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warned of recession early this week, has gathered momentum with sterling falling to a six-year low in latest trading.
Forecasters now expect the economy to shrink in size by at least 1% in the next year and by a further 0.5% in 2010. This would mean we must prepare for the worst couple of years in a generation.
Tags: Bank of England, Mervyn King, pound, recession, sterling
Posted in Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Government, Politics, inflation | No Comments »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Only around a third of women reaching retirement age currently qualify for the whole amount. To get the full state pension, women must have 39 years of contributions and men 44 years. But millions fail to build up enough years because they take time off work to care for their families. The new legislation will slash the qualifying period for women from 39 to 30 years. It will also introduce new weekly national insurance credits which will recognise caring for children or the severely disabled in the same way as paid work.
Ministers say the reforms will mean an extra million people – 90% of them women - will build up entitlement to a state second pension from 2010, and by 2025 over 90% of women reaching pension age entitled to a full state pension.
Tags: national insurance credits, Pension, pension reform, state pension
Posted in Finance, Government, Pension | No Comments »
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
The Chancellor yesterday morning announce his £500bn banks bailout plan which will see some of the banks part-nationalised. The plan consists of the following:
- At least £200bn for short-term lending to banks to replace funds they normally borrow through the inter-bank market.
- £25bn recapitalisation facility for Abbey, Barclays, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered to boost their balance sheet. However, Abbey, HSBC and Standard Chartered have already declined the offer.
- £25bn top-up fund if the first capitalisation proves inadequate.
- £250bn government guarantee of bank bond issues - again to help shore up the banks’ strained balance sheets.
Click here for more information.
Tags: Abbey, bailout plan, Barclays, Government bailout, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, part-nationalisation, RBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, £500 billion
Posted in Abbey, Banking, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, Government, HSBC, Halifax, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide, Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Dealers are refusing to take ‘worthless’ gas-guzzling 4×4s in part exchange amid plummeting values for second-hand cars. They say some are worth more as scrap as demand for steel soars. A three-year-old family car worth £5,000 will drop by £600. That means it is losing around £5 every day - leaving many owners spending more for it in repayments than it is actually worth.
Experts at price guide Parkers say the slump is the result of the Government’s controversial proposals to hit millions of drivers with backdated car tax increases of up to £245, which they say have ’skewed’ the market, and the soaring price of fuel. The worst losers are the biggest 4×4s.
Andrew Harrison-Smith, owner of Peterborough-based independent Land Rover specialist Nene Overland, said: ‘Values for big petrol-engined 4×4s are about £3,000 or perhaps even £4,000 lower than for the diesels.’
Tags: 4x4s, car tax, gas-guzzlers, government proposals, Parkers
Posted in Consumer, Government, Politics, Taxation | No Comments »
Friday, July 11th, 2008
Almost half of all car owners will be up to £245 worse off under plans for massive increases in road tax, the Treasury admitted yesterday. And fewer than one in five will benefit from the controversial move, which was sold as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. More than 1m drivers of cars registered between 2001 and 2006 will see road tax jump from £210 to either £430 or £455 depending on emissions, while others face hikes of between £10 and £155. Only 18% of motorists will see the price of a tax disc fall, 39% will pay the same and 43% to pay more.
The Chancellor Alistair Darling, has given strong signals that he will ‘fix’ the problem this autumn, probably by phasing in a retrospective element of the change which applies to vehicles registered between 2001 and 2006. The new regime starts to kick in next year but the biggest changes will hit in 2010 - weeks before the likely date of the next General Election.
Tags: alistair darling, car tax, car tax changes, Chancellor, road tax, road tax band, Treasury
Posted in Finance, Government, Politics, Taxation | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
Northern rock has issued its first competitive mortgage rates since a run on the bank almost brought it to its knees last summer. It has two-year fixed-rate loans that, while not the very best on the market, are good enough to bring in new customers. For buyers there is a rate of 6.39% and for remortgagers a rate of 6.49%. Both have a £995 fee. The lowest rates for two-year fixed deals are available from First Direct and Yorkshire BS.
Northern Rock has been trying to move existing customers to rivals since last September. Its rates have got progressively more expensive as it tried to price itself out of the market to avoid taking on new business. These new rates are not available for existing customers. While these rates are not the very best, where they have a big advantage is that they are fully flexible, meaning you can overpay as much as you like without penalty.
Tags: buyers, existing customers, First Direct, fixed rate, mortgage, new rates, no repayment penalty, Northern rock, remortgage, two-year fixed rate, Yorkshire BS
Posted in Banking, Credit crunch, Finance, Government, Mortgages, Northern rock, Re-mortgage | No Comments »
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Chancellor Alistair Darling aims to raise the amount of money protected from the current £35,000 to a new ceiling of £50,000. Savers who lose money when a bank goes under will be given compensation within a week, instead of months. However, banks said making them pay up-front would divert vital capital away at a time when they were already under pressure from the credit crunch. So instead, the new scheme will borrow money from the public sector, if necessary, to enable quick payments. The Chancellor believes more generous protection will cut the risk of panic if a bank is rumoured to be in trouble.
Tags: alistair darling, Chancellor, Credit crunch, Savings, savings protection, savings protection proposal, savings protection scheme
Posted in Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Government, Savings | No Comments »
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
Britons who sold a Spanish property between between June 2004 and December 2006 could be owed cash as a result of a Spanish Government’s capital gains tax ’scam’. Hundreds of them have joined forces to bring a class action against the Spanish Government in a bid to reclaim an estimated £86m in overpaid capital gains tax (CGT). They are also set to add on missing interest at a compound rate of 6% to their 20% overpayment claims. But while hundreds have already joined forces in a bid to reclaim their tax, thousands more are still to come forward.
But those who sold property previous to June 2004 have already missed out on being able to make a reclaim on their overpaid tax, as under Spanish law claims can only be made dating back over a four year period, meaning millions more have become victim to this tax trap. Read more here.
Tags: Capital Gains Tax, cgt, class action, property sale, spanish governement, Spanish Property
Posted in Capital Gains Tax, Finance, Government, Property, Spanish Property | No Comments »
Friday, June 20th, 2008
Demand for green biofuels has played a ’significant’ part in pushing up food prices, a Government report says. Since April, all diesel and petrol sold in the UK has contained 2.5% biofuel, while by 2010 the figure will increase to 5%. Europe is considering a 10% target by 2020. Most biofuels are derived from food crops such as corn, palm, soya and rapeseed instead of a future ’second generation’ which could be based on non-food crops. In the U.S. around a third of all corn is used for fuel, while half of Europe’s vegetable oil goes towards biofuel production.
The current food crisis will continue unless Governments drop these targets and concentrate on cutting fuel use by improving public transport.
Tags: Biofuels, Food crisis, food prices, government targets, petrol prices
Posted in Biofuels, Food crisis, Government | No Comments »
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
The Saving Gateway scheme could hand you £600 for free over two years as long as an equal amount can be put forward over that period. The aim of the scheme is to encourage those on low incomes to save by possibly matching their contributions. It will not be launched until 2010 and the consultation stage will carry on until June this year. The Government suggests encouraging saving by offering either 20p, 50p or £1 for every £1 saved. The two pilot studies in 2002 and 2005 used these varying amounts but the Government has yet to decide on how much it will offer and is open to suggestions from members of the public at Saving Gateway Consultation, Room G67, HM Revenue and Customs, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ or julie.duffy@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk. Evidence from the pilots however, showed that the ‘match rate’ did not need to be as high as £1 per £1 to encourage people to save. Eligibility has been reined back to very low income levels but consideration is still made on an individual basis, so several people in the same household can sign up to the scheme.
Tags: government scheme, pilot sheme, saving gateway scheme, Savings
Posted in Government, HM Revenue & Customs, HMRC, Investments, Personal Finance, Savings | No Comments »
