Finance
“80%” of Scottish PFI schools “owned by offshore firms”
Over two hundred Scottish schools that have been constructed under PFI (private finance initiative) are in some way owned by investment funds located offshore. This means that 80 per cent that could be at least partly located outside of the UK. PFI schemes have come under criticism recently as schools, hospitals and other large public sector build projects are locked into huge payments over a number of years, that can typically range up to 30. Many public institutions are struggling to...
£9.3bn! Private landlords have doubled housing benefit income in a decade
A shocking new report has found that private landlords hauled in £9.3bn in 2015. It is huge figure and double what the level was a decade ago. The study was undertaken by the National Housing Federation (NHF) and they said the figure was due to a huge increase in private tenants who are receiving housing benefit. A decade ago the there was £4.6bn handed out to private landlords by the state. These figures will anger many, who will see taxpayers’...
Londoners have worst debt problems in whole of UK
As house prices have began to fall in the capital, there is more news that London may be struggling, perhaps the gloss has come off the largest city in the UK, until recently one of the most desirable cities in the world to live in. Now a new study has found that people living in the capital have the worst debt issues of anyone else in the UK. This news will come as no shock to people struggling in the...
Over a third of UK families are one pay day away from becoming homeless
Families up and down the country are living on a knife edge, missing one pay day would mean they would not be able to pay to remain in their dwellings. Leaving millions of the brink of homelessness. A missing payment would mean that a shocking 37 per cent of working families would not be able to remain in their homes, unless they manage to borrow or find finance from elsewhere. The study shows that families simply do not have enough...
Most children living in poverty have working parent
A shocking new piece of research has discovered that the largest percentage of children who suffer “absolute poverty” actually have at least one parent who earns an income. The IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) discovered that young people who live under the poverty threshold actually have one or more parents in work. This news will worry the Government who constantly claim that there are more people in work in the UK than there has ever been. However, this work doesn’t...
Can you promote your business on a budget?
The answer is yes. Whether your business is an SME or an international company, your marketing activities don’t have to break the bank. Depending on the methods you choose and the resources available, you can even carry out a marketing strategy for free! Chris Ralph, marketing manager at Printerland.co.uk explains how business can promote themselves without investing thousands of pounds, while still getting the best results possible. Set up business listings in local directories Search engines offer free listings for...
Take-home pay biggest in London…By far
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The streets of the capital are paved with gold, well not quite, but people who live in the capital have the most disposable income in the country, even when taking in sky-rocketing rents and the cost of buying a home spiralling out of control. The ONS (Office of National Statistics) report revealed this information. Londoners had an average of £23,607 to spend after tax deductions in 2014, almost a third more than the UK average....
Conservative Party receive over half of all political donations
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Political donations are always a controversial topic and don’t sit well with most voters. Who is giving these gifts and why, are the questions most people wonder, when parties end up with huge sums of money. Well of all the political parties the Conservative Party receives more in donations than the rest of the parties put together this year, it has just been revealed. Over £6.7 million of the nearly £12 million in donations that...
Richest pay less income tax than the worst off in Britain
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Shockingly the worst ten per cent of households actually paid back 47 per cent of their earnings back in taxes in 2014/15 compared to only 34 per cent for the richest ten per cent, reports the Mirror. The news will come as no shock to the households who struggle to feed themselves and regularly use food banks even though one or both members of the family will have paid employment. In the UK having a...