Finance
Low Interest Rates Fuel Widespread Investment Fraud
A sustained period of low interest rates is fuelling widespread investment fraud, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with over 55s most at risk. With interest rates set to remain at 0.5 per cent well into 2020, savers are adopting riskier investment behaviour to get more bang for their buck. Four in ten people aged over 55 have moved money out of savings and into investments in a bid to get a better rate of return, with 23 per cent saying they are considering investing...
Brits ‘Can Only Guess’ Roughly What They Earn
Brits are clueless when it comes to personal finances, new research reveals. A study of 2,000 adults 58 per cent aren’t sure about their hourly rate of pay and 70 per cent can’t say exactly how much they pay in income tax. While most people think they have a grip on their personal finances, in reality most can only guess roughly what they earn, what they pay in bills and what they what owe on credit cards. Two thirds of people can’t...
Nobody to face charges at RBS, Goodwin in the clear
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor In news that will shock the nation, it has emerged that there is not enough evidence to bring a criminal case against RBS bosses that lead the virtual collapse of the bank in 2008, and contributing to the worst recession since the great depression. Fred Goodwin, the chief of the bank at the time of the crisis, will also not see any possible conviction for his actions. After a five-year inquiry by Crown Office prosecutors...
Redundancy payments paid to MPs’ staff just before new Commons jobs
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A Government watchdog has indicated that £925k was given out to 125 people prior to the election, however each had a new jobs within three months. In every case the member of staff was made redundant due to their MP standing down or losing their seat, but they were back working for a new MP within a very short space of time. In 60.3% of these cases there was no break in employment at all....
200,000 secret offshore account details from Panama Papers
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor At 6pm at offshoreleaks.icij.org. 200,000 more account details from the Panama papers leak became available. This data dump will show how some of the most affluent firms and high net worth individuals use offshore organisations to avoid paying tax. The database belong to Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, and the source of the leak is only know as “John Doe.” "John Doe" has issued a statement citing "income equality" as his reason for sharing this...
Tax havens ‘serve no useful economic purpose’ – only benefit rich at expense of poor
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Three hundred leading economists have said that tax havens serve no useful purpose and only increase inequality. The charity Oxfam organised the open letter and has been released ahead of an anti-corruption summit this week in London. In the letter to world leaders the economists, including the Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang, say that tax havens “undoubtedly benefit” rich individuals and multinational corporations, but this benefit is at the expense of the rest of society. The...
Borough market is 2,500th ‘real’ Living Wage employer
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor One of the Britain’s most famous markets has become the 2,500th ‘real” living wage employer, a whole two pounds twenty pence more than the Chancellor’s version of the living wage. The 11th century market, has decided to increase how much they pay their staff to a level which means workers should be able to sustain themselves to a reasonable level in the capital. The market, which is 1,002-years-old, decision has been hailed by Living Wage...
Disposable income growth worst in London
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor New research has revealed that London has half of the ten worst performing areas for an increase in disposable income. Over the last five years Londoners have been squeezed by rising housing costs and also lower bonuses for those in the financial services industry, which has accounted for the slowdown. The City of London and Camden were the only places in the UK to have seen a decrease between 2009 and 2013, according to figures...
Nearly 10 MILLION meals handed out by food banks in one year
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor There were ten million meals given out to broke Brits last year, and almost four million of those went to feed hungry kids. The Trussell Trust shared out more than 1.1million three-day food provisions, with over four hundred thousand going to children. The food bank operator food supplies contain three meals for each day, which adds up to 9,983,781 meals over the year. This is an increase of 220,000 meals in comparison in the year...