More than four million pensioners are at significant risk of fuel poverty after winter fuel payments were scrapped for about ten million people. The payments, worth up to £300, will only go to those on pension credit or other means-tested benefits this winter. The End Fuel Poverty Coalition said that pensioners faced falling into fuel…
It may be one of the best days of your life, but it’s also likely to be the most expensive. The average cost of a wedding was almost £21,000 last year — or £26,000 if the cost of rings and honeymoon are included. If you are getting married in London you can expect to spend…
Britain’s power network could be safely restarted using only renewables in the unlikely event of a catastrophic blackout in the future, according to a trial of new technology by Scottish Power. Like most countries, Britain’s National Grid has traditionally relied on coal and gas-fired power plants to provide “black start” capability — the process of…
The level of deal-making among companies across the UK dropped to the lowest level in four years in June amid a slow recovery of business confidence. The number of deals involving British businesses fell by 16.8 per cent from 463 to 385 for the three months to the end of June, according to the Office…
Energy suppliers have been banned from forcibly installing prepayment meters until they agree to a legally enforceable code of practice, after The Times revealed vulnerable customers were targeted. British Gas was condemned by a senior MP for an “extraordinary” failure to create a compensation scheme for victims of improper meter replacement. An undercover reporter from…
Elderly people with Alzheimer’s disease and mothers with newborn babies could still have prepayment meters forcibly installed in their homes under new rules agreed by Ofgem and major energy firms. The energy regulator has announced an updated code of practice for suppliers, which it said would strengthen protections for vulnerable customers. However, the new rules…
Apple has warned Britain’s competition watchdog that its “flawed and insufficient” analysis of the iPhone maker’s dominance in the mobile browser market risks harming consumers and developers. The Silicon Valley tech group claimed the Competition and Markets Authority was using outdated information and “unsubstantiated assertions” from a developers “rather than objective evidence” in its investigation….
The triple lock has ensured that pensioners’ incomes have risen faster than those of working-age people over the past 15 years. Meanwhile, the growth in house prices has locked increasing numbers of young adults out of owner occupation, with far fewer owning their own home than in 2010. And, of course, income and wage inequality…
The John Lewis Partnership has submitted a planning application to build hundreds of flats on the site of one of its old delivery depots in Reading, further underscoring its ambition to become a major landlord. If the proposals are approved by Reading borough council, the partnership will spend £80 million knocking down the existing distribution…