A single mother who brought a legal challenge against the government over its “ridiculous” universal credit childcare payments system has won her case after a high court judge ruled it to be discriminatory and unlawful. Nichola Salvato, 49, from Brighton, had argued that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) requirement that she pay hundreds…
Electric vehicles are close to the “tipping point” of rapid mass adoption thanks to the plummeting cost of batteries, experts say. Global sales rose 43% in 2020, but even faster growth is anticipated when continuing falls in battery prices bring the price of electric cars dipping below that of equivalent petrol and diesel models, even…
The day I got the keys to my one-bedroom flat in central Leeds in April 2019 was the proudest moment of my life. I’d spent four years saving a £10,000 deposit from my salary as a marketing and PR executive. I had just become single, and I thought my life would be about going out…
The boss of Britain’s state-owned savings bank has apologised for dismal customer service levels following a surge in withdrawals, saying the bank struggled to cope with “unprecedented” demand and a drop in staffing linked to the pandemic. In a letter to MPs on the Treasury committee, National Savings & Investments chief executive Ian Ackerley said…
Almost 9 million people, many of them among Britain’s poorest, were forced to increase their borrowing last year to cope with the pandemic, according to figures that illustrate the damaging effect of the first two lockdowns on the finances of vulnerable households. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the proportion of this group…
Before Brexit, UK consumers were free to buy items from anywhere in the EU without incurring import duties and other charges. That all changed on 1 January 2021. Online orders up to £135 are now supposed to have the UK’s prevailing VAT rate added at the point of sale by the EU retailer, which has…
