Balancing your budget
Homeowners and landlords will have seen a significant increase in their mortgage payments due to the rise in the Bank of England Base rate over the past 6-months if any fixed rate agreements have expired in this period or if you have a variable rate arrangement.
And mortgage payers who are nearing
Passport fee increase
The government introduced new passport fees for all applications from 2 February 2023, the first time in 5 years that the cost of applying for a passport has increased.
The new fees include the following changes:
the fee for a standard online application made from within the UK increased from
Late tax payment interest rate rise
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 2 February 2023 and voted 6-3 in favour of raising interest rates by 50 basis points to 4% in a move to try and continue to tackle upward pressures on inflation. This is the tenth time in a row that the MPC has increased interest rates
Scottish Child Payment
The Scottish Child Payment increased to £25 per week from 14 November 2022. The payment is available to qualifying applicants living in Scotland for children under the age of 16. The Scottish Child Payment was launched in February 2021, initially for children under the age of 6. It is estimated that
New laws to mitigate disruption during public service strikes
Working people across the UK will be protected from disruptive strikes thanks to new laws introduced recently. They will allow employers in critical public sectors to maintain minimum levels of service during strikes.
The government is introducing this legislation to ensure that striking workers
HMRC interest rate changes
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 15 December 2022 and voted 6-3 in favour of raising interest rates by 50 basis points to 3.5% in a move to try and continue to tackle upward pressures on inflation. This is the ninth time in a row that the MPC has increased interest rates
Budget date 2023 announced
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt has confirmed, in a written statement, that the next UK Budget will take place on Wednesday, 15 March 2023. This will technically be the Chancellor’s first Budget although his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons on 17 November 2022 included many
Mortgage payment support
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, recently hosted a meeting at 11 Downing Street to discuss what help may be available to support homeowners who encounter problems paying their mortgage. The meeting was attended by leaders of the UK’s major mortgage lenders, the Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority
Use HMRC’s tax app to save time
A free HMRC tax app is available and offers some useful functionality. In fact, in the 12 months up to October 2022, HMRC received almost 3 million calls from people asking for information that is now readily available on the app.
This included:
354,499 calls from people who forgot/lost their
Low-cost broadband and phone tariffs
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has published a new press release to confirm that they have been working together with internet service providers to deliver low-cost broadband and phone packages called social tariffs.
These new social tariffs offer discounted broadband