Treasury pledge to fund £3.8m no-interest loan pilot for hard-up borrowers ‘a step in the right direction’ say debt charities and lenders Scheme could help those who cannot afford to pay interest on loans It is based on an Australian-style community lending scheme Initiative was proposed by previous Chancellor Philip Hammond in 2018 As many … Read more
Picture this! Hard-up councils blow £10k on portraits… and guess what an art critic thought of them Essex County Council spent £3,769 on a painting of its chairman John Jowers Included a £38 fee for the artist to visit Councillor Jowers ahead of the painting Portrait showed the chairman sitting cross-legged with his hands in … Read more
Hard-up RAF is forced to strip old jets for spare parts to keep the rest of the fleet in the air British taxpayers paid £17.6 billion for 160 Typhoons but only 139 are in service However 17 of the Typhoons are being used as spares to keep the others flying The cost of the aircraft that … Read more
Thousands of hard-up pensioners face food and fuel poverty as their free TV licences are scrapped from today, campaigners warn More than 3million UK households will be asked to pay the £157.50 annual fee 500k pensioners could qualify for a free licence but are unaware, study finds They could be forced to choose between having … Read more
Free TV licences for over-75s should be saved for ‘moral and public health reasons’, says charity for the elderly Age UK. The BBC postponed axing the perk due to the coronavirus outbreak, after the Government withdrew funding for it starting this month, but the extension ends on 1 August. Age UK is urging a rethink, … Read more
My son has been laid off due to the coronavirus, so he contacted Suzuki Finance to arrange a one-month payment holiday. It agreed to this, but said it will charge him £51 for this month and for any subsequent months for which he may require a payment holiday; these fees will be added at the … Read more