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Asda billionaire boss: 'I've not done bad'
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By Michael Race & Emma Simpson
Business reporter and Business correspondent
Mohsin Issa, one half of the so-called “billionaire brothers” who own Asda, says he plans to hand over the running of the UK’s third biggest supermarket.
In his first broadcast interview, the entrepreneur told the BBC he was carrying out a “reset” at the grocer before appointing a chief executive.
Despite Asda’s £5bn debt pile, Mr Issa said he was “here for the long haul”.
He also dismissed rumours of a rift with his brother Zuber, saying the pair “get on exceptionally well”.
“We talk to each other probably two or three times a day. We’ve been very, very privileged. We have been on a journey and we have got a long way still to go,” he told the BBC.
It has been quite a journey. Until now the British-Indian Issa brothers have preferred to stay out of the media spotlight, giving no interviews while they built a business empire spanning 10 countries.
They have made it big time – so big the double act was listed 40th on the Sunday Times’ Rich List last year with a net worth of £5.05bn.
“We’ve not done bad to be honest,” chuckles Mr Issa at the opening of Asda’s 1,000th store in Stevenage. “It surpassed our dreams and visions.”
Asked if they hate being called the billionaire brothers, he replies: “It’s not a tag you want to be associated with, absolutely not. But I suppose that’s what people call it and I suppose it is what it is.”
The pair, from Blackburn, had humble beginnings, and ran their own individual businesses before jointly purchasing their first petrol station in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 2001.
Who are the billionaire Issa brothers?
Asda: How to buy a £6.8bn supermarket for £780m
As the oil companies began selling off and closing their High Street petrol stations to concentrate on production and refining, the brothers took a chance to expand and joined forces with private equity firm TDR Capital to snap up the vacant sites.
They also realised another opportunity in making the shops on forecourts more attractive to drivers to spend more money on coffee, fast food and other groceries, which Mr Issa said was a shift from the “dirty, kiosk style” stores offering “cokes and smokes”.
EG Group
Mr Issa claimed the pair got lucky. “We have been in the right place at the right time and taken advantage of some of them opportunities.”
Today, the EG Group empire includes some 6,000 convenience and petrol stations across 10 different countries, including the US and Australia, with the likes of Starbucks, Greggs and Subway on offer at various sites.
The forecourts fuelled the Issas and TDR Capital to buy Asda from Walmart three years ago, but they took on a huge amount of debt to complete the takeover. The brothers were both subsequently awarded CBEs.
Why Asda? “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Mr Issa, the details man of the double act, who oversees the running of the supermarket while his brother Zuber focuses on the petrol station business.
Mr Issa says he works “six-and-a-half days a week”, often popping up at stores across the country. He is still very much a retailer at heart.
The 52-year-old has been the architect of Asda Express, the convenience store aiming to rival the likes to Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local.
The expansion has been his mission. On Thursday, Mr Issa opened the latest Asda Express, but the company has already converted some 110 former Co-op and EG stores to Asda Express in February alone. The firm will have amassed 470 convenience stores in the UK by the end of March.
Meanwhile, Asda is proposing raising the hourly pay rate for its employees from £11.11 to £12.04. For those working at Asda store within the M25 region, pay will rise from £12.28 to £13.21 an hour. Shopworkers’ union Usdaw is recommending that their members accept the offer at a vote later this month.
“Did I ever think I’d be in a business the size and scale of this? Absolutely not,” said Mr Issa. “I just had that vision of running my own business. I always had that determination of trying to control my own destiny.”
But running Asda has been a challenge for the Issas, with Asda losing market share in recent times, with the likes of Aldi and Lidl attracting more customers, especially as household budgets have been squeezed.
The £4.9bn debt pile has also drawn scrutiny. Higher interest rates have prompted fears over the company’s ability to pay loans off, but Mr Issa dismisses any questions that Asda has bitten off more than it can chew, arguing the debt is sustainable due to the majority of it being fixed. Asda claims 90% of its debt is fixed.
He said Asda generated so much cash that “even if our interest payments were to double Asda has more than sufficient headroom to service that”.
“It is challenging. If you get up and if you’re not challenged then I suppose you shouldn’t be doing your job,” said Mr Issa.
“We’re in a transition period where we’re evolving, but also we’re investing significantly. Market share will fluctuate over a period of time.
“We feel we’re doing the long-term investment that will help us regain some of that market.”
Asda
Launching the convenience stores and implementing a “best in class” IT system have been the two goals for Mr Issa, who said he was now “getting to a point” where he could step aside and appoint a chief executive to head up the business.
The brothers have kept EG Group’s base in their hometown and remain close to their roots, building homes for themselves and their families, as well as building a mosque and funding a hospital.
But while they made their money in petrol stations, the pair have bought other big brands and attempted to purchase others.
They snapped up fast food chain Leon in 2021, but narrowly missed out on buying the struggling convenience store chain McColl’s, losing out to Morrisons. There were also reports they had their eye on pharmacy chain Boots and coffee shop chain Caffè Nero rejected a takeover bid.
But their empire building has not been without its controversial moments, with questions raised about EG Group’s governance and a fine for “appalling” safety breaches at a former company.
When it comes to Asda, Mr Issa said he felt a responsibility to make sure he was a “great custodian at the brand”. He said there were no more business deals on the cards for now, but added “never say never”.
“When you’re fortunate enough to see the opportunities and have the ability to execute them and be part of a plan and then move on to the next thing then that’s something that I will always look to do.
“That’s the entrepreneur. That’s in your DNA.”
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Blackburn
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Who are the billionaire Issa brothers?
31 August 2022
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Body Shop to shut 75 stores and cut hundreds of jobs
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By Dearbail Jordan
BBC News
The Body Shop will close 75 shops in the UK over the coming weeks and cut 489 jobs, according to the firm overseeing its restructuring.
It means that, combined with cost-cutting at the company’s head office, between 750 and 800 people will be made redundant.
However, The Body Shop will keep 116 UK stores open.
The UK arm of the global beauty chain was put into administration earlier this month.
Shops will be closed over the next four to six weeks. FRP Advisory, which is managing the restructuring, said it would “support all impacted staff with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service”.
“In taking swift action to right-size The Body Shop UK store portfolio, we have stabilised the business,” said FRP Advisory’s Tony Wright.
“We remain fully focused on exploring all options to take the business forward.”
The Body Shop was a trailblazer – what went wrong?
The Body Shop was founded in Brighton in 1976 by the late Dame Anita Roddick who opened a single shop in the seaside town. Known for its natural beauty products and its stance against testing on animals, it expanded rapidly in the following years.
Dame Anita and her husband Gordon sold the business to French beauty giant L’Oreal in 2006, much to the chagrin of some loyal followers who viewed the French beauty giant’s business at odds with The Body Shop’s ethos.
Since then, The Body Shop has changed hands twice, most recently to private equity firm Aurelius in late 2023. Within weeks, it decided to place the UK arm in administration following poor sales over Christmas and January.
Wildly popular in the 1980s and 1990s, The Body Shop appeared to fall out of fashion as competitors arrived in the natural beauty market including Lush and Rituals.
The UK shops closing are:
Aylesbury
Banbury
Barnstaple
Basildon
Battersea
Bedford
Beverley
Bexleyheath
Blackburn
Blackpool
Bournemouth Commercial Rd
Bolton
Brixton
Broughton Park
Bury
Camberley
Carlisle
Carmarthen
Chippenham
Cirencester
Croydon
Didcot
Durham
East Kilbride
Edinburgh Gyle Centre
Edinburgh Princes Mall
Epsom
Fareham
Farnborough
Glasgow Braehead
Glasgow Fort
Glasgow Silverburn
Glasgow Station
Grimsby
Halifax
Harlow
Hastings
Hempstead Valley
High Wycombe
Huddersfield
Hull
Ilford
Ipswich
Isle of Wight
Islington
Kendal
Kings Lynn
Leeds White Rose
Lewisham Centre
Lichfield
Loughborough
Luton
Macclesfield
Middlesbrough
Morpeth
Newton Abbot
Northampton
Oldham
Perth
Peterborough Queensgate
Portsmouth
Regent Street
Salisbury
Stafford
Stanstead Airside
Stratford Upon Avon
Swansea
Telford
Thanet
Trowbridge
Wakefield Trinity Walk
Walthamstow
Wigan
Woking
Wolverhampton
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More on this story
The Body Shop to shut up to half of its UK stores
20 February
The Body Shop was a trailblazer – what went wrong?
13 February
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Thames Water told to find extra cash itself
PA Media
By Michael Race
Business reporter, BBC News
The water regulator has said Thames Water needs to secure extra cash itself amid reports the firm lobbied to hike bills and face lower fines.
The UK’s largest water firm hopes to agree a deal with Ofwat and the government to avoid a taxpayer bailout, the Financial Times reported.
The future of Thames Water has been uncertain since fears emerged that it could collapse last June.
The company has been struggling under a huge £18bn debt pile.
Ofwat said it would not comment directly on the reports, but added: “Thames Water needs to continue to deliver on its turnaround plan to improve its operational and environmental performance.
“It is for the company to secure shareholder backing to improve its financial resilience,” a spokesman added.
Thames Water declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
The Financial Times reported that Thames Water’s shareholders were willing to inject a further £3.25bn into the business – if they could strike a regulatory deal with Ofwat.
The newspaper said the company wanted the regulator to allow it to hike customer bills 40% by 2030 and grant it leniency on regulatory fines and around paying dividends.
Thames Water secured a £500m cash injection from its shareholders last year but its bosses have admitted the firm still faces financial troubles, including not having enough money to pay off a £190m loan due in April.
The government has previously said it is ready to take over Thames Water, which serves 15 million households, mostly across London and parts of southern England, in the event that it collapses.
But one senior government figure told the newspaper: “The collapse of Thames is the last thing we want.”
A government spokesperson said it would not comment on the “financial situation of specific companies as it would not be appropriate”, but added: “We prepare for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries – including water – as any responsible government would.”
Thames Water says turnaround will ‘take time’
Thames Water has faced fierce criticism in recent years over sewage discharges and leaks. It leaks more water than any other water company in UK, losing the equivalent of up to 250 Olympic size swimming pools every day from its pipes.
Despite the whole industry facing criticism, water providers have forecast an above-inflation rise in average household bills in April.
The average annual water and sewerage bill is expected to rise by 6% in England and Wales, going up £27 to £473, says suppliers’ trade body Water UK.
In Scotland, water and waste charges will go up by 8.8% – a rise of £36.
Thames Water’s finances paint a bleak picture. Its latest results showed profits fell 54% in the first six months of 2023 while customer complaints rose 13%.
This month, Thames Water’s chairman Sir Adrian Montague resigned as the chair and director of the firm’s parent company Kemble Water.
The company said the move was a “personal decision”, but added the business veteran, a former chair of Aviva and Manchester Airports Group, would remain chair of Thames Water.
Sir Adrian has previously argued the best way to resolve Thames Water’s problems is to keep the company under private ownership.
Related Topics
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Thames Water
More on this story
Thames Water says it can’t pay back £190m loan
12 December 2023
Thames Water says turnaround will ‘take time’
5 December 2023
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Hunt considers National Insurance cuts at Budget
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By Faisal Islam & Lucy Hooker
BBC News
The chancellor is considering a cut in National Insurance, rather than income tax in the Budget, the BBC understands.
Jeremy Hunt is expected to make final decisions on his 6 March Budget plans at the end of this week.
A leading think tank has warned the government should not cut taxes in the upcoming Budget, unless it can spell out how it will afford them.
The government said it would not comment on whether further cuts to tax would be “affordable in the Budget”.
At last year’s Autumn Statement, Mr Hunt announced a bigger-than-expected cut in National Insurance, taking the main rate down from 12% to 10% from the start of this year.
The government’s independent financial watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said at the time this cut would help create 28,000 more jobs.
A further cut to National Insurance of 1% would cost £4.5bn per year.
As first reported in the Times, Mr Hunt is understood to be aiming for a similar approach this time, making what he calls “smart tax cuts” aimed at improving the economy.
Both Mr Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have made no secret of wanting to reduce the taxation burden on the general public. Last month, the chancellor hinted that he was looking at trimming public spending as a way to deliver tax cuts.
New vaping tax considered by ministers
What is happening with income tax and National Insurance?
Hunt mulls public service squeeze to fund tax cuts
When is the Budget and what will it mean for my money?
However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said on Tuesday that the case for tax cuts was “weak”, and the chancellor should not go ahead with them without providing specific details of where the axe would fall.
Any tax cuts “should wait” until the chancellor was able to do a detailed spending review, the think tank said.
“We don’t think we should be implementing certain tax cuts now, essentially that are paid for by uncertain spending cuts that might never be delivered,” IFS deputy director Carl Emmerson said.
The IFS said taxes in the UK were heading to record-high levels when measured against the size of the overall economy. However, government debt was also high and rising, and “barely on course” to be falling in five years’ time – one of the government’s self-imposed rules.
Moreover, even this “unhappy outlook” for the public finances was based on spending cuts and tax rises, including a rise in fuel duties and changes to business rates that were “unlikely to be realised” the IFS said.
“There is therefore only a weak economic case for another sizeable net tax cut in the forthcoming Budget,” the IFS wrote in its report published on Tuesday.
The IFS said if Mr Hunt did want to go ahead with tax cuts, he should look at reforming stamp duty on purchasing properties or shares, rather than reducing income tax or a further cut to National Insurance rates, which were reduced in January.
Mr Emmerson conceded that tax cuts can help to boost growth in the economy, but said: “That doesn’t mean the tax cuts will pay for themselves.
“There’s lots of problems in our tax system – we need genuine tax reform – and if we want growth-friendly tax cuts we should be looking at stamp duty on purchases of properties and stamp duty on purchases of shares,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
“They’re very damaging taxes and cutting them would be better for growth than, for example, cutting the main rate of national insurance.”
A report in the Times suggests that the chancellor will opt for a 1% cut in employee National Insurance, at an annual cost of £4.5bn, as well as keeping fuel duty frozen.
It also claims that the Treasury will tax vapes, specifically the nicotine-based liquid used in the devices.
But, in order to encourage adult smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, Mr Hunt would at the same time increase taxes on tobacco, the paper said. That would be on top of a 2% rise in tobacco duty announced in last November’s Autumn Statement.
Top-up needed
The budgets for the NHS, schools, defence and overseas aid are ringfenced, however the IFS said unprotected areas such as justice and local government would see bigger squeezes as a result.
Local councils are already struggling with their own debts after years of shrinking budgets. Several have effectively gone bust, including Birmingham City Council, Nottingham, Thurrock and Woking.
The IFS said its calculations suggested that in order to keep real-terms spending per person at current levels for those unprotected services alongside “plausible” settlements for the NHS, childcare and other commitments, the chancellor would need to find a further £25bn.
The suggestion of tax cuts has drawn criticism from other quarters. Last month the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) described the government’s “pencilled-in” post-election spending plans as a “work of fiction”.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also advised the UK against further tax cuts, in its latest assessment of the world economy.
But there is extra political pressure on the decisions the chancellor will make next month. This Budget could be his last chance to announce big policy changes before a general election which must be held by January next year.
The government is set to borrow £113bn this year, £11bn less than was forecast in November, the IFS calculated, but still twice what it was borrowing prior to the pandemic.
The IFS warned that any extra “headroom” in the Budget, was in part the result of a falling bill for interest payments on government debt, an element which remained “very volatile”.
In response to the IFS report the Treasury said it was normal for governments to outline broad spending plans and more detailed departmental budgets would be set in the usual way at the next Spending Review.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We are on track to meet our fiscal rules, and total departmental spending will be £85bn higher after inflation by 2028-29 than at the start of this Parliament, including record funding for the NHS.”
“Our responsible action with the public finances meant we could cut taxes for working people and businesses in the Autumn Statement,” they said.
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UK economy
Jeremy Hunt
Institute for Fiscal Studies
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Ministers consider new vaping tax at Budget
19 minutes ago
Hunt mulls public service squeeze to fund tax cuts
15 February
IMF warns UK government against further tax cuts
30 January
Tax cut promises may need to be rolled back – IFS
25 January
When is the Budget and what will it mean for my money?
31 minutes ago
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Ryanair warns of 10% fare rise due to lack of new planes
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By Katy Austin
Transport correspondent
The boss of Ryanair has said holidaymakers will face higher fares this summer due to new Boeing planes being delivered late.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said the delayed delivery of the planes will constrain capacity for passengers.
He said that Ryanair’s ticket prices could be up to 10% more expensive this summer as a result.
Ryanair hopes to get some compensation, but is focused on getting planes delivered, Mr O’Leary added.
He said that a delivery of 57 Boeing 737 Max 8200’s was due by March, but the firm thinks only 40-45 may arrive in time for the summer season.
Boeing has been facing scrutiny since an incident in January when a piece of one of its jets blew out during a passenger flight. The Alaska Airline passenger flight did not lead to serious injuries but forced an emergency landing.
As a result, Mr O’Leary said, the US manufacturer had the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, “crawling all over them”.
Major concerns have been raised about quality control for new Boeing aircraft, sparking a slowdown in production speed.
Mr O’Leary said costs saved through hedging on fuel would mean that Ryanair’s fare increase would not be as steep as the 17% rise seen in 2023.
Some other airlines also have capacity constraints caused by aircraft not being available, he added.
A problem with Pratt & Whitney engines, for example, has grounded a number of Airbus planes used by carriers such as Wizz Air.
Mr O’Leary told reporters that there would be a “higher fare environment across Europe” this summer.
Ryanair’s original forecast for the year to the end of March 2025 was that it would carry 205 million passengers, up from 183.5 million in the 12 months before.
Speaking at the firm’s Dublin headquarters, Mr O’Leary said: “With less aircraft, maybe we’ll have to bring that 205 million down towards 200 million passengers.”
“If capacity was growing, I think fares would be falling,” he added.
Lucy Coutts, investment director at JM Finn, told the BBC’s Today programme: “Boeing itself has said there are going to be 9,000 fewer seats this summer available because of the delays at the company.
“Ryanair is a low-cost carrier and so its hikes of 10% are a little bit higher than the average at 3-7% but it is because it is coming from a low base.”
Boeing crisis management on display at top airshow
Ryanair cuts profit forecast after booking sites row
Boeing 737 Max boss out after blowout
Discussing the issues that have engulfed the US plane maker Boeing, Mr O’Leary described the message he was currently getting from the firm as “confusion”.
The boss of the carrier has repeatedly backed Boeing’s top management, but criticised the plane maker’s quality control standards.
He does not think the removal of the 737 Max programme’s boss Ed Clark was the right move, arguing that having both a replacement for Mr Clark and a new president for quality did not make sense.
Ryanair, he said, wanted one person in charge who was monitoring the situation daily, having previously said their products were “great aircraft, it’s just that they’re not making them on time or delivering them in time”.
A spokesperson for Boeing said: “We are communicating with customers that some delivery schedules may change as we take the necessary time to make sure that every airplane we deliver is high quality and meets all customer and regulatory requirements.
They added that they “deeply regret the impact this is having on our valued customer Ryanair”.
“We’re working to address their concerns and taking action on a comprehensive plan to strengthen 737 quality and delivery performance.”
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Boeing
Aerospace
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More on this story
Ryanair cuts profit forecast after booking sites row
29 January
Boeing 737 Max boss out after blowout
4 days ago
Boeing crisis management on display at top airshow
3 days ago
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RMT leader Mick Lynch gives Jeremy Corbyn general election backing
PA Media
By Iain Watson
Political correspondent, BBC News
The RMT Union has announced it will be supporting former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at the next general election.
Mr Corbyn is the independent MP for Islington North – a seat he has held since 1983.
Last year, the 74-year-old was banned from standing for Labour, having been suspended from the parliamentary party over an antisemitism row in 2020.
RMT leader Mick Lynch said the union would back Mr Corbyn should he run for his seat again as an independent.
“We will support all sorts of people in this election, because we’re not affiliated,” Mr Lynch told the War on Want conference.
He added: “We will support Labour candidates. We will support socialist candidates.
“We will be supporting Jeremy Corbyn in the next election.”
The RMT became estranged from Labour in 2004 under Tony Blair’s leadership, meaning – unlike many other trade unions – it is free to support other candidates.
It is expected the former Labour leader will stand as an independent at the next election, although this is yet to be confirmed.
PA Media
Mr Corbyn was suspended from by the Labour party over his reaction to a highly critical report on anti-Semitism.
He had previously been elected the party’s leader in 2015 but resigned in 2019 following defeat in the general election.
General election: When is the next one and who decides?
In January, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had expected to call the election “in the second half” of 2024 – although a date is yet to be set.
The latest Parliament can be dissolved for a general election is on the fifth anniversary of the day it first met.
For the current Parliament, that date is 17 December 2024.
However, 25 working days are then allowed to prepare for the election, meaning the next election must be held by 28 January 2025.
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RMT
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More on this story
Jeremy Corbyn: The Labour veteran turned outcast
28 March 2023
Corbyn banned from standing as Labour candidate
28 March 2023
Labour suspends Corbyn over anti-Semitism reaction
29 October 2020
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Budget 2024: When it is and what will it mean for my money?
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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his 2024 spring Budget on Wednesday 6 March.
He will say how much money the government plans to take in taxes, and what it will spend it on.
This spring there is a lot of focus on whether he will cut taxes ahead of the election.
What is the Budget?
Each year, the chancellor of the exchequer – who is in charge of the government’s finances – makes a Budget statement to MPs in the House of Commons.
The speech outlines the government’s plans for raising or lowering taxes. The Budget also includes big decisions on spending on health, schools, police and other public services.
The Treasury publishes a report alongside the Budget, which sets out further details about the measures announced, and what they will cost.
After the statement, MPs will spend several days debating the Budget.
They will then be asked to approve the tax proposals, and the government will introduce a Finance Bill to turn the Budget proposals into law.
How the government raises and spends £1 trillion a year
Autumn Statement 2023: Key points
Budget 2023: Key points
When is the 2024 Budget?
The 2024 spring Budget is on Wednesday, 6 March.
The speech usually starts at about 12:30 UK time and lasts about an hour. It will be broadcast live on the BBC iPlayer and on the BBC news website.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will give his response to the Budget as soon as Mr Hunt sits down.
After the speech, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – which monitors government spending – will publish an independent assessment of how the economy is doing.
Who is Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor?
How is the UK economy doing?
At the end of last year, the economy was in recession. That means it contracted, rather than grew, between July and September and then shrank again between October and December.
But it was a shallow recession, meaning economic output did not suffer a sharp, deep fall, which would have put more businesses at risk and people out of work. And the Bank of England’s governor has said he does not think the country is still in recession.
Even if the economy is growing again, many people are still feeling the pinch, after two years of rising prices.
Growth for the whole of last year was just 0.1% – although figures measuring the size of the economy can be revised upwards or downwards several months later.
What is a recession and how could it affect me?
How does government borrowing work?
How will the UK economy compare to others in 2024?
What could be in the Budget?
The government has hinted that it wants to cut taxes. But it has also tried to manage expectations by suggesting there may not be enough money to make big changes.
Recent figures on government borrowing suggest he could have a few billion pounds to play with, but only because some tax rises have already been accounted for.
National Insurance rates
The big headline-grabber would be a cut to the basic rate of income tax.
Cutting it by 1p would cost £7bn, according to the Resolution Foundation – an independent think-tank focused on improving living standards for those on low to middle incomes.
Or, the government could spend the same amount cancelling the personal allowance freeze. Allowing the threshold of when you start paying income tax to rise in line with inflation would mean lots of people paying less tax.
National Insurance calculator: What will I pay now?
99% mortgages
According to reports in the Financial Times newspaper, the chancellor is looking at introducing 99% mortgages.
This could make it easier for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder, only needing a 1% deposit while the government acts as a partial backer.
But some experts have raised concerns that such a move would not address the need to build more homes across the UK, and owners could end up in negative equity if the value of their home goes down, where their debts are more than the value of the property.
Inheritance tax
A cut in inheritance tax has generally been described as a break for the better-off. You do not pay inheritance tax on estates worth less than £325,000.
Nevertheless, the chancellor may look at changing that threshold to reflect rising house prices and investments.
What is inheritance tax and who pays it?
Abolishing it altogether would cost £7bn, according to think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and benefit just 4% of the population.
Childcare
Childcare reforms take effect from April to expand the free sessions available to families.
But in January, the chancellor acknowledged that the High Income Child Benefit charge could be “unfair”.
Claimants currently have to pay back 1% of their family’s child benefit for every extra £100 they earn over the £50,000 threshold each financial year.
One person earning £60,000 wouldn’t get any child benefit under the current rules, while a dual-income family with two parents earning £50,000 would receive the full amount.
The chancellor may decide to raise the threshold at which this applies.
How does 15 hours and 30 free hours childcare work?
Fuel duty
Fuel duty has been frozen since 2011, making it hard to take the brake off now.
But a 5p fuel duty increase has been pencilled in for later in March.
The Resolution Foundation calculates scrapping it would cost £2bn next year.
Holiday lets
The government has already said it is clamping down on holiday lets.
We may hear more about new controls on holiday lets in England, which will be introduced in the summer to stop local people from being unable to afford living in their own community.
The changes mean people may need to seek permission from the council to turn their home into a short-term let.
Does the Budget affect all parts of the UK?
Some parts of the Budget, such as defence spending, affect the whole of the UK.
Others, such as education, only affect England. This is because Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make their own decisions on this policy area.
Scotland has income tax-raising powers, which means its rates differ from the rest of the UK.
The Scottish government set out its budget for the 2024-2025 tax year in December.
From April, those earning between £75,000 and £125,140 in Scotland will pay a new “advanced” rate of 45%, and the top rate of tax is increasing to 48%.
If the government announces extra spending on areas that only affect England, the other nations get an equivalent extra sum of money to spend as they choose, according to a rule called the Barnett formula.
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Typical energy bill to fall £238 a year from April under new price cap
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By Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent
The typical annual energy bill will fall to £1,690 from April to the lowest for two years under the new price cap set by the regulator.
It means a drop of £238 a year, or around £20 a month, for a household using a typical amount of energy.
Lower wholesale prices paid by suppliers have led to the cut in the price cap for April to June, which will bring some relief to billpayers.
But campaigners said bills are still high and many will struggle to pay.
Energy prices are now at their lowest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, even after April’s drop, bills will remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
The regulator’s price cap affects 29 million households in England, Wales and Scotland. Rules are different in Northern Ireland, where prices are also falling.
Ofgem sets the maximum amount suppliers can charge for each unit of gas and electricity but not the total bill – so if you use more, you will pay more.
Specifically, in England, Wales and Scotland:
Gas prices will be capped at 6p per kilowatt hour (kWh), and electricity at 24p per kWh. That compares to the current gas price of 7.42p per kWh and 28.62p per kWh for electricity
Households on prepayment meters will pay the same as those on direct debit
Those who pay their bills every three months by cash or cheque will pay more
Standing charges – a fixed daily charge covering the costs of connecting to a supply – have risen to 60p a day for electricity and 31p a day for gas, although they vary by region
The regulator will add £28 to everyone’s bill over a year to cover the cost of dealing with £3.1bn of debt that customers owe to suppliers.
Energy prices explained
Energy firms will contact customers before April to inform them of the new prices.
However, whether customers’ direct debits fall automatically may depend on whether they have a surplus balance with their energy supplier. If people feel they are paying too much they should contact their supplier to discuss cutting payments.
Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “It’s good news that the cost of energy is falling, but the impact of sky-high prices will be felt for years to come.”
‘I wear as many clothes as possible’
Families – like mum Sam, from Greater Manchester, and her sons Reuben, eight, and Jenson, 10 – have been working hard to keep bills down by cutting their energy usage.
“I put the heating on in the morning, just to give it a little blast when the boys get up and then maybe at the evening time just for an hour, but we just try and cut back as much as possible. And I wear as many clothes, coats and things, as I can especially when I’m working from home.
“The boys are very aware of it because we talk openly about it,” she said. “That’s why, as much as they do think I’m always nagging them, it’s just about trying to save money and save on energy.”
She said that the lower prices would take the pressure off and give “a little bit of room in the budget” but they would continue to save energy as much as they can.
The fall in energy prices has raised the prospect of suppliers trying to attract new customers by offering improved deals.
Richard Neudegg from online price comparison website USwitch said: “We expect there to be increased competition on the market now prices are set to fall in April.”
The vast majority of people pay by direct debit, with payments smoothed out over the year. However, those who pay via prepayment meter – so pay for energy as they use it – would have benefitted more had the cut come over the winter.
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said that by April, energy bills for the average household will have fallen by £690 since the peak of the crisis.
“But there are still big issues that we must tackle head-on to ensure we build a system that’s more resilient for the long term and fairer to customers,” he said.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Brearley said the regulator was looking at standing charges – a fixed daily amount which covers the costs of connecting to a supply.
There has been criticism about increases to these charges, and some have argued they should be abolished.
But Mr Brearley said the issues were complex: “The analysis we’ve done says there’s a large group who are made somewhat better off [by abolishing it], but there’s a big but slightly smaller group who are made significantly worse off.”
Support wound down
In the winter of 2022-23, overall energy prices were high and rises would have been bigger had it not been for the government’s Energy Price Guarantee limiting the typical bill to £2,500.
Each household also received £400 of support over six months, but the government did not repeat the discount this winter.
Cost-of-living payments seem set to end following a final instalment this month, and no plans have been announced for a continuation of the Household Support Fund, which councils use to offer direct support.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt could choose to address future support when he presents his Budget on 6 March.
A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security said: “We’ve halved inflation and energy prices are now significantly lower than their peak – but we recognise the challenges families are still facing.”
Labour’s shadow energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said: “Whilst it is welcome the price cap is coming down, the truth is that energy bills are still far too high for hardworking families.”
What can I do if I can’t afford my energy bill?
Check your direct debit: Your monthly payment is based on your estimated energy use for the year. Your supplier can reduce your bill if your actual use is less than the estimation.
Pay what you can: If you can’t meet your direct debit or quarterly payments, ask your supplier for an “able to pay plan” based on what you can afford.
Claim what you are entitled to: Check you are claiming all the benefits you can. The independent MoneyHelper website has a useful guide.
Read more here
Are your energy costs still high? Please share your experiences by emailing [email protected].
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Lloyds sets aside £450m for car finance probe
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Banking giant Lloyds has set aside £450m to cover the potential cost of an investigation into car finance deals by the UK’s financial regulator.
A probe into whether people had been paying too much for cars was launched by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last month.
Brokers who arranged car financing earned commission on the interest rates that they set for customers.
Lloyds revealed the provision as it announced a big rise in annual profits.
The bank said pre-tax profits jumped to £7.5bn last year, which was higher than expected and up 57% from the year before.
Watchdog to investigate compensation over car loans
The FCA announced last month that it would investigate whether people who believe they were charged too much for car loans were owed compensation.
Under what were called discretionary commission arrangements, some lenders had allowed car dealers to adjust interest rates on loans, which would improve the commission they received. In short, the higher the interest rate, the higher the commission.
As a result, these deals created an incentive for brokers to increase how much people were charged for their car loan.
In 2021, the FCA banned these arrangements, saying it would collectively save drivers £165m a year.
The amount that Lloyds eventually pays to cover compensation could be higher or lower than the initial amount it has set aside.
However, Lloyds is seen as the most exposed of the major banks to any claims, as it owns one of UK’s largest motor finance providers, Black Horse.
Some analysts have claimed that the total compensation bill could run into the billions.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Lloyds chief executive Charlie Nunn said: “The extent of any misconduct or loss on behalf of customers, if any, remains unclear so we welcome the FCA’s announcement a few weeks ago to look in to this to provide clarity for customer and the industry.”
Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the £450m set aside by the bank was “less than some had feared but there will be question marks around how Lloyds has come to that figure”.
“Lloyds has been honest in saying the outcome of the review is largely unknown,” he added. “What we do know is that Lloyds is one of the more exposed banks should the FCA deem there was misconduct and customer loss.”
Have you made a complaint about car finance brokers? Do you think you have been overcharged? Share your experiences by emailing [email protected].
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25 January
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28 July 2020
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Government finances show big surplus in January
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By Lucy Hooker
Business reporter, BBC News
The government finances showed a large surplus last month, more than double the surplus last January.
The surplus – the difference between spending and tax income – rose to £16.7bn in January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
These are the last set of public finance figures to be released before the Chancellor’s Budget in March.
Jeremy Hunt has hinted he wants to cut taxes, but analysts said the surplus is unlikely to lead to big changes.
Despite being the highest surplus in nominal terms since monthly records began in 1993, it was lower than most economists had predicted.
But it is still likely to fuel calls for tax cuts in the forthcoming Budget, which many see as the government’s last chance to win round voters before a general election later this year.
The ONS said the surplus was the result of higher tax receipts and lower spending, with the government no longer subsiding household energy bills for example.
Every January, the government tends to take more in tax than it spends in other months due to the amount it receives in self-assessed taxes, according to the ONS.
In addition, the cost of financing the UK’s debt has gone down as inflation has fallen.
“Overall expenditure was down on this time last year, despite increased spending on public services and benefits,” said Jessica Barnaby, deputy director for public sector at the ONS.
Chief secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott said: “While we will not speculate over whether further reductions in tax will be affordable in the Budget, the economy is beginning to turn a corner, with inflation down from over 11% to 4%.”
For the year as a whole, to April, the government is only on track to undershoot its forecast by between £10bn to £20bn. Chancellors usually allow some headroom in the finances, to allow for unforeseen changes in economic fortunes.
How does government borrowing work?
Hunt mulls public service squeeze to fund tax cuts
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown said the figures represented a boost to the chancellor’s coffers, but were not big enough for a “Budget bonanza”.
“It offers a few inches of headroom for Hunt, but not enough for a Budget of dramatic tax cuts,” she said.
Capital Economics, an economics think tank, suggested using the added room for manoeuvre that the chancellor will have as a result of the surplus amounted to “putting the election before prudence”.
In the year from April 2023 public borrowing has totalled £96.6bn.
Overall the UK’s debt has risen compared to a year ago and remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s, the ONS said, at around 96.5% of the size of the economy, measured by GDP.
One of the government’s key pledges is that debt should be falling as a percentage of GDP in five years’ time.
The debate over whether January’s surplus in the government’s finances leaves room for tax cuts comes against a mixed economic backdrop.
The latest growth figures show that the UK went into a shallow recession in the second half of last year, although the governor of the Bank of England suggested this week that there were already “distinct signs of an upturn”.
The Resolution Foundation has warned that if the chancellor does cut tax in the forthcoming Budget, it would amount to a “tax sandwich” with any tax cut sitting between substantial tax rises in the years before and after it.
“Juicy tax cuts in this election year are sandwiched between far bigger tax rises already introduced last year. And highly unusually the government has already announced plans for a chunky package of tax rises that will come into effect after polling day,” said James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation.
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Cameron government knew Post Office ditched Horizon IT investigation
By Andy Verity
BBC economics correspondent
David Cameron’s government knew the Post Office had ditched a secret investigation that might have helped wrongly accused postmasters prove their innocence, the BBC can reveal.
The 2016 investigation trawled 17 years of records to find out how often, and why, cash accounts on the Horizon IT system had been tampered with remotely.
Ministers were told an investigation was happening.
But after postmasters began legal action, it was suddenly stopped.
The secret investigation adds to evidence that the Post Office knew Horizon’s creator, Fujitsu, could remotely fiddle with sub-postmaster’s cash accounts – even as it argued in court, two years later, that it was impossible.
The revelations have prompted an accusation that the Post Office may have broken the law – and the government did nothing to prevent it. Paul Marshall, a barrister who represented some sub-postmasters, said: “On the face of it, it discloses a conspiracy by the Post Office to pervert the course of justice.”
Why were hundreds of Post Office workers prosecuted?
Senopathy Narenthiran, known as Naren, a convicted sub-postmaster from Ramsgate in Kent who joined the legal action, wiped away a tear as he learned about the information that might have helped his case.
“By knowing all this, why do we waste all our time in the prison and separate from our family? I don’t know,” he told the BBC. “I’m 69 years old – too old to go through all these things.”
The secret investigation was uncovered through a BBC analysis of confidential government documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, from a time in 2015 and 2016 when the Post Office was under growing pressure to get to the bottom of sub-postmasters’ claims of injustice.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters had been prosecuted and jailed for cash shortfalls which were in fact caused by the Horizon IT system. They had long suspected that remote tinkering may have contributed to the problem.
The documents show how the secret 2016 investigation – looking into Fujitsu’s use of remote access from 1999 onwards – had come out of a review by former top Treasury lawyer Jonathan Swift QC. The Swift review had been ordered by the government, with approval from then-business secretary Sajid Javid.
It would conclude that it had found “real issues” for the Post Office.
Mr Swift had found a briefing for the Post Office board from an earlier review in 2014, carried out by auditors from Deloitte and codenamed Project Zebra, detailing how Fujitsu could change branch accounts.
Having seen that evidence, the Swift review said the Post Office must carry out a further investigation into how often and why this capability was used.
Deloitte returned in February 2016 to begin the trawl of all Horizon transactions since its launch 17 years earlier.
Ministers, including Mr Javid, were told this new work was under way to “address suggestions that branch accounts might have been remotely altered without complainants’ knowledge”.
But in June 2016, when sub-postmasters launched their legal action, the government was told through Post Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe that the investigation had been scrapped on “very strong advice” from the senior barrister representing them.
There is no evidence in the documents that then-prime minister David Cameron knew about the investigation or that it had been ditched.
It meant that over two years, the Post Office had spent millions of pounds on three separate reviews into remote access – Project Zebra, the Swift review and the 2016 Deloitte investigation – while publicly claiming it was impossible.
But all three were buried by the Post Office. Neither the Swift review nor Project Zebra were disclosed to sub-postmasters, depriving them of vital information that could have helped them in court; and the Deloitte investigation was halted before it could deliver its findings.
Project Zebra, the first of the three reviews, was described as a “desktop review”. The Post Office board had hoped it would give “comfort about the Horizon system” to them and others outside the business who had concerns about it.
The consultants examined Horizon documents and talked to employees at Fujitsu and the Post Office to check how the system was functioning and whether it was achieving its objectives.
Unredacted documents obtained by the BBC show that in April 2014, members of a sub-committee of the Post Office board discussed Deloitte’s Project Zebra work.
The sub-committee included chief executive Paula Vennells, general counsel Chris Aujard and Richard Callard, a senior civil servant at the government body which owned the Post Office.
The next month, Deloitte submitted its full report and in June it wrote a briefing for the Post Office board, which outlined two separate ways Fujitsu could alter branch accounts. Extracts from the board briefing are quoted verbatim by the Swift review but the briefing itself has not been released.
It said the auditors had learned that authorised Fujitsu staff with the right database access privileges could use fake digital signatures or keys to delete, create or amend data on customer purchases that had been electronically signed by sub-postmasters. Fujitsu staff could then “re-sign it with a fake key”.
Deloitte said Fujitsu staff had also been able to correct errors using an emergency process known as a “balancing transaction”, which can “create transactions directly in branch ledgers”.
It noted the process “does not require positive acceptance or approval by the sub-postmaster”.
Yet the findings of Project Zebra were never disclosed to investigating accountants Second Sight who, since 2012, had been publicly tasked by the Post Office with looking in to sub-postmasters’ claims.
The Post Office continued to claim for a further five years that it was impossible for remote tinkering by Fujitsu to alter cash balances in Post Office branch accounts.
In 2015, it lied to BBC executives as it sought to prevent the broadcast of the first Panorama expose of the scandal, briefing them that there was “simply no evidence” that remote tinkering by Fujitsu could have caused branch losses.
The documents that have now been analysed by the BBC reveal that following the Panorama broadcast, Post Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe wrote to the incoming chairman, Tim Parker, asking him to give the concerns about possible miscarriages of justice his “earliest attention” and take any necessary action. Business Secretary Sajid Javid approved the letter.
Mr Parker said he would undertake a review of the Horizon system and “various claims that sub-postmasters had been wrongly prosecuted as a result of faults in the system”, according to a briefing sent to Mr Javid on 20 November 2015, which was heavily redacted in the released documents.
Mr Parker appointed Jonathan Swift QC and barrister Christopher Knight. They were so concerned about the implications of the Project Zebra documents, they said it was “incumbent” on the Post Office to find out how often these two means of altering branch accounts had been used, “in the light of the consistent impression given that they don’t exist at all”.
The Swift review, dated 8 February 2016, noted that the Post Office “had always known” about the balancing transaction capability.
It also said the Post Office may be obliged by law to show the documents to postmasters who were seeking to overturn their convictions.
In response to a recommendation in the Swift review, Deloitte was asked within days to return to the Post Office to carry out a full independent review of Horizon, following up on its work on Project Zebra.
The mammoth and expensive task was to trawl back through all the transactions since Horizon began operating – work which was anticipated to take three months.
In a letter of 4 March 2016, Post Office chair Tim Parker wrote to Baroness Neville-Rolfe about the Swift review’s findings and recommendations. That included informing her about Deloitte’s follow-up work.
He said it would “address suggestions that branch accounts might have been remotely altered without complainants’ knowledge” and review “security controls governing access to the digitally sealed electronic audit store of branch accounts”.
He added that he had “commissioned independent persons to undertake the necessary work”, and in a later briefing informed the minister that this was Deloitte.
The letter did not explicitly mention Project Zebra or Deloitte’s earlier findings about how branch accounts could be remotely altered.
In April, the Post Office notified the government that the sub-postmasters had begun their group legal action against it. Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Mr Javid were sent a briefing, updating them on the investigation’s progress and discussing how the legal action would affect it.
The briefing, sent before a meeting with Mr Parker, was heavily redacted when it was released under a Freedom of Information Act request. But it said Mr Parker was on track to complete the follow-up work by the end of May and would update Baroness Neville-Rolfe on its progress.
However, the documents seen by the BBC reveal that in June, Deloitte’s three-month investigation was suddenly stopped just before it could be completed.
On 21 June 2016, Tim Parker told Baroness Neville-Rolfe he had taken the decision on the advice of an unnamed senior barrister for the Post Office.
He told her the detailed work being carried out by Deloitte was “complex, costly and time consuming” but that good progress had been made. “I had hoped that by now I would be in a position to draw my investigation to a close,” Mr Parker wrote.
“However, given the High Court proceedings to which I refer above, Post Office Limited has received very strong advice from Leading Counsel that the work being undertaken under the aegis of my review should come to an immediate end… I have therefore instructed that the work being undertaken pursuant to my review should now be stopped.”
In response to the BBC’s questions, Mr Parker said he had “sought and acted upon the legal advice he was given”, but said it would not be appropriate to comment further while the public inquiry into the Horizon scandal was ongoing.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe told the BBC she had said publicly that she had instructed the Post Office chairman to commission an independent review, but declined to comment further while the inquiry was ongoing. Mr Javid also declined to comment because of the public inquiry.
In his High Court judgment at the end of the sub-postmasters’ legal action in 2019, judge Sir Peter Fraser found the Post Office’s defence claim – that Fujitsu could not insert transactions in branch accounts – was “simply untrue”. He said the Post Office had “expressly denied” that remote access was possible “and that denial is now shown to be wrong”.
The barrister who represented a number of wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters, Mr Marshall, told the BBC it looked as though the Post Office had conspired to pervert the course of justice.
“The important feature of all of this is that in 2014, it appears that the Post Office board was alive to the true position – that remote access by Fujitsu was possible,” he said.
“And yet the Post Office board was responsible for maintaining and advancing the Post Office’s defence to the sub-postmasters’ claim in 2019 – that it was impossible. That was false – and, it would appear, known to be so.”
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Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of the Post Office, did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment. Chris Aujard, then Post Office general counsel, and Richard Callard, the civil servant who represented the government on the board, declined to comment while the public inquiry was ongoing.
UK Government Investments (UKGI), the government body which owns the Post Office, addressed what the board knew about these successive reviews and investigations in an opening statement in 2022 to the ongoing public inquiry into the Horizon scandal.
It said there was no indication in the minutes of the Post Office board meeting in June 2014 that the board had received the Project Zebra briefing. UKGI said Mr Callard “does not recall ever receiving such a briefing”.
The statement said the board had not asked for a copy of Deloitte’s full report at the time of Project Zebra. UKGI said the board had been given an executive summary by the Post Office general counsel Chris Aujard, which was “focused on Deloitte’s approach to the review but importantly did not set out its findings”.
It said the board had also never received the 2016 Swift report, nor been briefed in detail on its findings. The statement said Tim Parker did not send Swift’s full report to the Post Office Board and that his letter of 4 March 2016 to Baroness Neville-Rolfe did not make clear how serious the Swift review’s findings were.
The revelations uncovered by the BBC also raise serious questions for the public inquiry by Sir Wyn Williams, as to whether it is adequately scrutinising what the government knew about the Post Office’s internal investigations.
In UKGI’s 2022 statement to the inquiry, there was no reference to Tim Parker’s letter to Baroness Neville-Rolfe of 21 June 2016, notifying her he was calling off Deloitte’s investigation.
In 2018, two years after completing his review, Sir Jonathan Swift, formerly First Treasury Counsel – the top civil lawyer at Her Majesty’s Treasury – was appointed to be a High Court judge. He received a knighthood in the same year.
However, in the list of upcoming witnesses at the Williams inquiry, his name is absent.
Timeline: What ministers knew and when
June 2014: Deloitte submits a briefing for the Post Office board on Project Zebra, outlining how Fujitsu can alter branch accounts or change records of transactions remotely.
10 September 2015: Business Secretary Sajid Javid approves a letter from Post Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe to Post Office chair Tim Parker, urging him to take “any necessary action” about Horizon, after a Panorama whistleblower reveals how Fujitsu can remotely alter postmaster’s accounts.
20 November 2015: Mr Javid is briefed that Mr Parker is undertaking a review into the Post Office IT system to look into claims that sub-postmasters have been wrongly prosecuted as a result of faults in the system.
8 February 2016: The resulting report by Jonathan Swift QC and barrister Christopher Knight recommends a full independent investigation into how often and why Fujitsu altered accounts and records “throughout the lifetime” of Horizon.
4 March 2016: Mr Parker tells Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Mr Javid he has commissioned “independent persons” to address “suggestions that branch accounts might have been remotely altered without complainants’ knowledge”.
21 June 2016: In a letter, Mr Parker tells Baroness Neville-Rolfe that in the light of the sub-postmasters’ group legal action, on “very strong advice from leading counsel”, the investigation by Deloitte has been immediately stopped. It never completes its work.
Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Share your experiences by emailing [email protected].
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Currys takeover battle looms as JD.com eyes bid
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Currys could be at the centre of a takeover battle after Chinese e-commerce group JD.com said it was considering an offer for the company.
The potential bid emerged after Currys said at the weekend it had rejected a £700m takeover approach from US investment firm Elliott.
JD.com said it was “in the very preliminary stages” of evaluating a possible bid for the retailer.
Currys’ share price jumped by more than 30% as trading began on Monday.
The retailer has more than 800 stores globally and employs 28,000 people. In the UK, it operates about 300 stores with 15,000 staff.
On Saturday, Currys said it had turned down a takeover approach from Elliot of 62p per share, which would have valued it at about £700m, saying the offer “significantly undervalued” the company.
However, reports suggest that Elliott, which bought UK book shop chain Waterstones in 2018, could come back with a higher offer.
Currys’ share price has fallen by more than a third over the past year and on Friday, it closed at 47.08p, valuing the business at about £534m.
Following reports that it was also a potential bidder for Currys, JD.com issued a statement saying it was “in the very preliminary stages of evaluating a possible transaction that may include a cash offer” for the UK retailer.
“There can be no certainty that any offer will ultimately be made for Currys, nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made,” JD.com added.
The rising cost of living has hit many retailers as consumers rein in spending, and Currys said last month that underlying sales had fallen 3% over the key Christmas trading period.
Despite this, the company increased its profit forecast for the year helped by cost cuts and higher profit margins on some of its services.
As well as the Currys stores in the UK and Ireland, the business trades under the Elkjøp brand in the Nordic region.
In November the company announced a deal to sell its Greek business, which trades under the Kotsovolos brand, for £175m.
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Post Office scandal: £10k payout 'cruel', says bankrupt victim
By Emma Simpson
Business correspondent, BBC News
Tony Downey can feel his heart racing a little as he walks up the main street in Hawkshead, a pretty village in the Lake District. It’s the first time he’s been back since he fled abroad after losing his livelihood and health from the Horizon Post Office scandal.
“We didn’t even say goodbye, we were too embarrassed. We just ran,” he says.
He went bankrupt two months after selling his post office and shop when he could no longer cover the shortfalls in his accounts.
But he’s only ended up with £10,000 in compensation so far – way less than what he has lost.
“It’s an insult, it’s cruel… I should still be [in the post office]. I have no career, no money, no pension, no nothing. They took that all away from me.”
Now, Tony’s battle for financial redress is being seen as a test case by his legal team dealing with most of the bankruptcy cases in the biggest and earliest Horizon compensation scheme.
Tony, 56, bought the Hawkshead post office in 2001. Over the next six years he and his wife Caroline were forced to put in £35,000 of their own savings to make up for “losses” which never existed.
Instead, a faulty computer system called Horizon was to blame. They couldn’t afford to put in another £7,000 when the shortfalls continued.
“We had no money left, so we resigned. And I told them I was selling the post office. Which we did manage to do to be able to pay most of our debts off, but we were short, so we were advised to declare bankruptcy.”
Tony was already suffering from stress and anxiety from all the financial pressure. At one point, he says he was suicidal.
“I was terrified of driving because I thought: I’ll kill myself. Somehow I managed to keep it together until it was sold and then that was it… I just fell apart.”
Blaming himself, Tony felt too ashamed to stay in their small community.
Tony Downey
They withdrew their daughter from school and fled, without the chance for her to say goodbye to her childhood friends.
“We just ran away,” Tony says. Afterwards, he had a nervous breakdown and has not worked since.
He and Caroline have been living in a small, rented apartment in southern Spain to be close to his parents for support. His £120-a-week income is made up of benefit payments.
Then, just 18 months ago, he found out about the Horizon failures.
Tony filled out his application form for compensation from the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS). When the Post Office responded with an offer, it admitted that Horizon was responsible for the losses at his branch, but it denied it caused him to go bankrupt.
After Tony sold the post office and shop, he paid off a £60,000 commercial loan which was guaranteed against his wife’s parents’ home as he could not face putting it at risk.
But the Post Office said Tony should have paid off his other debts first. As a result, he’s only been paid £10,000 in damages for personal suffering so far.
Tony was awarded £140,000 to make up for his shortfalls and 26 months of lost income plus interest, but the money’s been swallowed up by his debts and goes straight to the Official Receiver to pay off his creditors. He’ll receive any surplus that’s left.
Tony is now being represented by Hudgell Solicitors who are challenging his offer.
“Tony’s been incredibly short-changed,” says Neil Hudgell, partner in the firm.
He argues that if the Post Office had admitted causing Tony’s bankruptcy, it would have meant far higher compensation – potentially covering 17 years of lost income as he has not been able to work.
“It is a particularly cruel irony for sub-postmasters to be deprived of compensation the Post Office is due to pay, given it was the Post Office which, in many cases, caused the financial collapse which preceded these bankruptcies,” says Mr Hudgell.
Tony Downey
“When we took the post office on we had no debts,” Tony says. The business was running amazingly well. But taking £35,000 from us had a massive effect… we didn’t want to go bankrupt.”
“I now have no career, no money, no pension, no nothing… they took that all away from me.”
“At the moment, they are not even close to putting me back to where I would’ve been, but they have to admit causation to do that.”
There are now 74 bankruptcy cases in the Horizon Shortfall Compensation Scheme.
The Post Office told the BBC that to date, it had accepted causation of bankruptcy in 25 of them. 17 have been settled although it’s not clear if the claimants did so with any legal advice.
Neil Hudgell’s firm is dealing with more than 40, trying to “unravel the true picture” and warns that some former subpostmasters and postmistresses may see time run out before a resolution is reached.
He believes Mr Downey has “a very strong” case and that the HSS has got it wrong when it refused to accept the Post Office caused his client to go bankrupt.
“Tony had essentially no debt before taking on the Post Office. He went bankrupt within two months of leaving… He was cash generative until he’d seen the problems with Horizon,” he says.
Bankruptcy adds a layer of complication to what are already complex cases – they’re taking the longest to solve, adding to years of anguish.
“We need to start giving subpostmasters the benefit of the doubt. They don’t have the documentation that backs up aspects of their claim in many instances. So, it’s about trying to reduce the legal war of attrition, looking at things in the round, and doing the right and fair and proper thing,” believes Mr Hudgell.
On his first visit back to the village he left behind, Tony feels nervous but validated.
His battle is far from over but after all these years he wants to “wave my little piece of paper, saying it wasn’t me… It wasn’t me.”
His old post office is no longer there. It shut more than a year ago. The building has now been let to a nursery.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “We do not comment on individual cases, but we fully recognise that recompensing victims of the Horizon IT scandal who have been declared bankrupt or insolvent as a consequence of Horizon shortfalls has been a complicated and lengthy process – for which we apologise.
“All offers made under the Horizon Shortfall Scheme are assessed by an independent panel which includes forensic accounting specialists. Any individual in receipt of an offer is entitled to dispute the amount and seek legal advice on the offer received, the cost of that independent legal advice is reimbursed by Post Office.”
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Tata Steel workers to vote on strikes amid job peril
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By Jack Grey
BBC News
Steelworkers’ unions will ballot members on strike action in response to job losses at Tata Steel.
Community reached a formal mandate to let members vote on strikes, while Unite will hold a ballot on 1 March.
Tata has announced plans to reduce emissions at its Port Talbot site, putting nearly 2,000 jobs at risk.
Community boss Roy Rickhuss said the union was “prepared to fight for our industry”.
No way blast furnaces can stay, says Tata boss
Half of Port Talbot Tata jobs at risk, unions told
Tata job cuts ‘devastating’ for UK steel – union
“Industrial action is always a last resort but Tata’s actions mean we now have to prepare for that eventuality,” said Mr Rickhuss for Community, the union representing the most steelworkers.
He said recent statements from Tata indicates the company is “determined to impose its devastating proposals”, making a “complete mockery of the ongoing consultation process”.
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“There is still time for Tata to change their position, but as things stand we are heading towards a major industrial dispute,” Mr Rickhuss added.
“We are preparing for that ballot to take place as soon as is practically possible.
Unite said its plans for a ballot were complete.
“Unite will fully support its members during any industrial dispute, with any resources needed, including its multimillion pound strike fund,” said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.
Tata Steel Port Talbot job losses
Tata has said 2,423 jobs across the UK are at risk, with 1,929 of those in Port Talbot, which employs 3,859 people.
The firm plans to replace existing, and heavily polluting, blast furnaces at the site with greener electric arc furnaces.
There will be a phased closure of the site’s two blast furnaces, with the first furnace and coke ovens expected to cease operation by the middle of the year.
A winding down of its remaining heavy-end assets will follow in the latter half of 2024.
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Alun Davies, Community’s national officer for steel, said: “No worker ever relishes the prospect of going on strike” but that workers are “being pushed ever-closer to that option”.
“Tata’s plan represented the cheapest option on the table and it is bad for jobs, bad for the economy, bad for the environment and bad for national security. We will not accept it,” he said.
“We will not stand back and allow our livelihoods, our communities and the UK’s steelmaking capacity to be thrown on the scrap heap.”
Analysis by Huw Thomas, Business Correspondent
Just two weeks into the formal consultation with Tata and the major union representing steelworkers is clearly exasperated.
Community’s move towards industrial action is swift but not surprising.
It regularly floated the possibility of future strike action during months of talks with Tata, and the lack of any early progress during the formal consultation period has given it the opportunity to ratchet up the intensity of its opposition.
The union primarily represent workers in the heavy end of steelmaking in Port Talbot, those whose jobs will disappear along with the blast furnace production that houses them.
Its announcement comes on the eve of mass rallies staged by multiple unions in Port Talbot and Newport, where the aim is to harness further public and political support for their campaign to save steelmaking.
Tata Steel’s objectives seem clear and immovable, and the company is unlikely to make concessions in response to the rallies or a looming industrial dispute.
A Tata Steel spokesperson said: “Much of our existing iron and steelmaking operation in Port Talbot is at the end of its life, is unreliable and inefficient, and contributing to losses of £1.7m a day in the last quarter alone.
“Our restructuring proposals would mean that we are able to sustain the business as we transition to new electric arc furnace technology.
“We believe we have a very exciting future ahead, providing the high quality, low-CO2 steels that our customers in the UK and overseas are so desperate for.”
The UK government said it would help staff at a “concerning time for Tata’s employees”, adding it had committed £80m in direct support for those affected.
The Welsh government has called for further talks on a longer transition at Port Talbot to protect jobs.
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Shopping rebounds on supermarkets and January sales
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Retail sales rebounded in January as shoppers flocked to stock up on food at supermarkets and take advantage of new year bargains.
Official figures revealed a 3.4% jump in sales following a record drop in December.
Food sales at supermarkets rose strongly while department stores reported a positive impact from January sales.
However, inflation remained elevated with people paying more for less.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the value of goods people bought in January went up 3.9%, compared to the 3.4% increase in the volume of products they purchased.
“Sales increased across nearly all retail sectors and it was a particularly strong month for supermarkets,” said Heather Bovill, deputy director for surveys and economic indicators at the ONS.
“Household goods stores, sports shops and department store retailers were among those reporting robust trading due to January sales promotions.”
Shop sales fell sharply in December which the ONS attributed to people shopping earlier for Christmas during Black Friday sales in November.
But it also said that 46% of nearly 2,400 people that it surveyed last year said they planned to spend less on Christmas food or gifts “because of the rising cost of living”.
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X took payment from terrorists, campaigners say
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By Faarea Masud & Natalie Sherman
Business reporters
Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, granted subscription perks to designated terrorist groups and others barred from operating in the US, according to campaigners.
The Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found X had granted blue check marks to accounts tied to Hezbollah members, among others.
For $8 (£6.40) a month, a tick allows longer posts and better promotion.
X removed some ticks after the report, saying its security was “robust”.
Mr Musk’s decision to charge for check marks was one of the most controversial changes he made after he bought Twitter in 2022, with critics saying the move would make issues of disinformation worse, opening the platform to impersonators.
The badge was previously free, meant to indicate that the social media platform had verified the identity behind the account.
Many of the recipients were journalists, as well as world leaders and celebrities.
In some cases, those included people facing sanctions in the US, which opened the company to criticism that it was giving a platform to the wrong people and accusations that it was breaking US sanctions law.
Now that the system is paid, however, “X may be raising new legal issues,” the Tech Transparency Project said.
It said X had removed the ticks from the accounts it had identified after its report was published.
The TTP said an account run by Ansar Allah, known as the Houthis, had also seemingly paid for its blue check mark. The check mark has now been removed. The account has over 23,000 followers. The Houthis are sanctioned in both the US and UK. The UK government says on its website that it has sanctioned the Houthis “to disrupt their ability to attack international shipping in the Red Sea, and to promote Yemen’s peace, stability and security”.
The US Treasury, which outlines organisations the US will not trade with, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.
“The U.S. imposes sanctions on individuals, groups, and countries deemed to be a threat to national security. Elon Musk’s X appears to be selling premium service to some of them”, the TTP wrote in its report.
“A blue checkmark account that bears the name and profile image of Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, also indicates it is ‘ID verified’, a service that X offers to premium subscribers as a way to prevent impersonation. X requires users to submit a government-issued ID and a selfie to get verified in this way, though it is unclear if Nasrallah did so”, it added.
Posting on X, the firm’s team in charge of safety wrote that its subscription process was “adhering to legal obligations”, and was independently screened by X’s payment providers.
“Several of the accounts listed in the Tech Transparency Report are not directly named on sanction lists, while some others may have visible account check marks without receiving any services that would be subject to sanctions”, X wrote, adding that the firm would “take action if necessary” after reviewing TTP’s report.
The TTP responded to the post saying even though some of the organisations were not named on the US sanctions list, they were owned by entities that are under US sanctions.
The director of the TTP Katie Paul told the New York Times that it was a sign that X had “lost control of its platform”.
The owner of X, Elon Musk – who is also the chief executive of Tesla and one of the world’s richest people – has previously said that he wants the social media platform to be like a “town square”, advocating the right to free speech, while also removing illegal content.
But some decisions following Mr Musk’s takeover of X have been controversial, including the reinstatement of rapper Kanye West’s account in 2023 after an almost eight-month ban over offensive posts including antisemitic comments.
The TTP identified other accounts that had seemingly paid-for subscription accounts, including one belonging to NTV, a state-controlled television channel in Russia. The US made trade with Russia illegal after its invasion of Ukraine.
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Abuse and attacks on UK shop workers rises to 1,300 incidents a day
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Violence and abuse against shop workers rose to 1,300 incidents a day last year, according to a leading trade body.
Incidents against staff were up by 50% in the year to September 2023, up from 870 incidents a day the year before.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) criticised the “woefully inadequate” action taken by the government to address the “crisis”.
The Home Office has been contacted for a comment.
The amount lost to shoplifting in the past year was the highest on record, a BRC survey found.
Several business leaders have called for violence against shop workers to be made a standalone offence in England and Wales, as it already is in Scotland.
The BRC said incidents against retail staff ranged from racial abuse and sexual harassment to physical assault and threats with weapons.
It said about 8,800 of the total incidents across the year resulted in injury.
The BRC survey found that theft by customers had doubled to 16.7 million incidents a year, up from eight million.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC said that “despite retailers investing huge sums in crime prevention, violence and abuse against retail workers is climbing.
“No one should have to go to work fearing for their safety. This is a crisis that demands action now.”
Violence against Co-op shop workers rises sharply
Shoplifting an epidemic, says John Lewis boss
Retailers had lost £1.8bn in the latest year due to shoplifting, the BRC said, which is the highest amount on record and the first time it has surpassed the £1bn mark.
Some retailers surveyed said the cost-of-living crisis had changed how shoplifters operated, from taking one or two items to many.
Incidents against staff tripled during the Covid-19 pandemic and have remained much higher since then.
Retailers have spent about £1.2bn on crime prevention measures including CCTV, increased security personnel, and body worn cameras.
The BRC said the government’s Retail Crime Action Plan provided “hope” as it pledged a police commitment to prioritise crime scenes where there has been violence against a shop worker.
Speaking at the plan’s launch last October, Policing Minister Chris Philp said he wanted a “a new zero-tolerance approach to tackling shoplifting”.
In an open letter organised by the Institute of Customer Service in November, more than 50 businesses including John Lewis and the Post Office, as well as several MPs, urged the government to ensure assaults on shop workers were better recorded.
This would include recording such crimes separately in police statistics, they said.
The Co-op said violence against shop workers rose sharply last year with 1,325 physical attacks on staff in 2023.
In September, the boss of John Lewis said shoplifting had become an “epidemic” in the past year.
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