By Mark Fairlie. Britons are expected to spend £36,190,000 on international driving permits if an agreement over the terms of the UK’s departure from the European Union. The sum was calculated by MiDrive, a company offering a UK-based toolkit for learner drivers and instructors, based upon a survey it carried out suggesting that 20% of [...]
By Mark Fairlie. The Office of National Statistics has released a report showing that, out of 17,000 items for sale, 206 had shrunk in size while 79 had increased. The practice of keeping the price of the product the same but reducing it in size is referred to as “shrinkflation.” Bread and cereals, personal care [...]
By Mark Fairlie. One of the UK’s most important business sectors, financial services, has seen a contraction in demand during the last three months of 2018, according to the latest CBI/PwC Financial Services Survey. While 24% of the 84 firms which responded to the survey saw an increase in the level of business, 32% reported [...]
By Mark Fairlie. Online tradespeople quote finding service MyJobQuote.co.uk has released the results of a survey of 2,561 homeowners which has revealed that nearly one-third of Brits have no money saved up for a rainy day. The primary reasons given for the lack of household savings was “not having enough money” and a belief that [...]
By Mark Fairlie. From 9th January 2019, it will be illegal to make unsolicited calls or texts to people on any aspect of their current pension provision. Companies which do not obey the new law will be liable for fines of up to £500,000 as the Government seeks to deter scams, which, according to the [...]
By Mark Fairlie. The level of combined credit card debt across all accounts in the UK rose by £400m taking the total to £72.5bn, according to the Bank of England. The Bank stated that, after adjusting for inflation, the amount owed by British consumers is slightly below the amount owed in the first quarter of [...]
By Mark Fairlie. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is pressing for a major shake-up of the professional services firm sector. Currently dominated by four firms - Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC – they perform 97% of the UK’s company audits in addition to the provision of other services, according to BBC News. Companies must [...]
By Mark Fairlie. Directors of certain types of limited companies which cold-call consumers are now personally liable for fines of up to £500,000 after a change in law came into effect, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Companies affected are in the personal injury and payment protection insurance claims sectors covering attempted contacts, where [...]
By Mark Fairlie. Around 2 million TSB customers were unable to log in to the bank’s website on Wednesday morning until after 10 am that day following IT maintenance work which overran. Although customers were able to log into the mobile phone app, TSB apologised stating that “we’re really sorry the planned maintenance overnight for [...]
By Mark Fairlie. More evidence that the High Street is struggling was released today in a joint survey carried out by the Retail Consortium and analysis firm Springboard. The survey discovered that footfall in shopping centres, retail parks, and High Streets fell by 3.2% year on year in November to its lowest level since the [...]