Housing market ‘favours buyers’

Six out of 10 home movers believe the current market favours buyers, with people in Scotland the most likely to hold this opinion and Londoners the least likely, a study from property analyst Rightmove has found.

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Stark warning over shrinking wages

Workers are suffering from poor earnings growth, rising household debt and a widening pay gap with bosses - despite becoming more productive over the past 30 years, according to a new study.

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Warning on credit card tax payments

An increasing number of businesses are struggling to pay their tax bills after new figures show a growing number are using credit cards to make their payments.

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Homeowners ‘pay less than tenants’

Owning a home has become more than £100 a month cheaper than renting, with a widening gap emerging, research suggests.

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Tougher scrutiny for payday lenders

Payday lenders will face tougher scrutiny under the new financial regulator, which will have beefed-up powers to behave proactively and impose unlimited fines on firms who breach the rules, the Government has confirmed.

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Lagarde backs UK austerity measures

The Government's austerity package remains "the right thing to do", the head of the International Monetary Fund has said in a boost for Chancellor George Osborne.

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Strike ‘excuse’ for tax form delay

A planned strike by tax workers can be used as a "reasonable excuse" for missing the January 31 deadline for filing self-assessment returns, HM Revenue and Customs has said.

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£2,500 Olympic bonus for DLR staff

A "truly groundbreaking" pay deal has been announced which union leaders said would earn transport staff up to £2,500 for working during the Olympic Games.

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RBS ‘urged to halve Hester bonus’

Royal Bank of Scotland is said to be coming under pressure from the Government to halve chief executive Stephen Hester's bonus.

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Lord Carey backs benefits reform

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has thrown his weight behind the Government's plans to introduce a £26,000 benefits cap, arguing the current welfare system is rewarding "fecklessness and irresponsibility".

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