Amazon stages Hull jobs fair ahead of new warehouse opening
Information was provided about warehouse operative roles.Beth Dawson, who attended the event, said: "I thought this would be a great opportunity for me because I keep getting rejected from jobs. I hope I'll be able to get a job and start as soon as possible." She said it was "really hard" to find employment and welcomed the opportunity to meet with Amazon representatives."I've always thought somewhere like Amazon would be a great opportunity," she said. Another jobseeker, Hussain, who did not want to give his surname, added: "I'm looking for a job and I heard about it through the employment hub. I'd like an administrative job but at the end of the day any kind of job because I really badly need a job."
Amazon spokesman Neil Williams said: "There's a range of jobs and a wide variety of roles ranging from IT through to robotics engineers and HR professionals. There's a huge range of skills we will be looking for in recruitment and we're looking for people who want to develop a career." Drake-Davis said the decision by Amazon to invest is "a real shot in the arm for the area's employment opportunities".Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices
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Telegraph
43 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Middle-class families could face higher water bills to subsidise poorer households
Middle-class families could face higher water bills under new plans to subsidise the costs of low income households. Labour ministers will be urged to introduce a nationwide scheme that would see poorer families given huge discounts on their charges. The recommendation on creating a national social tariff will be presented to Sir Keir Starmer in a Government-ordered review of the water industry on Monday. The money to reduce water bills for poorer households would be most likely to be found by increasing bills for everyone else. Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow housing secretary, said: 'Family homes across middle England face soaring water bills under the Labour Government, thanks to the triple whammy of above-inflation hikes, higher tariffs on multi-person households, and robbing Peter to pay Paul to fund tariffs for those on welfare benefits. 'This is on top of council tax bills going through the roof, and pay packets being squeezed due to Labour's jobs tax. 'We can't just keep increasing taxes and charges – record taxes are already making life too hard for people. The Government should be standing up for the makers, not the takers.' The scheme would replace a current patchwork of subsidy programmes put in place by individual suppliers to help poorer customers. Consumer groups have suggested unifying the level of support across England could lead to an extra two million people getting money off their bills. Ministers are not expected to decide immediately whether to accept the recommendation, given the complexity of introducing such a policy. The previous Tory government rejected similar proposals on the grounds that punishing middle-class households would prove politically unpopular. Earlier this year Labour ministers asked Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, to lead a review into reform of the water sector. He published interim findings last month, in which he said he would bring forward proposals to 'strengthen' the system of social tariffs. The report found that the fragmented nature of support resulted in 'people in similar circumstances receiving significantly different levels of support, depending on what part of the country they live in'. 'Regulation has failed customers' Sir John wrote: 'The commission is looking at how to more effectively support customers who are struggling to pay their bills. This includes looking at options to strengthen social tariffs and to tailor water bills to better reflect household consumption.' He is expected to recommend that the Government introduces a nationwide social tariff in his final report, which will be published on Monday. Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, is expected to respond to the publication of Sir John's report by saying: 'Regulation has failed customers and the environment. We will introduce root and branch reform so hard-working British families will never again face huge shock hikes to their bills like we saw last year.' It comes after Labour ministers passed legislation through the Commons that quietly paved the way for such a reform. The Water (Special Measures) Act included provisions that allow water companies to pool the cash they raise to subsidise poorer households into one pot. It also authorised increased data-sharing between the Government and suppliers which could underpin auto-enrolment of customers onto social tariffs. Currently, the nine water companies in England offer their own individual social tariff schemes, which are subsidised by wealthier households. Because the programmes are localised, firms can only raise money from their own areas and must consult customers on how much they are willing to pay. The proportion of households on social tariffs has soared in recent years as a result of rising water bills and pressure on suppliers to do more to tackle poverty. Figures from Ofwat show that, across the country, one in 10 people are now receiving such support, with the resulting cross-subsidies costing £26 per customer. But that masks huge regional differences, resulting from both the level of support suppliers provide and the criteria they set for qualifying households. South West Water has the lowest proportion of customers on social tariffs, at five per cent, whilst United Utilities, which covers the North West, has the highest at 15 per cent. Customers of Portsmouth Water pay only £2 each in subsidy costs, whereas the bill at scandal-hit Thames Water has soared to £55 per person. Water UK, the industry body for suppliers, has lobbied for the introduction of a single social tariff to end what it calls the 'postcode lottery' of support. The Consumer Council for Water, a quango that acts as a consumer champion, has also encouraged ministers to introduce such a scheme. It has estimated that two million people who are entitled to support with their bills are losing out because the current system is too complex. Critics have said creating a national social tariff would lead to a flood of new customers eligible for support, meaning higher bills for everyone else. But industry sources said the eligibility criteria could be set so that subsidies are better targeted, limiting the need to raise more cash.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Rachel Reeves eyes £5bn Bitcoin sale to help plug black hole
Rachel Reeves could be on the brink of a Bitcoin windfall worth billions as she battles to fill her budget black hole. The Home Office is working with police forces to sell off a hoard of seized cryptocurrency estimated to be worth at least £5bn in a move that could ease pressure on the beleaguered Chancellor. It plans to develop an official crypto storage system that would handle sales of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The potential sell-off comes amid growing concerns about a black hole in the public finances, following Sir Keir Starmer's about-turns on welfare and the winter fuel allowance. Economists believe the Chancellor must find as much as £20bn in the autumn as she struggles to balance the books in the face of higher borrowing costs and weak growth. Stubborn inflation figures have threatened to keep interest rates high, raising the cost of borrowing. Ministers have indicated that taxes will have to rise to fill a budget black hole. Cryptocurrency sales are handled by law enforcement agencies, but the Treasury is understood to be monitoring the situation. A recent rise in the price of digital currencies promises to multiply the already significant sums involved. The total amount of seized cryptocurrency currently held by police is unknown. But a single raid in 2018 recovered 61,000 Bitcoin from the proceeds of a Chinese Ponzi scheme being stashed in Britain. Bitcoin's value hit $123,000 (£92,000) last week, making the stash worth more than £5.4bn, up 20-fold from its value when seized. Prices have surged as Donald Trump has ushered in a series of changes in the US to broaden access to and adoption of cryptocurrencies. Lawmakers in the US passed the country's first major national cryptocurrency legislation, known as the Genius Act, on Friday. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has called for Britain to establish a national Bitcoin reserve, an idea that has been rejected by Labour. Home Office plans for a 'crypto storage and realisation framework' would allow law enforcement to securely store frozen digital currencies and sell them. It is unclear how much would accrue to the Treasury from any sales. However, in many criminal seizures the Treasury takes a substantial portion of the proceeds if sums cannot be returned to victims. In the case of the 2018 raid, Chinese victims of the investment fraud have asked for the Bitcoin to be returned. The public purse is in dire need of extra revenue as growth falters. Last week Richard Hughes, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, suggested higher taxes would not be enough to address a looming debt crisis. Experts said crypto seizures represented a potentially lucrative avenue for raising funds. 'There is oil under our feet in terms of digital assets, from an illicit perspective, that could have hundreds of millions of pounds coming back into the UK each year,' said Aidan Larkin, the chief executive of seizure company Asset Reality. Cryptocurrencies are increasingly used to evade financial controls and carry out investment scams, making them a key target for police seeking to stop criminal activity. Law enforcement agencies have sold Bitcoin seized from criminals in the past, but plans for a centralised system suggests ministers recognise the growing significance of cryptocurrency as a potential revenue source. Last week, the US Marshals Service said it had more than $3.4bn in seized Bitcoin. The Trump administration has vowed to create a strategic reserve using the cryptocurrencies. Tender documents from BlueLight Commercial, the Home Office's procurement body for law enforcement, said the contract would be worth up to £40m. The provider would be paid a commission based on cryptocurrency sales. The project's future is unclear after an updated notice said it had not received acceptable bids, although it is expected to continue in some form. Proceeds of crime that are not returned to victims are split between central government accounts and a pot for law enforcement programmes. The decision to sell Bitcoin is ultimately made by crime-fighting agencies. Bitcoin's price has doubled in the last year on the prospects of the Trump administration treating the digital currency favourably in contrast to a series of investigations launched by the Biden White House. Speaking in Las Vegas in May, Mr Farage said that he would establish a UK Bitcoin reserve if he was made prime minister as part of a plan for a cryptocurrency 'revolution'. Labour has rejected the idea, saying it is too volatile to store sovereign funds in. Analysis | Britain is sitting on billions in Bitcoin. Can it rescue Reeves? Selling crypto may offer a quick fix for the cash-strapped Chancellor – but it risks repeating a historic mistake Gordon Brown's decision to sell the majority of Britain's gold reserves in 1999 has been dubbed by some as one of the worst investment decisions ever made by the government. The 401 tonnes of gold the former chancellor sold at the market's nadir brought in $3.5bn, far from the $40bn it would be worth today. A quarter of a century later, one of Brown's successors is sitting on a potentially similarly sized goldmine of the digital variety, as well as another potentially perilous selling decision. Britain's Bitcoin stockpile, confiscated from various criminal enterprises, is today estimated in the billions, a development that has led to calls for Rachel Reeves to cash in to ease pressure on the public finances. The value of these holdings has soared after the price of Bitcoin recently hit a record high above $123,000 – double its level a year ago. While there is no estimate of the amount of cryptocurrency seized from criminals, a single raid in 2018 recovered a wallet containing 61,000 Bitcoin from Jian Wen, a takeaway worker who was jailed last year for money laundering. At the time of the raid, Bitcoin was worth around $6,000, with the total haul more than £300m. Today, it is worth more than £5.4bn according to Arkham Intelligence, a company that analyses cryptocurrency transactions. Last week, the US Marshals Service, an arm of the Department of Justice, said it had around $3.4bn in Bitcoin, although experts have said the US government's total haul is likely to be much higher. Publicly, the Treasury says it does not hold any Bitcoin. The proceeds of crime such as investment scams are managed by police and are first meant to be returned to victims. But this is often not possible and in reality 20 to 30pc is kept, says Aidan Larkin, the chief executive of Asset Reality, a company that specialises in seizing the proceeds of crime. Cryptocurrency prices fluctuate wildly and seizures are handled by local forces, making it impossible to know how much has been seized. But Larkin is adamant that the Treasury is in line for a potential windfall. 'If I'm in the Treasury, I'm thinking of this as our Norway oil moment. I do think digital assets will lead to a large windfall for government agencies and the public purse over the next five to 10 years,' Larkin says. Making crime pay Since 2019, £1.4bn has been seized and frozen from the proceeds of crime. 'We could double that by having a greater focus on digital assets,' Larkin says. Under current legislation, the proceeds of crime that are not returned to victims are split between frontline police agencies and the central government. Bitcoin's growing value has led to suggestions that Reeves should sell what Bitcoin she can, with Norman Lamont, the former chancellor, saying she should spend it 'right away'. However, in reality, selling crypto is more difficult than seizing it and untangling crypto-related crimes can take years. In the case of Jian Wen, victims of fraud have asked for their money back. The Home Office did not provide any update on the case. 'With the delays in court hearings that we're getting now, you have to seize it and then maintain it for a long time,' says Professor Michael Levi of Cardiff University, an expert on asset seizures. However, there are signs that the Government is taking steps to offload Bitcoin. A branch of the Home Office has sought bids for a 'crypto storage and realisation framework' that would centralise and organise the sale of various cryptocurrency seizures. The provider would earn up to £40m in commission when cryptocurrencies are sold, indicating that at least hundreds of millions of pounds worth are earmarked to be sold. If the Government were to confiscate the proceeds of Jian Wen's Bitcoin seizure, it could boost the Treasury's coffers by around £2.6bn, roughly half the cost of Sir Keir Starmer's recent benefits climbdown or a third of the cost of the Afghan data breach revealed last week. While the decision is meant to be taken by law enforcement, the sums at stake – and Bitcoin's famous volatility – suggest the Chancellor would take an interest. The Treasury is understood to be keeping tabs on the potential for a cryptocurrency windfall. A quick-fire sell-off could lead to accusations of selling too early, especially given Bitcoin's blistering rise over recent years. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has said he would establish a Bitcoin reserve if made prime minister, following in the footsteps of ally Donald Trump, who has already ordered officials to create a reserve from seized cryptocurrency. Labour has recently turned down the idea, with Emma Reynolds, the Economic Secretary, saying that Bitcoin's volatility makes it 'less suitable as a reserve asset for the UK'. Yet, the strain on the public purse suggests Reeves could do with the money now.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Cowboy builder went on foreign holidays and golf trips as he left work unfinished and swindled customers out of £150,000
A cowboy builder went on luxury holidays and golf trips leaving unfinished work for customers swindled out of £150,000. Paul Atkinson, 46, failed to finish building work at a number of homes despite taking cash from vulnerable clients. A court heard Atkinson was 'difficult to reach after funds were transferred' - and took time off for luxury breaks. One victim employed him to build an extension to help her wheelchair-bound son but she was left unable to contact him. The mother said Atkinson dug a trench in her garden meaning she had to carry her son in his wheelchair to get to their car. She said: 'What upset me most was he knew how dependent we were on the garden.' Newport Crown Court heard Atkinson turned up at her house 'angry' when she asked for her money back. A proceeds of crime hearing was told Atkinson took a total of £147,500 from his customers between September 2019 and July 2022. Prosecutor David Elias KC previously said he appeared to be 'open, professional, and knowledgeable about what he was going to do' when first meeting his customers. But the work that was carried out was of a poor standard and in many cases work had to be removed and rectified at great expense. The court heard Atkinson would rarely respond to message after deposits had been transferred - and would make excuses for delays. In a victim personal statement, one family said their daughter suffered from health complications at the time they were conned by Atkinson. They were forced to take extra hours in work and cancel holidays after the ordeal prevented them from spending more time on their daughter. Another couple said: 'This has left us financially and emotionally drained. I felt upset and stupid for falling for a conman's tricks and my mental health has been affected.' Atkinson, of Porthcawl, South Wales, operated using the company names Protecta Home Improvements and Protecta Design and Build Ltd. He later went on to use the company name MET Construction Ltd. Atkinson pleaded guilty to eight counts of being a trader knowingly or recklessly engaging in a commercial practice and 24 counts of dishonestly making false representation to make gain for himself or another or causing loss to another or exposing another to risk. He also admitted one count of carrying on a business of company with intent to defraud creditors or for other fraudulent purpose. Atkinson was jailed for three years and six months in September last year. The POCA hearing heard Atkinson's available assets were £71,250 including half the equity of a house. Judge Carl Harrison ordered him to pay that sum within three months.
