Santander promised me free banking for life - can it really now get away with charging me £120 a year?
The alternative therapist, who lives in Blackburn, Lancashire, had been advised by her accountant to open an account when she switched from being a sole trader to a limited company.
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The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
EasyJet completes huge rollout of new software in bid to improve efficiency
EasyJet has completed the installation of new navigation software on 54 aircraft, designed to enhance collaboration with air traffic control (ATC) and improve flight efficiency. The UK's largest airline stated the Future Air Navigation System-C (FANS-C) shares real-time aircraft trajectory information with ATC providers, enabling more efficient route calculations. This innovative system also allows controllers to relay instructions, such as "climb to 36,000 feet," via text rather than radio, thereby minimising misunderstandings and potential hold-ups. EasyJet said it has retrofitted the programme on all 54 of its A320 and A321 neo family planes. The carrier's new jets rolling off the Airbus assembly line are equipped with the technology as standard. EasyJet said the software has saved it 334 tonnes of fuel since it began using it in 2019. It said last month French ATC disruption was responsible for the majority of its delays this summer. David Morgan, chief operating officer at easyJet, said: 'Technologies like Fans-C are not only essential for the modernisation of airspace, they will be critical in helping deliver meaningful reductions in fuel, carbon emissions and noise pollution. 'To maximise the potential of these technologies, it's critical that airspace reform is finally delivered, and this means more direct routes to help reduce congestion and delays. 'The UK Government has taken positive steps to redesign UK airspace – we now need those plans delivered swiftly here and across Europe so we can properly harness these technologies and capitalise on the environmental benefits they will deliver.' The Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority are establishing a group of aviation experts to work with UK airports on modernising airspace. It is hoped this UK Airspace Design Service will launch by the end of the year. A radar-related issue was blamed for a UK ATC failure by provider Nats on July 30 which forced the cancellation of more than 150 flights, disrupting thousands of passengers.
The Sun
11 minutes ago
- The Sun
Supermarket giant WILL hike prices across UK stores following Rachel Reeves' tax raid in big U-turn
A MAJOR supermarket chain has said food prices will have to rise over the next six months following the Government's Autumn Budget. In recently published accounts, Iceland blamed Rachel Reeves ' tax raid for hiking its suppliers' costs. 1 Employer National Insurance contributions and the national minimum wage rose in April, with some suppliers passing these added cost onto supermarkets. It comes after Iceland's boss Richard Walker told the Telegraph in January companies should stop "wallowing" and complaining about the measures announced in the Budget. Iceland said it was "doing our utmost" to offset rising costs caused by suppliers, but would "inevitably have to pass some of these on to consumers, where we can do so without weakening our own price position in the marketplace". It added: "In consequence, we expect UK food price inflation to peak at some 4-5% in the next six months." The warning comes after the Bank of England (BoE) estimated food prices will rise to around 5.5% by the end of the year. The central bank said food inflation was surging due to increased business labour costs and obligations on retailers to reduce packaging waste. Swathes of retailers and chains have increased the price of products or warned of future hikes after the Government's Autumn Budget. Employer National Insurance contributions were bumped up from 13.8% to 15% and the threshold at which they are paid lowered from £9,100 to £5,000 in April. The national minimum wage was also increased to £12.21. But the hikes have piled pressure on retailers, with some saying they have to pass the added costs onto customers. Four ways to save money on your weekly shop in Iceland The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents retailers, cautioned in July prices will keep rising. Helen Dickinson, its boss, exclusively told The Sun last month: "Retailers are doing everything they can to shield consumers from the worst of the inflationary pressures. 'However, with £7billion in additional costs from the last Budget still filtering through, rising inflation is becoming inevitable." She warned that if the Government loaded more costs onto the retail sector at this year's Autumn Budget, food inflation could rise even more with "hardworking families" having to pay higher prices at the tills. Two-thirds of 52 leading retailers surveyed by the BRC in January said they were considering raising prices due to the Government's tax raid. Which retailers have warned of price hikes? The boss of M&S said the supermarket would have to pass on extra costs due to the National Insurance and minimum wage hikes. Stuart Machin said any price rises would be 'small and behind the market' but did not say how much they would go up by. Meanwhile, Sainsbury's warned the Budget would cost it an extra £140million. Its CEO Simon Roberts warned that the chain would need to work with its suppliers to minimise the impact on customers. Next also warned its costs would increase by £67million, some of which would need to be passed on to shoppers. It warned that sales growth would pull back sharply until the end of 2025, 'as employer tax increases, and their potential impact on prices and employment, begin to filter through in the economy'. RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 Chief consumer reporter James Flanders explains what could happen to retailers this year. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024. End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker. It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date. This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023. It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns. The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker. Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations. Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes. Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
Times
40 minutes ago
- Times
ScotRail to introduce first penalty tickets for fare dodgers
Passengers who deliberately board trains without a ticket to escape fares are facing a crackdown. ScotRail said it was considering financial measures such as forcing dodgers to pay a 'minimum fare' for the whole route rather than, at present, being required to pay only the fee for the claimed length of their journey. Fare dodging deprives the rail company of millions of pounds a year. In the past financial year ScotRail recorded 1,644 instances of fare dodging, up from 869 the year before, although this is likely to be an underestimate of the actual number of incidents. No fares were recovered in more than half of the recorded cases. In England fare dodgers face £100 fines but this system has not been adopted in Scotland. However, charging evaders in Scotland a minimum fare is expected to act as a deterrent because passengers who make short journeys that cost less than the minimum will have to pay more. The problem is most acute when trains are busy and ticket inspectors face difficulties checking all tickets, particularly where travellers make short journeys. An industry source told Scotland on Sunday: 'This looks like a revenue protection initiative, where a passenger with no ticket on a train or at the end of their journey is obliged to buy a 'minimum fare' ticket. 'This would probably be more expensive than many low-value ScotRail tickets, such as a £3 Mount Florida to Glasgow Central single, and act as an encouragement for passengers to buy a ticket before boarding a train. It's believed to be better than a penalty fares scheme.' Claire Baker, Scottish Labour's transport spokeswoman, said: 'It is not right that commuters are forced to pay more because a small minority are trying to game the system.' ScotRail, the state-owned train operator, estimated it lost £10 million a year to ticket fraud. The company identified a minimum fares strategy among key initiatives it was considering in this financial year, subject to approval from Transport Scotland. The apparent rise in fare dodging, the company says, is mainly because of an increase in revenue protection officers aboard trains rather than a decline in passenger behaviour. Transport Scotland said: 'ScotRail has a number of ways to make it easy for passengers to buy their tickets before they board, online, via the app, ticket machine or from ticket offices. 'In line with their existing revenue protection policy, additional measures to further reduce ticketless travel are under consideration.'
