News

The Inflation Illusion: Understanding the Disconnect Between Data and Reality Inflation fell in 2024, reaching 2.5% compared to 4.0% in 2023. Yet, for many, this drop didn't reflect their lived experience. Why the discrepancy?   The Economist's View vs. Public...

Spring Forecast Announced - 26 March 2025 The Chancellor has announced the timing of her next formal report to Parliament. Cast your mind back six Chancellors ago to Philip Hammond (aka Spreadsheet Phil). In autumn 2016, Hammond announced a change to the timings of...

Discover why National Savings & Investments is cutting rates. National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has been busy reducing its interest rates in recent months. NS&I has roots going back to 1861, when Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer,...

Not every interest rate moves in the same direction. If you are approaching the end of your five-year fixed rate mortgage and currently enjoying an interest rate of around 2%, you have probably been watching the fluctuations of interest rates with some trepidation....

The End of the Student Tuition Fees Freeze The long freeze on student tuition fees in England has come to an end in 2025. Do you know what the RPIX is? You might guess it’s related to inflation given that RPI is the Retail Prices Index. But what does the X mark? X...

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Budget was a significant one in all senses. “…this Budget delivers a large, sustained increase in spending, taxation, and borrowing.”  So said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in the first paragraph of its overview of the...

The date of the next Budget has been announced, accompanied by the new Chancellor’s warning about government finances. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first announcement on entering 11 Downing Street was the commissioning of a ‘spending inheritance’ review from the...

With a majority of over 200 and a weight of expectations, what happens next for Sir Kier Starmer’s new Labour government? The importance of the first 100 days of a new government cannot be understated. Within that period the new incumbent has the greatest political...

Central banks around the world are beginning to cut interest rates with the European Central Bank leading the way. Source: US Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank On 6 June 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) became the first major central bank...

New rules have come into force governing the claims made by sustainable funds. As sustainable investing has grown in popularity, the issue of ‘greenwashing’ has moved into the spotlight. However, investors, turned fund detectives, have discovered that funds with...

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report on HMRC customer service which isn’t a happy story. Source: HMRC historic data, Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates A common tactic for grabbing a headline, be it a politician or organisation, is to...

April’s yearly inflation figure fell from 0.9% to 2.3%, so why does inflation still feel high? Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) April’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) showed annual inflation had fallen to 2.3%, its lowest level since July 2021 and...