The number in the 40 per cent tax band is expected to rise from 3.8million today by another 400,000 over the next three years, the Treasury said yesterday. However, experts predicted the number dragged into the higher rate could be an additional 300,000 - which would in total account for nearly one in six taxpayers.
The Treasury watchdog was forced on Wednesday to defend its reputation after it again downgraded its forecasts for the British economy and the public finances.
Small companies and stockbrokers welcomed the chance that shares quoted on the junior Alternative Investment Market may qualify for tax relief under the Individual Savings Account shelter.
George Osborne hoisted an 'Open for Business' sign over Britain with a multi-billion pound package to help firms fight back against the slump at home and the troubles in the eurozone.
Banks will be asked to hand over businesses’ credit card transactions in an effort to smoke out tax dodgers, George Osborne announced.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility admitted it expects a £400million shortfall in the Government's coffers, after predicting the bank levy would raise £2.2billion in March's Budget.
The watchdog has outlined plans to prevent rogue traders from rigging crucial interest rates, used to determine the amount households pay for their mortgages.
The Treasury watchdog also revealed that the economy shrank by 6.3 per cent in the banking crash of 2008 and 2009 – the biggest slump since the Second World War. It came as George Osborne admitted the recovery will take longer than expected after a sharp downgrade in growth forecasts for the next five years. The Chancellor also accepted that he will miss a key debt-cutting target – putting Britain’s coveted AAA credit rating at risk. ...read
A Gas Generation Strategy published alongside the Autumn Statement confirmed the establishment of an Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil.
George Osborne targeted workers at the top, middle and bottom of the financial heap in his Autumn statement yesterday with a raft of money-saving measures.
The scheme will focus on s road improvements, housing and local infrastructure, regional growth and business, science, and schools and colleges.
The Autumn Statement at a glance
Key points of Osborne's speech.
Why George Osborne must keep on wielding the axe
Few Chancellors have had less room for manoeuvre
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A Money Mail investigation.
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ASK TONY: Halifax lost me £317 - what can I do?
Bank says my Isa statement was wrong even though I was told the higher amount would be paid
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Fundsmith bucks the trend for over-complicating investing and is easily beating rivals
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This is Money's experts get on the case of the missing HSBC cheque
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I'm leaving my husband, will I still get half his pension?
We ask the experts what happens when a couple married for 40 years split.
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Speculation has intensified that boss Marius Kloppers's swan song at BHP Billiton could be a $55 a share cash offer for Alabama-based metallurgical coal producer Walter Energy. BHP Billiton is already said to be planning for a successor to the 50 year-old South African and rumours have been doing the rounds recently that Mick 'the miner' Davis could take his place.
Is James Crosby The real force behind the bank crisis?
Sir James Crosby who jumped ship from HBOS before disaster struck
SMALL CAPS FOCUS: Minnows are being priced down
There will be some bargains when the current pall lifts from the junior market.
ALEX BRUMMER: Taxman has spent too long targeting small firms
The biggest tax dodgers are the multi-national giants
MIDAS SHARE TIPS: Chance to profit as project fixer WYG Group starts recovery
The group has moved back into profit
Chancellor says those in drawdown plans can take an extra 20 per cent income from their pension pots. It reverses a change that has contributed to up to 10,000 pensioner being told each month that the annual income they can take from plans must be cut by up to 50 per cent. in a major victory for a Financial Mail and This is Money campaign. ...read
The changes will come into force in 2014/15 and are expected to bring thousands more well-off savers into tax on their pension contributions, generating an extra £1 billion in tax by 2016/17.
The funds will be used largely to upgrade and maintain existing roads to help tackle congestion and reduce bottle necks.
Half this amount - £5,760 - can be placed into a tax-free cash Isa by savers. The full Isa limit can only be invested in a stocks and shares Isa.
A 'triple lock' commitment was made in 2010, when the state pension rises were controversially switched from the retail prices index (RPI) to CPI, which has historically risen at a slower pace.
The decision, which will save the bank $900million (£560million) next year and $1.1billion (£680million) per year from 2014, could put at risk hundreds of jobs in the UK, where the bank employs 9,400 staff. The news comes as Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC have also announced job cuts.
UK scored considerably lower than the three countries ranked the least corrupt in the world - Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand - but beat the US and France.
Tesco's stuttering recovery ground to a disappointing halt as latest figures showed sales growth had reversed in the UK on the eve of the crucial Christmas trading period.
Tesco's stuttering recovery ground to a disappointing halt as latest figures showed sales growth had reversed in the UK on the eve of the crucial Christmas trading period.
Last year, I received two Isa statements from Halifax Bank. There was a discrepancy of £317.93, but when I phoned the bank I was assured that the higher amount would be paid. However, my next statement showed that the lower figure has been applied. I am now being told that there was a clerical error and nothing can be done. No apology was given.
Britain's biggest banks are consistently failing to offer the best deals despite taking £4.4 billion of taxpayers’ cash. A Money Mail investigation has revealed how millions of struggling homeowners and savers have been abandoned by the very banks which have benefited most from an £80 billion scheme designed to kick-start lending. ...read
The move would open up options for investors who are currently limited on which AIM stocks they can include, allowing them to hunt returns among small high growth firms.
Statistics showed that having taken £4.4 billion of taxpayers’ cash, many of Britain’s big names, including Lloyds, Santander and RBS/ NatWest, have actually reduced their net lending.
SIMON LAMBERT: Fund managers have turned complicating something relatively simple into an art form. Looked at as a whole the industry seems over-complicated, over-rewarded and run nowadays for the benefit of its players not its supporters. Fundsmith, with its keep it simple mantra, seems refreshingly different, so I've invested. ...read
Currently, the annual rates given by controversial firms that offer short-term, instant loans can be as high as 16,000per cent. However, those loans may now be banned.
Workers who fiddle their expenses pocket an extra £450 a year, but employees in some parts of the country are much more likely to be culprits than others.
Forklift driver David Burnett has lost thousands of pounds in income after becoming a victim of the broken pension system. Mr Burnett put money away for his retirement. But though he did everything he should have done, he gets a much smaller pension than he deserves. And by the strict letter of the rules, no one is to blame.
Most people hate shelling out for something they never use - but life insurance is a different story. If your family has to claim on it, it means you’ve either become seriously ill, or have died. When Julie Dadd (pictured with her family) was diagnosed with breast cancer, her £30,000 payout helped her fight the disease.
Coventry claims there is no longer an appetite for these loans, with less than two per cent of customers asking for them.
We intend to sell our property and buy a small house to rent out (in my husbands name - no mortgage) and buy a small house to live in (partially mortgaged in my name).
The funds will be used largely to upgrade and maintain existing roads to help tackle congestion and reduce bottle necks.
The decision, which will save the bank $900million (£560million) next year and $1.1billion (£680million) per year from 2014, could put at risk hundreds of jobs in the UK, where the bank employs 9,400 staff.
In many cases, it now actually costs less for borrowers to fix than it is to gamble on interest rates staying low with a tracker deal. Usually homeowners pay a premium for the security of fixed deals. But last week HSBC launched its lowest-ever two-year fix. It costs just 1.99 per cent for borrowers with a 40 per cent deposit and has a £1,999 fee, or £1,499 for those with an HSBC current account. ...read
Scott and Melissa Podmore leapt at the chance to join the First Buy initiative, but the couple believe the pressure to justify the scheme, which has cost taxpayers £250m, meant they were hurried into a property that was not safe. They ended up enduring freezing temperatures, flooded floors and living in a dangerous, half-built home with design faults.
Cheque fraud leapt to £17.9 million between January and June this year — a rise of £1.5 million on the same period in 2011.
A spate of new issues on accounts with the same name have been launched — so make a note of the precise name and number of the deal you have taken out.
The average family would have enough money for 19 days, if the main breadwinner was unable to work for any reason, according to research.
EDF Energy's new Blue Plus Price Promise tariff will cost the average household £1,182 a year. This price will remain fixed for 18 months until June 30, 2014.
An unhappy woman's dilemma as she weighs up the financial ramifications of leaving her husband before he dies. This is Money and solicitors Linder Myers explain whether she would be entitled to a portion of his NHS pension should she up-sticks prior to his death.
Do you need to pay tax on a gift between family members when it is over a certain amount of money? - This is Money talks to the tax experts to get the answer.
I regularly order groceries online but a software glitch means I get a 40% discount I'm not entitled to. I need these savings but am worried I’ll get found out. Should I own up?
It cleared my HSBC account but has never shown in his. This has only shown itself during probate and happened six years ago. Is there anything I can do?
Virgin Atlantic charged me £100 per ticket to change our flights after I mistakenly booked the wrong time for our return trip.
On average each home was spending £483.60 a week in 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Family Spending report. But the rise failed to match rises in prices generally. Inflation in 2011, as measured by the consumer price index, was 4.2 per cent.
Millions of households hit with rising phone bills have found they are trapped in lengthy contracts which lump together their landline, broadband and television.
The Christmas stamp scheme allows people to buy up to 36 first and second-class stamps at 2011 prices.
Credit card giant American Express has launched a gift card which it advertises as the ‘perfect present’ for friends and family.
China investments have been scorned for a long while - is it time to give the funds another look? After all, it's worth bearing in mind the essential investment case - it is the second-biggest economy and home to around one in five people in the world. Financial experts give their take on China, and recommend the funds they most rate.
Chief executives enjoyed a 12 per cent rise in their pay packets this year, while ordinary workers saw their wages increase by 2.8 per cent, said the High Pay Centre.
After the stamp duty hike for houses worth more than £2million, imposed by the Government in the spring, prices in the capital fell 0.2 per cent, driven by a sharp 1.2 per cent decline in property prices in central London.
A chill in the autumn air could not deter celebrities like Helen Flanagan from attending the annual Specsavers Spectacle Wearer Of The Year Awards. But though the fashionistas give the impression that the future for the glasses industry is bright, and magazines are full of adverts for laser eye surgery, the finances of the industry tell a different story.
The savings to be made by ordering travel money online, rather than buying it on the High Street or at the airport, continue to grow as competition intensifies.
It covers most or all of the cost of treatment in any European Union country, plus Switzerland and Norway. In effect, the country that provides the healthcare recoups the cost from the NHS.
Credit reference agencies are regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office, which can intervene if consumers believe details held about them are inaccurate, outdated, or misused.
In its fourth wave of rate reductions in under two months, Nationwide Building Society is again slicing its fixed and tracker mortgage rates across all LTV tiers.
| Prize value | Winning bond No. | Area |
|---|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 90GM135935 | Bedfordshire |
| £100,000 | 141GA754129 | Northern Ireland |
| £100,000 | 183AM191540 | Derbyshire |
| £100,000 | 175LJ952414 | Grampian |
| £100,000 | 123LA629254 | Norfolk |
| £100,000 | 90CS186047 | West Yorkshire |
| £50,000 | 114PW077705 | London |
| £50,000 | 32RL699242 | Inner London |
| £50,000 | 137YX135681 | Warwickshire |
| £50,000 | 40YK759809 | Leicester |
| £50,000 | 115FC086870 | Wiltshire |
| £50,000 | 4DV901566 | Cornwall and Isles of Scilly |
| £50,000 | 66FV746591 | Surrey |
| £50,000 | 17RP987409 | Barnet |
| £50,000 | 167EA764626 | Nottingham |
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We explain the factors that will decide when interest rates rise - and how quickly, including the latest forecasts from markets and economists.
Better mortgage deals are bumping up against house prices that are still on the slide. We analyse the latest reports and predictions.
Mortgage rates for the best borrowers have hit new record low levels, so is now the time to fix? Read our latest analysis.
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group
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