Inflation update
The annual rate of inflation increased to 4.5% during April, compared with 4% in March. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached its highest level since October 2008. Inflation registered a month-on-month rise of 1% during April – only the second time that prices have risen by as much as this in a single month. However,[.....]
Compulsory Workplace Pensions – WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW
The biggest change to pensions for a generation will start from 2012. All employers, from their staging date, (speak to us to identify your staging date) will be required to automatically enrol individuals between age 22 and State Pension Age into a qualifying workplace pension scheme (auto-enrolment), and to pay contributions for anyone earning over[.....]
Living to 100
It has long been accepted that improvements in medicine, lifestyle and an understanding of the effects which habits such as smoking can have on our health means life expectancy is increasing. Future generations will enjoy much longer and healthier lives on average than their predecessors. However, figures released last month by the Department of Work[.....]
Japanese companies continue to count the cost
Japanese companies continue to count the cost of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) warned that many Japanese companies – particularly smaller firms – are likely to experience a slowdown in turnover. According to the BoJ’s quarterly Tankan survey of Japanese firms, companies became more pessimistic after the disaster. Business sentiment[.....]
GDP figures
Having contracted by 0.5% during the final three months of 2010, the UK economy showed some more encouraging signs during the first quarter of 2011, expanding by 0.5%. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), activity in the manufacturing and services sectors picked up. The services sector returned to growth, rising by 0.9% over[.....]
Reviewing Cash ISAs
Low interest rates are great news for borrowers but for savers, they can have a devastating effect. With inflation currently running far in excess of base rates, even though the value of your capital may be safe, you need to keep a close eye on the interest rates you are earning to stop, or at[.....]
Junior ISAs
The Coalition Government has now confirmed details of the long awaited savings plan analysts had been expecting since the withdrawal of Child Trust Funds (CTF) last year. The Junior ISA will be launched in November and will extend to under 18s the same tax benefits which parents (and all adults) already enjoy. Their exact structure[.....]
Global update
Equity markets in March were dominated by the earthquake in Japan and its repercussions although other events also served to drag them lower. After a short-lived rise at the start of the month, the markets had already started to drop as a result of the Middle East crisis before the earthquake hit on 11 March.[.....]
Japanese aftershocks
There has been only one story in Japan since the end of February – the earthquake and its aftershocks, both human and economic. Whilst news analysts have contemplated the human devastation, markets have focused their attention on the costs of the disaster, ie: the rebuilding, its effects on economy and the extent to which companies[.....]
The latest GDP figures
The UK economy contracted unexpectedly during the fourth quarter of 2010 after activity was hampered by unusually wintry weather. According to final revised figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the economy shrank by 0.5% over the quarter. This contraction came after the economy had unexpectedly grown by 0.7% during the third quarter and[.....]
