The Chancellor has announced the date of his first Autumn Budget as Wednesday 22 November. The second Budget of 2017 will be both Mr Hammond’s first Autumn Budget and the first Budget after the general election. Traditionally, the first Budget of a new parliament is the chance for a Chancellor to administer the “medicine” of […]
A consultation paper issued in August could mean changes to venture capital schemes. At the start of the holiday season the Treasury issued an open consultation paper entitled “Financing growth in innovative firms”. Its focus was on what has become known as ‘patient capital’, which the Treasury defined as “long-term investment in innovative firms led […]
Fraudsters are posing as officials from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and are cold calling people stating that they are eligible for a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) claim. There may be an increase in these types of frauds following the FCA announcement and new campaign urging people to make a decision about making a PPI […]
The third quarter of 2017 has ended and despite the heavy political news, investment returns were generally positive. Think about the third quarter of this year – July to September – and you might think markets had suffered a hard three months. In the UK there was the backwash from the general election, the slowly-moving […]
Self-employment is the dream of many, especially as the goal of retirement seems to creep further out of reach. Being your own boss sounds great. But there are drawbacks. Around two million of the country’s self-employed workers are unable to save any money each month, leaving them vulnerable to financial shocks. The same body of […]
Inflation was in the news last month in various guises. August was a month when inflation hit the headlines several times trailing a cloud of acronyms: The Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report (QIR) revealed that the Bank now expects inflation (as measured by the Consumer Prices Index – CPI) “to peak around 3% in […]
