Billie Eilish fans are complaining about “outrageous” ticket prices for her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour. Read this and all the latest consumer and personal finance news below, plus leave a comment in the box.
Thursday 2 May 2024 20:01, UK
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Pint-sized bottles of wine will be allowed on UK shelves from autumn under new post-Brexit trade rules – although doubts have been raised over their demand.
Seven changes to pre-packaged wine sizes are due to come into force on 19 September.
The move to introduce the 568ml size of wine, to sit alongside 200ml and 500ml measures already available, was announced in December and hailed by ministers as a Brexit “freedom”.
Pint bottles of Champagne were sold in the UK before Britain joined the European Common Market and were on shelves until 1973.
Read more here…
JD Sports has told head office staff they must return to the office at least four days a week.
The new amendment to the hybrid working policy will be effective from 1 July and will impact employees at the retail chain’s head office in Bury, Retail Gazette reports.
However, the chain will still allow flexibly depending on individual roles.
Pubs could stay open late during the Euros this summer, according to The Sun.
Home Secretary James Cleverly hinted he was looking into extending pub opening hours for the tournament on The Sun show Never Mind The Ballots.
He said: “I will certainly look into it.”
We’ve been bringing you news of plenty of bank switch deals offering free cash these past few months, but Virgin Money has a different kind of incentive for switchers – a 12% interest rate.
People who switch to its M Account, M Plus Account or Club M Account will be able to get bonus interest rates of 10% gross/10.47% AER (fixed).
This is on top of the 2% gross/2.02% AER (variable) interest rate already offered on current account balances up to £1,000 – meaning customers can get an interest rate of 12%.
No other savings accounts offer interest rates this high, and the bonus applies for a year.
TikTok will restore millions of songs to its app after settling a royalty dispute with Universal Music Group.
Users had been unable to make videos featuring songs from the likes of Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande due to a row over how much TikTok was paying.
The fight had led to Universal withdrawing music from some of the world’s most famous singers.
The dispute appears to have been settled as the companies announced “improved remuneration” for artists.
More than 10,500 black cab drivers in London have launched a £250m legal case against Uber.
They accuse the app of breaking the capital’s taxi booking rules and deliberately misleading authorities to secure a licence.
Transport for London (TfL) rules state drivers cannot take bookings directly from customers and must instead use a centralised system.
The drivers, who are being advised by law firm Mishcon de Reya, argue they have faced unfair competition from Uber and that it knowingly broke these rules.
Uber has denied these allegations and said the claims are unfounded.
The company has faced numerous challenges in London, including refusals from TfL to renew its licence which were later successfully appealed.
Billie Eilish fans are complaining about “outrageous” ticket prices for her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour.
The 22-year-old singer unveiled an 81-date tour programme this week, sending fans rushing to secure tickets.
But some expressed disbelief on social media at the prices.
“I know I moan about this all the time, but look at the price of Billie Eilish tickets,” one fan called Marianne wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of seated tickets priced at £398.50.
“Something seriously needs to be done about ticket prices, it’s f*****g outrageous!”
Another complained they had paid less for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which was also criticised for high ticket prices.
A fan called Liv tagged Eilish, Live Nation and Ticketmaster, writing: “Are you ok? £145 for standing tickets is atrocious.”
Thousands of people who receive government benefits, including Universal Credit, will be paid as early as tomorrow.
This is because there’s a bank holiday coming up on 6 May which will affect benefits paid by both the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC (they don’t pay benefits on bank holidays).
A statement on the government website reads: “If your payment date is on a weekend or a bank holiday you’ll usually be paid on the working day before. This may be different for tax credits and child benefit.”
Here are the 11 different government benefits that are expected to be paid early:
Will your benefit payment change?
No, you’ll be paid the same amount you usually receive.
Benefits are usually paid straight into your bank, building society or credit account.
Goldman Sachs is removing a cap on bonuses for London-based staff, paving the way for it to resume making multimillion pound payouts to its best-performing traders and dealmakers.
Sky News can exclusively reveal the Wall Street banking giant notified its UK employees today that it had decided to abolish the existing pay ratio imposed under European Union rules and which the government recently decided to scrap.
In a video message to staff, Richard Gnodde, chief executive of Goldman Sachs International, which comprises its operations outside the US, said it had decided to bring its remuneration policy in Britain in line with its operations elsewhere in the world.
“We are a global firm and to the extent possible we adopt a consistent global approach across everything we do,” Mr Gnodde said in the message, which has been relayed to Sky News.
“The bonus cap rules were an important factor preventing us from being consistent in the area of compensation.”
Read more here…
Aldi’s market share has fallen – as people seemingly head back to traditional supermarkets for their shopping.
Aldi’s share of the grocery market slipped from 10.8% to 10.4% in the 12 weeks to 20 April.
NIQ data shows sales rose just 1.3% in the period – for Morrisons it was 4.4%, Tesco 5.8% and Sainsbury’s 6.6%.
Asda was the laggard with sales falling 0.9%.
Ocado is the fastest growing retailer with sales up 12%.
Aldi’s rival discounter, Lidl, saw sales surge 9.5%, bumping its market share up to 8.2%. Media campaigns highlighting new ranges helped, NIQ said.
A Santander online outage is affecting thousands of UK customers.
Over 2,000 reports have been made on Downdetector – indicting the issue is widespread.
Customers have been met with messages like this…
Santander wrote on X: “We are aware some customers are experiencing issues accessing online services, we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.
“We’re working hard to resolve this as soon as possible.”
Following on from our previous post, and the OECD also says the UK will grow more slowly next year than any other major advanced economy.
It puts this down to stealth taxes and high interest rates squeezing the economy.
The organisation, which is based in Paris, downgraded its forecasts for GDP to 0.4% this year and 1% in 2025.
In February, the UK had been in the middle of the rankings with forecast growth of 0.7% this year and 1.2% next.
The OECD pointed to the fact “tax receipts keep rising towards historic highs” – with National Insurance cuts not offsetting the additional burden Britons are feeling due to tax thresholds not rising along with inflation due to a government freeze.
Some good news is expected for UK workers as the OECD said there will be “stronger” wage growth when inflation is factored in against pay.
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