A 30-year high: The rising price of surging inflation

As the UK’s inflation surges to 30-year high, double-digit price increases could be on the horizon.

As inflation hits a 30-year high in the UK, double-digit price increases could be on the horizon.  At the start of 2021 inflation, measured by the CPI yardstick, was running at a benign 0.7%, having been driven down by the impact of the pandemic. A year later, the rate had jumped to 5.5%, close to…

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Can the child benefit charge be fixed?

A recent review by the OTS has put a major question mark over HMRC’s approach to collecting tax on child benefit, with nearly 100,000 people suspected of not paying the correct amount.

A critical review of how the government taxes child benefit has raised a major question mark over HMRC’s approach to collecting payments.  Child benefit tax, or the High-Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) to use its legal name, is a case study in how not to introduce and operate a tax. It was designed as a…

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National Insurance changes causing confusion

Changes to NI Contributions are causing confusion

The changes to national insurance contributions (NICs) announced in the Spring Statement in March were not straightforward. Let’s set the record straight.  In his Spring Statement – or was it a mini-Budget? – the Chancellor announced several changes to NICs aimed at reducing the impact of the 1.25 percentage points increase in the rates that…

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Quantitative tightening: a reversal of fortunes?

Quantitative easing is about to go into reverse as the Bank of England grapples with the strongest inflation in 40 years. So what will that mean for your investments?

One of the defining financial strategies of the last 13 years – quantitative easing – is about to go into reverse. The Bank of England will slowly trim its £9 trillion portfolio throughout 2022, but only time will tell when it comes to the impact on personal investments.  Source: Bank of England.  What happens when…

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