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Updated November 10, 2025 | Articles

How to spend less on Christmas food and drink

Save money on your festive favourites

From big turkeys to posh chocs – Christmas is a time to over-indulge. So how do you enjoy your festive feast, but get the best value possible? I’ve got a few ideas.

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Make a list

Really basic, but it’s the best money saver. Once you know who’s coming over for Christmas, work out exactly what you’ll need, and write it all down. Don’t forget to check your cupboards and freezer for any ingredients you already have.

This is much better than just buying more than you need, which will not just cost you more money but could end up as unused leftovers.

Not sure how much to buy for Christmas dinner? Checkout this portion guide from BBC Goodfood – it will help you know exactly how much food you’ll need to buy.

Hunt for bargain veg

To entice you into their supermarkets at Christmas many retailers sell vegetables for pennies in a Christmas veg price war.

So far this year, we know that Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Lidl and Aldi have all announced they are selling 15p veg from 19 – 24 December and Morrisons is beating everyone else by selling theirs for just 10p!

Frozen or fresh – you decide

Frozen turkeys are cheaper than fresh, so you could save money on one of your most expensive Christmas purchases – only if you have a large enough freezer to store it and you’re willing to put up with the faff of defrosting on Christmas eve!

You can also buy it early which can help spread the cost of Christmas

And speaking of frozen, this year Iceland are offering a Luxury Christmas Dinner for four for just £25. That’s lunch sorted for only £6.25 per head.

Go own-brand

For those non-priorities, you can spend less by trying own-brand versions. For example, you might always buy a bottle of Baileys at Christmas, but most supermarket own-brand versions taste exactly the same – but cost a lot less.

And own-label mince pies are nearly half the price of the well known cake brands, and by the time you’ve consumed dinner and had a glass or two of Baileys, you won’t know who’s mince pie you’re eating!

Avoid festive packaging

Often you’ll find something is branded with Christmas packaging, but there’s a normal alternative available on another aisle that’s either cheaper or better value.

Having different prices for what is essentially the same product can be confusing. Take pigs in blankets from Waitrose. The standard pack of 12 costs £5.25 for 12, whilst the Christmas branded pack is £6 for 12. But the Christmas pack is on a 3 for 2 offer, so depending on how many you need, could work out cheaper!

Ditch selection packs

It’s quite rare that someone enjoys all the biscuits in a Christmas tin, all the chocs in a festive box or all the crackers in a bumper cracker selection.

These selection packs more often than not work out more expensive than buying individual packets, so unless it’s in a pretty tin and you want to give it as a gift, you might want to stick to the individual packets instead, as once they’re out of the packet and on a serving plate, you wouldn’t know if they were from a festive pack or not.

To put this into perspective, the Jacob’s Festive selection box of crackers is currently £4 for 450g in Tesco (Clubcard price), whilst Tesco’s own-label cream crackers cost just 49p for 300g – that’s 73p per 100g cheaper.

Book your online delivery slot

Slots are bookable at all the major supermarkets, with some releasing extra Christmas delivery slots nearer to Christmas. So you haven’t missed out on all the available slots yet.

And don’t forget, if you want to avoid the crowds there’s always lots of ‘click and collect’ slots left, nearer to Christmas.

Wait for some reduced deals

If you can hold your nerve, then the day before Christmas is one of the best days of the year to snap up clearance food, including turkeys, vegetables and fresh gateaux.

Since many shops will shut on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, there’s a lot of food that will need to be cleared from the shelves.

But like the clearance section most evenings in supermarkets, you can never count on getting what you want.

It’s obviously a risk buying your turkey discounted on Christmas Eve, so if that’s too much of a gamble, then you can always buy what you need in advance and use Christmas Eve to shop for bargains you can freeze for other celebrations like New Year or even Easter.

And don’t forget, after the festivities are over, you’ll often find crackers, wrapping paper and cards reduced to clearance, so if you have room in your loft, then stock up on those Christmas essentials for the following year.

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Use your leftovers

Turkey sarnies, turkey curry, turkey soup, turkey stir-fry…just think Bubba in his famous shrimp recital in the Forest Gump movie! It’s possibly the one time of year where we actively enjoy using up leftovers.

There are so many helpful recipe ideas online including this selection at Olive, that there’s no excuse to let any Christmas food go to waste.

And if your fridge is packed to the rafters like mine is at Christmas, just make note of the use by dates so food doesn’t go to waste. If you don’t think you can finish it before the use-by date, just remember, many Christmas goodies can be frozen, including foods like cheese, mince pies and cake.

Updated November 10, 2025 | Articles

London travel: How to claim forgotten and owed cash on Oyster and contactless cards

Andy Webb

From deposits to unfished journeys to delay refunds, you could be owed some money back from TFL on your Oyster and contactless payment cards.

The BBC reported this week that there’s almost £400million of cash sitting on Oyster cards that haven’t been used for a year or more. That’s a huge amount!

I’m not surprised. A few years ago, before we moved out of London, Becky and I realised we hadn’t used our Oyster cards for years as we’d moved over to contactless. So we cashed our Oysters back in for a total of £5 each. Easy money that was never going to be used.

And this wasn’t the only time TFL owed me cash. From card reading errors through to delayed journeys, I often claimed back money to my payment cards – both Oyster and contactless.

Here’s how you can claim back your money, and a few other ways to make sure you’re not owed any cash or travelling in London.

How to claim back your Oyster deposits

With more than half of payments now made via contactless cards, it’s likely that if you’re a Londoner that you’ve got your old Oyster just sitting about with at least a fiver sitting on it. You might even have more than one!

And if you’ve visited London at all since 2003 when the cards were introduced you might have picked one up too since journeys were much cheaper with one than via a paper ticket.

Half of the £400 million in unused cash is made up of a £5 deposit. You had to pay this when you first got a card. So if you have an Oyster card at home it will have £5 on it.

The rest of the leftover sum is pre-paid balances, which averages £3.46 per Oyster cardholder. Obviously you might not have anything extra if you didn’t top-up the last time the balance was zero, though at the same time there are 784 cards with a maximum balance of £90 sitting on them according to TFL figures.

To get the money back you have a few options. If you have registered your Oyster card you can do this online via your Oyster account. Your card will be cancelled once you do this. If not, then you can do it at a ticket machine as long as the balance is less than £10 (not including the £5 deposit). Failing that you’ll need to call TFL.

How to claim back for incomplete journeys

Though the tap-in, tap-out system has made journeys so much easier in London, it’s not perfect. I had times where card readers didn’t work or turned off to ease congestion (and gates were left open as a result) which meant I wasn’t able to show a full journey. I also had a few occasions where I mistakenly used different payment methods at each end (usually when I was using Apple Pay on my phone).

When this happens TFL estimates where your journey began or ended, and there’s a good chance it’ll cost you more than your actual journey.

To fix this you must have registered your Oyster or contactless card with your TFL account. Once this is done you can go in and input where you should have tapped in. Refunds to Oyster will be in the form of prepaid credit, while on contactless it’ll be refunded back to your card.

You have eight weeks to correct a journey, but you’ll only be able to claim three times each calendar month.

Apple / Google Pay warning

A quick aside here if you use your phone to tap in and out. I used to do this on my commute, but occasionally I’d use the same linked card itself. Logic says this shouldn’t make a difference, but it sadly does. That’s because they are treated by TFL as different payment methods.

This can lead to incomplete journeys, or reduce the chances your total spend will get capped each day and week. So stick to one payment method.

How to claim for delayed journeys

If a journey is delayed by more than 15 minutes you’re entitled to that fare back. In my experience the delays always tended to be about 13 minutes!!

The delay has to have been within TFL’s control, which means it won’t payout if you’ve been delayed due to a strike, security alert, bad weather, planned engineering works or a customer incident (such as someone getting ill on a train).

But you will be able to claim if the delay has been down to things like a signal failure, broken train or non-planned engineering works.

Again, the easiest way to do this is via your online account, so make sure you register your cards if you haven’t already. claim

Other places to find lost and forgotten cash

As I’ve written about before, Oyster cards aren’t the only place you could find some long lost cash. From loyalty schemes to cashback sites, it’s worth having a look at what you’ve forgotten.

Updated November 10, 2025 | Articles

Cut the cost of a haircut

Andy Webb

Time to trim how much you spend at the salon or barbers with these tricks.

One of the benefits of having short hair and a simple hairstyle is that it’s doesn’t take much time to cut. But it’s still possible for a cut to cost me close to £30.

Though that seems steep for me, any of you with longer hair or more complicated styling or colouring will dream of paying that much. I’m always amazed at how much it costs female friends. It’s no wonder most of them can’t afford to visit a hairdressers as often as they’d like.

But there are ways to help you pay less. Here are a few of the tricks you can use to snip a few quid off your next visit.

Avoid the senior stylist

There’s a hierarchy at many salons which means you pay a premium for the top-dog senior stylist. So a simple way to reduce this is to downgrade to a cheaper option.

Yes the senior person is likely the most experienced, but that doesn’t mean they are the best. And even if they are, the junior people might not be far off the same standard.

Be a model

My sister used to do this in her twenties for Toni & Guy. She’d sit on a stage while the teacher cut her hair in front of the students. And it cost her nothing for a very experienced stylist.

The downside was she has no say in what they did to her hair, but somehow she managed to pull off the different colours and styles. You also need to give up a good few hours of your day.

Nowadays it might be you have to pay, but it’ll be a fraction of the full cost.

Risk it for free

You can take this even further and get a trainee to give you a cut – and this can even be free.

Yes there’s a risk that they might make a mistake, but there should be someone on hand to fix anything. Even then errors might take time to grow out, so it’s best not to do this before something important like your wedding!

There are a few bigger hairdressing schools you can try, or see if your local salon has anyone new starting.

I actually tried this last week. I’ve just moved to a new town and I was hunting for somewhere to get a trim. I discovered on one of the barber’s websites that a new guy was offering free cuts as part of his training. I always practice what I preach, so in the name of research I booked an appointment. You can see how it went and hear my thoughts in the video below.

Go off-peak

Not everyone will be able to do this, but you should ask your salon if you can get a discount for coming at a less popular time.

If you’re able to be flexible and leave it to the last minute the hairdresser might be willing to charge you less to fill a vacant appointment.

Shop around

One of my friends once ditched her usual salon for a colour and cut. They way she described her guilt at doing this was as if she’d been cheating on her boyfriend. Yes it’s nice to be loyal, particularly if your stylist “knows” your hair. But changing things up can save you cash.

One of the best examples is a new customer discount. The local salon where my wife goes has a big poster outside offering 25% off your first cut, and many others do the same.

And you don’t have to stay with them if you don’t want to. Keep moving around for new offers.

After a while your old hairdresser(s) might even try to tempt you back with a deal, so remember to give them your contact details.

Saying that, don’t miss out on any reward or loyalty schemes run by your regular haunt.

Buy a discounted voucher

Sites like Groupon and Wowcher have dozens of discounts at hairdressers and salons so it’s worth taking a look when you’re due a trim.

Do google before buying though in case there are some dodgy reviews.

Here are some of the top sites to check out for deals

Ditch the big or fancy salons

When I moved to London I was shocked a haircut didn’t cost a tenner anymore. But a few years back I discovered a mini barbers chain called Mr Toppers.

It’s pretty basic. There’s no coffee on arrival, no magazines to read, no metro tiles on the wall, no tattooed / bearded hipster cutting my hair (this is more common than you’d think). And as a result I paid just £9. In Central London that’s a steal.

So if you’re happy to forgo some of the pampering you can pay a lot less. And it doesn’t mean you get lower quality either. For men it’s often a case of going to an old-school barbers rather than a salon.

Or you can look for self-employed hairdressers who come to you or even those with a set up in their own home.

Watch out for extras

Often hairdressers will try to up-sell you. That could be trying new products or treatments, or it might even be washing or blow drying your hair. Make sure you know what’s included to avoid embarrassment at the till.

On the topic of products, it’s worth seeing if you can get the same or similar for less elsewhere.

Updated November 10, 2025 | Articles

Fix your finances in 2019 part 4: Get the best deal

Andy Webb

By paying less for your everyday services you’ll have more money in your pocket to spend or save.

In this final part of my January series to help you start the year getting a hold on your finances, I’m looking at the simple ways you can boost your income by getting the best deal every time you spend money.

Set aside half a day, or spread it out over the next few months, to do the following, and you’ll cut the cost of your bills and get better value of your spending. In total, you could easily be a grand better off thanks to all of these.

1. Switch your bank for a cash bonus

If you’ve never switched bank, you really should. It’s possible to get £150 paid into your new account at the moment just for moving from one bank to another. And you can do this again, and again, and again. You can read about the current bank switch offers in my regularly updated guide.

2. Open up another bank account

And once you’ve switched for a bonus, you can also open up more accounts to take advantage of other incentives – cashback on bills and interest on savings.

I wrote last week about the best places to put your savings, with a handful of current accounts offering the highest rates right now. You don’t need to switch to get these interest rates, though you might have to have a couple of active direct debits or pay in a certain amount each month.

You also don’t need to switch to have an account that pays cashback on your bills. Both Santander and Natwest offer these accounts. They do come with a fee, but you should easily clear it and make more on top if all your bills are paid out of this account. Of course if you don’t switch you do need to manually change all the direct debits.

3. Switch your bills

Next up, look to move your energy, mobile phone, insurances, internet and TV deals to cheaper providers. Sometimes this is as simple as switching who provides the utility. For others it might require a little bit more effort, but whatever you choose it’ll be worth it.

> My guide to switching energy

> My guide to switching mobile phone

> My guide to switching insurance

> My guide to switching internet provider

> My guide to switching TV

4. Sign up to cashback sites

Right, now on to day-to-day shopping – though you can also use the following to save on your bills.

Every time you shop online you should go via a cashback wesbite. These sites will pay you for clicking from them to the retailer’s online shop. Though the amounts are often small, they really add up over the year.

The top two are Quidco and TopCashback, and if you’ve not signed up to them yet, there are bonus deals of between £10 and £16 available on your first purchase.

5. Get a cashback credit card

You should also consider getting and using a cashback credit card. I use these for everything and get between 0.5% and 1.25% back on each full pound I spend – it’s easily worth £150 on a normal year. My fave is from American Express – particularly as you can get 5% back for the first three months as a new customer. Here’s my guide to how they work and which ones to look at.

Of course this only works if you can clear the full balance every month. If that sounds unlikely then you should probably avoid most credit cards, not just the cashback ones.

Missed a previous part in this series? Catch up via the links below

The best bank switching offers (May 2025)

How to quickly clear your credit card debt

Fix your finances in 2019 pt1: Know your money

Updated November 10, 2025 | Articles

Summer Statement – Stamp Duty & VAT cuts, job funding and more

Andy Webb

What you need to know about the latest financial policies.

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced a number of measures that the government hopes will kick start the economy. Effectively a mini-budget, the “Summer Statement”, brings through more spending initiatives and tax cuts to help us through the crisis.

After lots of speculation, including the idea that everyone could get a £500 voucher, here are the key policies that could affect you, as well as a little more detail about a few things announced in the last few days.

Listen to more (or while you read) on the Cash Chats podcast

Job Retention Bonus

The Chancellor said the focus of this announcement was jobs. The Chancellor was adamant that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, aka furlough, is still set to finish at the end of October, with contributions from employers starting in August.

After this there will be a bonus for employers who bring people back from the scheme.

If someone is continuously employed after furlough until the end of January 2021, the employer will get a bonus of £1,000 per employee.

To be eligible the employee needs to be paid at least £520 a month in November 2020, December 2020 and January 2021. We’ll get more details at the end of July.

Paid job scheme for 16-24-year-olds

Young people on Universal Credit will receive a total of £2bn via a temporary work scheme called “Kick Start”. The idea is that employers will be funded to give around £350,000 under 25’s a paid six-month placement at the national minimum wage.

The government money will only be for 25 hours, so employers can choose to pay for additional hours or a higher wage. Overheads will also be covered.

It’s to be targetted at those most likely to face long term unemployment and there should be hundreds of thousands of people who can take advantage,

The jobs have to be new jobs and help skill people up to find further work.

Funds for training and apprenticeships

This is alongside money that’ll boost traineeships and work experience. This includes money to fund new trainee schemes to upskill people on things like maths and CV writing while giving employers £1,000 for giving placements of 60 to 90 hours.

There will also be a £2,000 bonus per new apprentice hired, or £1,500 for apprentices aged 25 or over.

VAT cut for hospitality and tourism

The idea of cutting VAT is to get us shopping and spending. It was expected to be across the board but it was targetted at just one industry, and at a much larger than expected too.

This time, the temporary cut will see the rate drop from 20% to 5% in the hospitality and tourism sectors. This includes restaurants, hotels, cinemas, zoos and other attractions.

The change comes into play on Wednesday 15th July until 12th January 2021. We should get more details soon, though for example, cafes or pubs that don’t serve food won’t benefit, nor will places that don’t offer “eat in” or “hot takeaways”. And alcohol won’t be included.

But it does means you’ll see the price you pay at most of these businesses drop. For example, say a cinema ticket was £12, it’ll now be £10.50.

So the individual savings won’t be massive, but they will add up. Say as a household you spent £1,050 in those six months (that’s £175 a month), it would save you a total of £150.

Eat Out to Stay Out

A surprise move was to announce a discount at restaurants throughout August 2020. Moving in on the Tastecard and Meerkat Meals market, the government will subsidise every person who eats out by 50%, up to £10 per head.

It’ll only be at participating restaurants who will charge you the discounted price and claim the money back from the government. It’ll also only be Monday to Wednesday.

Stamp duty holiday

An immediate change is that you’ll only pay stamp duty on properties valued above £500,000. The tax holiday will end on 31st March 2021.

The idea behind this is to get people buying and selling their homes. Importantly this is just for England and Northern Ireland as there are different schemes in Scotland and Wales (though they might do something similar).

So how much will this save? With the average price in the UK £231,855 (as of the latest figures from March 2020), the new stamp duty cost would be zero, saving £2,137.

If you’re in a more expensive area, such as London, the average property price is £485,794. Buyers will be saving £14,289.

Stamp duty before today

The stamp duty charges that will return in March are as follows. Normally there’s no stamp duty on the first £125,000 (£300,000 for first-time buyers), and then you get charged a percentage of the value above this. Just how much this is increases as the property value goes up.

2% on the next £125,000 (so between £125,001 and £250,000)
5% on the next £675,000 (so between £250,001 and £925,000)
10% on the next £575,000 (so between £925,001 and £1.5m)
12% on anything above £1.5m

There’s no change for properties above £500,001, so after that first half a million is accounted for the ranges will come into play. And there will still be an additional charge if it’s not your first or only property.

Eco subsidies

There will be £2bn worth of grants to help homeowners make their properties more energy-efficient. Those eligible will get up to £5,000 to put towards things like double glazing or loft insulation, floor or cavity wall insulation.

Low-income households will be eligible for 100% of the costs, but for most people the money will only be for part of the work. You’ll need to pay the rest yourself. You’ll also miss out as a renter unless your landlord wants to apply and pay.

It’ll go live in September 2020 and you’ll have to use approved companies to do the work. Around 650,000 households are expected to benefit.

There’s also another £1bn of funds to help reduce carbon emissions in public buildings.

Art funding

Late last week the government announced £1.57bn in funds to help the struggling arts and culture sectors. Around half the cash will be given out as grants.

What’s missing

There’s still no support for the one to three million self-employed, freelancers and Limited Company directors (aka “Excluded UK”).

There also wasn’t any help for non-leisure businesses. VAT will stay at 20% and there was no “helicopter money” voucher scheme.

Updated November 10, 2025 | Articles

Budget 2021: What you need to know

Andy Webb

What you need to know about furlough, tax hikes and more.

This spring Budget, as announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak on 3rd March 2021 is the probably the most packed in the seven years I’ve been writing about them.

A lot of the measures where leaked in the days ahead, but there was plenty of new announcements, and I’ve compiled a list of the key ones below.

It was billed as a Budget to protect jobs, so there wasn’t a huge amount on how we’ll pay for the additional spending – but we still heard about a few of the ways money will be raised in taxes.

You can watch this round up video or keep reading

More detail will come in the next few days, and I’ll add information below as it’s revealed.

I’ll also be talking to the Financial Time’s consumer editor Claer Barrett on Friday’s episode of my Cash Chats podcast to analyse everything. You can subscribe now on your favourite podcast app so you don’t miss it.

Jobs & benefits

Furlough extended

The Coronavirus Job Support Scheme, due to end on 31st April 2021, will now finish on 30th September 2021.

Employees on furlough will continue to receive 80% of their wages up to £2,500 a month, though from the summer businesses will have to contribute some of the cash. In July it’ll be 10% of the 80%, and in August and September it’ll be 20% of the 80%.

Watch more about the furlough extension in this video

Self-employment scheme extended

Those eligible for SEISS (Self-Employment Income Support Scheme) will be able to apply for another three-month payment in April, covering 80% of profits up to £7,500.

There will also be a fifth (and final) grant to cover May to September. Those who have seen a turnover loss of 30% or more will get the same 80% (so up to £7,500). But if the turnover drop is less than 30% the grant will be reduced to 30% of those profits (capped at £2,850). It’ll be available from July 2021.

What’s also different this time is that it’ll now be based on the 2019/2020 self-assessment form, which brings in around 600,000 people who have previously missed out.

Nothing for ExcludedUK

Once more there was nothing to help the remaining 2.4m people who’ve had no support in the last year because they were limited company directors, freelancers, people on fixed term contracts or people earning a mix of PAYE and self-employment income.

Universal Credit uplift

The £20 extra weekly payment for low-income households claiming UC will be extended for six months. It will now stop at the end of September 2021. This was after a huge amount of pressure from the oppostion and other groups.

Eligible Working Tax Credit recipients will receive the same amount but as a £500 one-off payment.

The surplus earnings threshold for UC will remain at £2,500 for another year and then revert to £300.

Training grants

The government’s incentive for employers to bring on apprentices between April and September 2021 will be doubled to £3,000 per apprentice.

From June there will also be subsidised management training (Help to Grow: Management) and in the Autumn free digital training available (Help To Grow: Digital), as well as discounts on software. You can register interest here.

Tax & Savings

Green bond for savings

A new “Green bond” will be available to the public to put their savings in accounts that’ll help fund green initiatives. It’ll be from NS&I (National Savings and Investments) from the summer of 2021. The rate hasn’t been announced.

Income tax freeze

The different income tax thresholds were due to increase slightly from April 6th and this will go ahead, but they’ll stay at this level until 2026. This means:

The first £12,570 earned is tax free (Personal Tax Allowance, though it reduces for earners over £100k)
The next £37,700 is taxed at 20% (basic rate tax)
Earnings above £50,270 are taxed at 40% (higher rate tax)
Earning over £150,000 are taxed at 45% (additional tax rate)

This is really a stealth tax increase as you’ll lose out in real terms as inflation means prices you pay elsewhere will have gone up and if you get a salary increase you could be moved into the higher tax bracket.

Corporation Tax

In April 2023 Corporation Tax will jump to 25% on company profits from its current 19%.

Companies with profits of under £50,000 will see the rate remain at 19% under a “Small Profits Rate”, while the increase will be tapered above this. In total only 10% of businesses will pay the full rate (those with profits above £250,000 a year). The differnet tiers haven’t been revealed.

This is less of a blow for small businesses as was feared, especially those with smaller profits. It’s a big increase for big companies, but no doubt something the likes of Amazon and Facebook can avoid as we didn’t see a mooted digital sales tax.

Pension, capital gains and inheritance tax freezes

Other tax thresholds will stay at the same rate including Inheritance tax, Capital Gains Tax and the Pensions lifetime allowance. These will stay the same until 2026.

Booze increase frozen

All planned alcohol (Scotch, wine, cider and beer) will be frozen for another year.

Travel taxes

The petrol duty increases will also not happen in April.

Other travel taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Vehicle Excuse Duty and company vehicle benefits will increase inline with inflation.

Housing

Stamp Duty holiday extended

The £500,000 threshold where no Stamp Duty is required will carry on for another three months in England and Northern Ireland.

Then from July until the end of September the nil-rate band will be £250,000. From 1st October it will return to the normal £125,000.

Scotland and Wales are still to announce what they are doing.

New 95% mortgage scheme

The government will guarantee mortgages for homebuyers to encourage more lenders to offer 95% mortgages. So it means you’ll be able to buy with a 5% deposit, subject to meeting the usual affordability criteria.

It’ll be capped at properties worth £600,000, but it won’t be restricted to first-time buyers or new build homes as other schemes have been.

Homebuyers will be able to fix for up to five years and the scheme will run until December 2022.

Shopping & retail

Contactless limit to increase to £100

You’ll now be able to tap your card without entering your PIN on payments up to £100. This is a massive jump up from £45, which was only increased from £30 a year ago.

It might take a short while for retailers to change systems for this to work.

VAT cut extended

The 5% rate of VAT (down from the usual 20%) for hospitality and tourism will remain until end of September.

It’ll then go to 12.5% for the next six months, before returning to 20% in April 2022.

No new schemes to get people shopping

There was no repeat of Eat Out To Help Out or similar schemes to get us shopping.

Non-essential and leisure retailer grants

“Non-essential” retailers that will be able to open in mid-April will be able to claim “restart grants” of up to £6,000 per site.

Hospitality and leisure businesses in England that will open later – such as pubs, hotels, restaurants, gyms and hairdressers – will be able to apply for grants of up to £18,000 each

There’s a similar fund set up for the other UK nations to distribute to retailers.

Business rate cut

Until the end of June, Business Rates will remain at zero for eligible retail, entertainment and leisure properties. It will be discounted by two-thirds until 31st March 2022.

Other announcements

Recovery loans scheme

Any business can apply for loans between £25,000 and £10m, with the government guaranteeing 80% of the money borrowed.

Super Deduction on tax for business investment

Companies spending money on equipment will be able to offset 130% of the cost against profits for two years.

More grants for sport and the arts

Most museums, cinemas, theatres and music venues have been closed for almost a year. An extra £300m will be added to £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund, £18.8m going to community initiatives and £77m to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Another £300m will go to support sports such as cricket and tennis, and there will be money for a 2030 UK and Ireland World Cup bid.

Green grants

A new national bank based in Leeds will be funding public and private green initiatives.

Funding for vulnerable groups

There will be funding for some groups:

An extra £19m to tackle domestic abuse
£10million for military veterans with mental health problems
A lifetime commitment for victims of the Thalidomide scandal

Visa reform for “highly skilled”

To encourage overseas workers from industries such as science, tech and engineering it’ll be easier to get a work visa via a points-based scheme.

Updated November 10, 2025 | Articles

Autumn Budget 2021: What you need to know

Andy Webb

What you need to know about the Government’s spending and taxation plans.

This Autumn Budget, as announced in Parliament by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on 27 October 2021 didn’t have many surprises.

Most of the measures were leaked in the days ahead than in any previous year I’ve covered (even more than last March’s budget).

But there were still some extra details and a handful of fresh announcements, and I’ve compiled a list of the key ones below.

More detail may come in the next few days, and I’ll add information below as it’s revealed.

I’ll also be talking to the financial journalist Lily Canter on Thursday’s episode of my Cash Chats podcast to analyse everything. You can subscribe now on your favourite podcast app so you don’t miss it.

Watch my Q&A on YouTube talking about the Budget

Jobs & benefits

The headlines here are around wage increases for the lower paid and public sector workers – though in the context of high inflation and increased living costs, any extra cash is likely to be eaten by elsewhere.

Minimum wage to increase

From April the National Living Wage for those over 23 years old will increase from £8.91 an hour to £9.50 an hour. This 6.6% rise means someone on minimum wage who works 35 hours a week will see their pre-tax income jump up by £1,074.

This is before tax, the increase in National Insurance and any impact on the UC uplift cut.

And of course, many employers will choose to pass on some or all of this cost on to customers – which will also eat into the value of this increase.

There are also increases for younger workers. Those aged 21 or 22 will see the minimum wage increase from £8.36 to £9.18. It’ll increase from £6.56 to £6.83 for those between 18 and 20 years old, while under 18s will see a jump of 19p to £4.81 an hour. The Apprentice rate will go from £4.30 to £4.81 an hour.

It’s worth noting here that though the Government rebranded the minimum wage as the National Living Wage a few years ago, it’s different from the level recommended by the Living Wage Foundation. The figures for 2021 will be announced on 15 November and with the increased cost of living over the last 12 months it’ll remain higher than the increases listed above.

Universal Credit taper change

People claiming UC will be able to earn more from work before they begin to lose their benefits.

The current “taper rate” of 63p means that if you earn over a certain amount you’ll only keep the equivalent of 37p from every pound due in benefits – putting some off working more hours or going for better paid jobs.

The new rate will be 55p per £1, and this will be introduced within weeks and certainly before 1 December 2021.

There will also be an increase by £500 a year in the Work Allowance (how much you can earn before the taper is introduced) for those caring for children or a household member with limited capacity for work.

Public sector pay increases

Workers for the NHS, schools, police, civil service and other parts of the public sector will see a pay freeze ended. It’s not clear what the increase will be, and it’ll no doubt vary depending on each area. All the small print says is the increases “should retain broad parity with the private sector”.

Nothing on rumoured student loan changes

Nothing was said about the rumoured change to when people begin repaying student loans – though that could still come as a separate announcement.

Personal Tax & Savings

Alcohol tax revamped

There will be just six (rather than 15) different tariffs on booze. The stronger alcohol will be taxed more than before, while lower alcohol drinks will be taxed less. Four of these tiers (though not the rates) will be:

1.2-3.4% alcohol by volume (ABV),
3.5-8.4% ABV,
8.5-22% ABV,
and above 22% ABV

As part of this, sparkling wines will no longer be taxed more than still wines, and fruit cider will be taxed at the same rate as apple and pear cider.

There will be a relief for smaller producers while pubs will also get a break with 5% relief on draught beer and cider – presumably these are the two other tariffs.

These new rules won’t come into effect until April 2023, but the broader increases set for alcohol this year will be cancelled.

Flight tax changes

There will be a 50% cut in Air Passenger Duty for domestic flights, but long-haul flights over 5,500 miles will be faced with a new tax that will be £91 for economy, and more for higher classes. That’ll include most of South America and Asia, and potentially the west coast USA.

I’ve had a quick look at distances using this site, and London to Los Angeles is under 5,500, but Edinburgh to LA is just over! While it’s the other way around for trips to Mexico City. I’d imagine the 5,500 distance will be evened out, rather than making it more expensive to fly from Scotland than England.

Fuel duty hike frozen

Fuel Duty won’t increase this year, though there are no cuts to changes to combat record petrol prices.

Personal tax

The big tax increases were announced last month – a hike of 1.25% on National Insurance and Dividends to start in April. Income Tax rates were also frozen last year and there were no changes announced.

VAT stays on energy bills

Some have been calling for a temporary suspension of 5% VAT on energy bills to help with the huge increases over recent months (which will likely continue). This was rejected by the Chancellor and stays in place.

Green Savings Bond

First announced back in March’s Budget, the Green Savings Bonds are now available to use for your savings – though they aren’t great. Here’s my analysis and list of alternatives.

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Business Tax

I won’t go into all the business announcements as this is about personal finance, but there are a few significant ones.

50% discount on Small Business Rates

To help small retailers, hospitality and leisure businesses there will be a 50% cut in Business Rates for a year.

There will also be changes to broader Business Rates that’ll see them reviewed every three years, and a planned increase for next year will be cancelled.

No new online sales tax

It was thought there’d be some kind of announcement on an extra tax for online businesses, but this didn’t happen.

Property developer tax to fund cladding removal

The biggest property developers (worth more than £25million profit) will be taxed at 4% to build a £5billion pot to fund cladding removal on high risk buildings.

** UPDATE – turns out this is another measure that has already been announced!

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Spending announcements

Transport

A regional transport package was announced worth £6.9bn, though only £1.5 billion is new money – the rest has been previously been revealed, including £4.2bn in 2019.

The money is to be spent on buses, trams and trains in England. Further money will go to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Education and skills

School funding will return to 2010 levels, worth £1,500 extra per pupil.

There will be money spent to fund new T-Level qualifications for 16 to 19 years olds (announced back in 2020) and £560 million to train 500,000 adults with low numeracy skills via a scheme called Multiply.

Health

A huge £5.9 billion will go to the NHS to largely fund equipment to help reduce the waiting lists for scans and tests that’s built up. This is in addition to the £12bn announced last month that’ll be paid for through the National Insurance increase.

Culture

Some major museums and galleries will get £850 million to redevelop or refurbish buildings. Another £75 million will go to regional museums and libraries to improve facilities.

£500 million fund for families

Local governments will be given funds to launch support centres for families, while money will also be allocated to areas such as mental health services and help with breastfeeding.

Overseas Aid funding returns

By 2024 the UK will once again provide 0.7% of GDP for overseas aid.

Updated November 6, 2025 | Articles

Apps to take advantage of your open banking data

Andy Webb

From analysing your spending to automating savings, sharing your banking data can help you better understand your finances.

There’s been a huge amount of coverage in the press about “open banking” – a new rule the banks have to follow that means they have to let you share your banking data. So things like spending habits or how much you pay for an overdraft.

That might not sound like much, but with that information, other companies can help you better manage your money and cut the cost of banking. Despite lots of effort to get people to switch bank, not enough of us do it. So the hope is open banking will encourage new and old banks to be more competitive and come up with new and better ways to help customers with their money.

But I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. Only a handful of the major banks were ready at launch, and it’ll take a few years before all the banks and apps are up to speed with the new rules.

However, there are ways you can share your data now. I’ve listed some of the top apps further down, but first… a little about open banking.

What is open banking?

Open banking means banks have to make data about your current account available to third parties. If you then choose to give other companies access to that information, they can use it to offer you better banking.

This could mean recommending where you can get a cheaper overdraft, allowing you to manage multiple accounts from one app, or analysing your spending to show where you could cut back.

Is it safe?

With open banking, the banks have to share your data with FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) approved companies. They’ll do this via APIs (Application Programming Interface) that require your permission but not your log in details. So if something does go wrong you’re protected by the bank.

Hasn’t this data sharing been happening for a while?

Yup. The difference is until now apps have been “scraping” your data from your bank after you’ve given read-only access. Scraping doesn’t have the same protection as the open banking APIs so if the app was to be hacked and your details were stolen, the banks don’t have to compensate you for any lost money.

And this scraping might carry on for a while. Just because the open banking rules have started, it doesn’t mean all the banks are set to share your data through APIs, or that these apps have got FCA regulation. In fact scraping isn’t banned until September 2019.

But though the API method will certainly be safer, it doesn’t mean you should wait. These apps do have their own security systems in place, and some have their own protections for your money. You just need to read up on these before signing up to make sure you’re happy to give access.

Do watch out though for scammers. It’s thought there will be some who try to take advantage of the new rules in order to get access to your bank account. Do your research first on any business that asks for this data.

The apps that’ll use your banking data

Whether you’re using open banking APIs or just providing read-only access through scraping, there are advantages to sharing your data now. And that’s mainly through apps or chat-bots that integrate with Facebook.

There are dozens and dozens of these, with new ones appearing all the time. I think there are some exciting ideas – though they won’t all work and some will fail before they even really get started.

I’ve been trying some of the apps available and I’ll be writing in-depth reviews the more I use them this year. Until then, here are a few apps to check out.

The apps to help you budget

If you’ve multiple current accounts and credit cards across different banks (I’ve got 11 current accounts at the moment!), checking every online account or app can be a bit of a faff.

To help there are aggregating apps which show you every account and credit card balance on a single screen, and list all your spending on another.

But they do a lot more, and are useful even if you only have a couple of accounts. They also analyse your spending so you can quickly see how much you spend on bills, or eating out and so on in a month. You can also set budgets and notifcations if you’re overspending.

The main ones are:

Yolt

I use this one the most. This one has been set up by Dutch banking giants ING. As well as seeing all your accounts and spending, Yolt predicts future spending so you have a “smart balance” – i.e. what you really have to spend or save after forthcoming credit card and household bills are taken away. Yolt is app only.

>> Sign up for Yolt

Cleo

Cleo primarily uses a chatbot in Facebook, which I’m not so keen on. But I do think you’re more likely to interact with Cleo on a daily basis this way, which is a good thing. It probably just takes some getting used to!t

However there is also a handy dashboard you can open from Facebook Messenger or on a computer which is very easy to use,

>> Sign up for Cleo

Money Dashboard

Money Dashboard has been around for years and was one of the first aggregators. It’s got less going on than Yolt, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view!

My main issue here is it displays a balance for an account I closed years ago, and says an active account is closed. And I can’t do anything about it!

Like Cleo you can use this from your computer, and also download the data to use in spreadsheet software.

>> Sign up for Money Dashboard

Emma

This has a more stripped back layout than Yolt and MD, which I’m not so sure about. But it’s only in beta which means not all the features are released yet. However it is FCA approved so your data is better protected (as long as your bank is ready with the APIs).

>> Sign up for early access to Emma

The apps to help you save

A smart feature with these apps can help you save. The apps analyse your spending data to work out how much you can afford to save. If you give permission the apps then use a Direct Debit to move that money to a separate account. These apps essentially make sure you don’t forget to save, and hopefully not notice there’s less money in your bank account as a result either.

Chip

You can earn up to 5% interest with Chip and I’ve been using it since mid-2017. Chip isn’t currently regulated by the FCA but your money is held in a Barclay’s e-wallet.

** UPDATE 16/1/18 – I’ve negotiated a deal where you can start with 3% rather than the standard 1%. Use the code CLEVER3 to get your 3% bonus. This offer expires 31st January 2018 **

>> Read my review and get up to 5% interest

Plum

You earn interest on savings here if you sign up for peer to peer lending, which comes with risks. Plum suggests you’ll get a 3% return on your savings, though the money isn’t protected so read up before investing.

Like Cleo, Plum uses Facebook Messenger rather than an app. I personally chatting to the app a bit annoying, but if you regularly use Facebook it’s easy to access. But it is handy to get daily notifications of your bank balance and your spending over the day, week and month.

>> Sign up for Plum

The apps to help you switch

I’ve not actually used these ones yet, but the idea is the software analyses the data to find where it thinks you are overspending. If you agree, you can switch to a cheaper deal through the app or cancel a service.

Two to check out are Bean and Mespo.

>> Sign up to Bean

>> Add Mespo to your Facebook Messenger

Updated November 6, 2025 | Articles

14 apps to save you money on your holiday

Andy Webb

Cut the cost of your holiday by downloading these 14 travel apps to your phone or tablet.

I’ve never been the person who just buys a package holiday and leaves it at that. I’ll shop around to get the cheapest I can on hotels, flights, travel money – pretty much everything. And apps can be a big help.

Here are some of the top apps you should download to plan your holiday, and save even more when you are away.

Each is available for iOS and Android. And you can also use your phone’s browser to go to the webpages for each of these.

Apps to save on your flights and hotels bookings

Probably the biggest expenses of most holidays – and where you can make the biggest savings.

1. Skyscanner

2. Kayak

These are both travel comparison apps which are great for that first wistful daydream to find the destinations for your budget. I tend to prefer Skyscanner for flights and Kayak for hotels.

3. Seat Guru

With flight shares (where different airlines share a route) you never really know who you’re flying with and what that means.

This app lets you enter the flight number to find out the type of aircraft, who is operating the flight, the facilities onboard (such as in-seat movies), and read reviews of different seats, helping you get the best value for your money.

4. Airbnb

Often far cheaper than a hotel, Airbnb is the service where people let out their spare room – and sometimes their whole home.

As long as you read the reviews you shouldn’t go too far wrong. Plus an added bonus is the local knowledge you get from your hosts.

Apps to save on your travel money

The worst thing you can do is leave it to the last minute to get your cash. I’ve written about how to get the best deal already, but these apps will make sure you know what you’re spending – and at the lowest rate.

5. XE

When I’m away I always use XE to get a rough idea of how the local currency converts to sterling. It won’t be exact (that depends on how you pay) but it should help you work out if it’s a decent price, and if it’s in your holiday budget.

6. Starling

7. Monzo

Starling and Monzo are two app-only digital banks are managed from your phone rather than in a branch. One of the reasons they’re stand out from other banks is you won’t get charged for spending overseas or withdraw cash from an ATM (though Monzo has a £200 monthly limit before a 3% fee is charged). When you use the card you’ll also be instantly sent a notification of how much you’ve spent, converted to pounds – though you obviously need data turned on for this to work.

Apps to save on your mobile data

I’m so used to doing everything on my phone that it’s a bit of a shock being restricted when on holiday. Yes, it can be nice to switch off, but there are advantages to being able to see what’s a nice place to eat, or find your way around without a big “I’m a tourist” map.

Though in most of Europe now you can use inclusive data, for the rest of the world it’s only Three which allows this, and only in certain locations. So for everywhere else, these apps can help you get online without adding bucketloads on your bill.

8. Wifi Finder

This app will tell you if there’s free wifi near you. It’s crowdsourced so might not always be correct, but it’s a big help. Of course, you need to be online to use it, but I use wifi at the hotel to take a look before heading out.

9. Google Maps

You can buy Sat Nav apps, or city maps, but thanks to a handy trick you can download sections of maps from Google Maps to use offline.

>> Read my guide to saving money on your mobile overseas

Apps to help you keep in touch

You can also wrack up big bills outside Europe for making calls, sending texts and using other messaging services. But as long as you’re connected to wifi you can talk, share pics and more with these apps.

10. WhatsApp

11. Facebook Messenger

You can make free calls to other WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger users, as well as send photos and instant messages

It’s also worth checking if your mobile network has an app that lets you make calls via the Internet as part of your calls package – meaning you can call landlines back home. Handy if your card gets declined and you need to phone the bank!

Apps to save on your shopping

Though we often think we’re getting a better deal at duty-free or in certain countries, it’s often not the case. So I’ll always use these apps to check the price back in the UK.

12. MySupermarket

13. Idealo

14. Amazon

MySupermarket is useful for things at duty-free, especially booze. I’ll usually pick up a bottle or two of spirits on my way home, but first I’ll check the price against the supermarkets back home. With price wars and promotion in the UK, the airport isn’t always cheaper.

For clothes and gadgets I’ll look at Idealo and Amazon. A pair of Converse I was about to buy in America a few years back were actually cheaper as part of a sale on Amazon.