You could pay £252 less tax this year – and possibly backdate it for another four years.
The Marriage Allowance is a way to shift some of your tax-free allowance to your husband or wife if they are a low earner.
If you’ve been eligible for the current and past four years, you could claim back tax worth £1,260.
There are various conditions so it won’t be for everyone (including me), but it’s certainly worth taking a look at the criteria to see if you can claim.
Here’s how it works and what you need to know.
Who is eligible for the Marriage Allowance?
You need to be either married or in a civil partnership.
The higher earner in the couple must earn less than £50,270 but more than £12,570 in the tax year you’re applying for. So right now, that’s 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.
In Scotland it’s a little different and income below £43,662 for the higher earner.
The lower earner in the couple must earn less than £12,570 in the same year. This is the basic rate threshold where you start paying income tax, though if you have a lower limit (for example because you underpaid tax a previous year) then that amount will apply.
You’re able to make a claim if you get a pension, as my parents did. But, if you or your partner were born before 6th April 1935 (anyone currently 90 years old and above), then you can choose instead to get the Married Couples Allowance.
How much money can you get?
The scheme allows the lower earner to transfer 10% of their tax-free allowance to the higher earner. So for this tax year, with the threshold at £12,570, you can move £1,257 of the allowance over.
So let’s say the lower earner’s total income for the year is £10,000. By transferring 10% of their personal allowance to their spouse, their personal allowance drops to £11,313. But since they earn less than this, it doesn’t change the fact that they don’t pay any tax that year,
However, the higher earner now has an increased personal allowance of £13,827 before any tax is due. Since the basic rate of tax is 20% this will work out as paying £251.40 less tax in the year (20% of £1,257).
Of course, if one of you earns between £11,313 and £12,570, you won’t get the full benefit. That’s because the lower earner will now have to pay 20% on anything above £11,313.
You won’t be paid back any saved cash. Instead, the tax code of the higher earner will change, and they’ll just pay less tax throughout the year or on their own tax return if they’re self-employed.
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Claiming Marriage Allowance for previous years
You can backdate your claim by four years alongside the current year. Usually the amount per year changes, though, since the tax thresholds have been frozen since 2021/22, the amount hasn’t actually changed since then. That means your claim is potentially worth up to £1,260 over the five years.
Any money from previous years will be sent to you via cheque so you’ll see the savings (almost) straight away.
You can also claim for a deceased partner if they’ve they were alive and you were both eligible during one or more of those tax years.
Here’s how to see if you were eligible and how much you could potentially claim for these previous years.
2024/25 Marriage Tax Allowance totals
The basic rate upper threshold was £50,270 in 2024/25 (£43,663 in Scotland), while the personal allowance was £12,570.
So the amount you could claim in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be £252.
2023/24 Marriage Tax Allowance totals
The basic rate upper threshold was £50,270 in 2023/24 (£43,663 in Scotland), while the personal allowance was £12,570.
So the amount you could claim in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be £252.
2022/23 Marriage Tax Allowance totals
The basic rate upper threshold was £50,270 in 2022/23 (£43,662 in Scotland), while the personal allowance was £12,570.
So the amount you could claim in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be £252.
2021/22 Marriage Tax Allowance totals
The basic rate upper threshold was £50,270 in 2021/22 (£43,662 in Scotland), while the personal allowance was £12,570.
So the amount you could claim in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be £252.
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How to claim the Marriage Tax Allowance
It’s really simple. You head to the HMRC website or phone them on 0300 200 3300.
The lowest earner needs to be the one who applies, as it’s their allowance which will transfer over.
You’ll need both your National Insurance numbers, as well as one of the following ways to prove your identity:
the last 4 digits of the account that your child benefit, tax credits or pension is paid into
the last 4 digits of an account that pays you interest
details from your P60
details from any of your 3 most recent payslips
your passport number and expiry date
Once you’d made the initial claim, it’ll keep going each new financial year.
What if your situation changes?
If you or your partner’s income changes during the current year you are claiming for and you’re no longer eligible then you need to let HMRC know. You’ll still get the tax break for the rest of the year.
You also need to do this if your relationship ends through a divorce, dissolution or if you become legally separated. The claim could be backdated in this scenario which means you could owe tax.
You can also get complete access to your credit report at the same time.
Credit reports and scores are essential tools you need to be aware of – and continue to monitor. A few years ago you’d have needed to pay to access your full report on a regular basis, and even see your score.
But now there are third party websites and apps you can use which won’t charge you a penny.
Here’s why they are important, and how to sign up.
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The three credit scores and reports
You’d think there’s just one credit score but actually three core ones (let’s ignore for now the fact that lenders might have their own scores too!). Each one is different, and they are based on the date in the credit reports managed by the UK’s three credit reference agencies – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Frustratingly they all have different methods of compiling and presenting their scores. There are totally different ranges, so it’s impossible to compare them.
Now you might think, that doesn’t really matter as you’ll only focus on one report. Well sadly no. You need to check all three reports.
That’s because they potentially hold different details about your financial history. Not every company reports to all three. So you might find your bank or credit card appears on one or two, but not all three.
And that matters because when a lender checks a report to consider your application, they’ll probably just go to one.
And if that one is one with missing accounts or errors it could end up with a rejection.
Credit report vs credit score
A credit report is a collection of information about your finances. From all the bank accounts, loans and other credit you have, through to a record of missed payments, financial connections and address history.
It’s frequently used to confirm your identity, but more commonly it’s a way for lenders to work out if they will give you that mortgage or credit card.
So it’s really, really important – though it isn’t the only thing that’ll be taken into account when you apply.
The score is far less important. It’s simply a representation of the health of your credit report. In itself it won’t make any difference to any applications.
Still, it’s handy for us as punters to get a quick idea of things. And it’s easier to track a score than regularly go through the report.
If there’s a sudden drop in the figure it’s a good idea to try to find out if it’s anything significant that you need to deal with.
But if it carries on relatively steady then you know you’ll only need to take action if you want to bring it up – a sign you’re getting rid of errors and adding depth to your underlying credit report.
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How to check your credit score & report
You can sign up to each credit agency’s own service to access your score for free. Some banks even bundle this in with your current account. So that’s pretty easy.
But if you want to see your full report (which is the important thing to check), then with both Equifax and Experian you’ll have to pay a monthly fee of around £11 to £15.
Though you can also request a Statutory Credit Report to view online, it’s generally not as detailed, and won’t have your score. So you’re better off using a third party service that’ll give you full online access in a few clicks for free.
They don’t all update in real time (often it’s a monthly refresh), and might not go back more than a year, but you’ll get everything you need right now to check for errors and find areas you might be able to improve. You can also use these sites for additional services, such card and loan eligibility and tracking.
These services will all also email you monthly or when things change. It’s worth clicking through to check when you receive them. This can be an early warning sign of any fraud or applications not in your name. If you ignore these (it’s easy to do when your inbox is full) at least check them before any you make any applications.
Free Experian credit score and report
Experian app
Since July 2025 you’ve been able to get digital access to your Experian report via the Experian app.
There’s also an eligibility checker. This is vital when you are looking to apply for a new credit card or loan. Here’s more on how they work.
You get an update to your report once a month which should be fine for most people. Since Experian is the biggest credit reference agency it’s probably the most important one to keep an eye on.
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Free Equifax report and score
ClearScore
ClearScore is a free way to monitor your Equifax score for life. It’s simple to find your way around it and it explains what you’re seeing.
You can access on desktop or via an app. I like the timeline feature which lets you see how your score, as well as things like mortgage debt change month by month.
Again it updates monthly, but for most that’ll be fine.
A warning – ClearsScore will email you regularly trying to get you to open a new credit card or loan. Just ignore the products they try to sell you!
Free TransUnion report and score
Credit Karma
It’s completely free to check your full report direct with TransUnion. You can do this via their own Credit Karma website. Your score is updated weekly.
Check all three credit reports
If you’ve been a victim of fraud and you’re worried about applications going out in your name then you can also sign up to CheckMyFile.
This is free for 30-days, but it will give you full access to all three reports including those instant notifications of changes. If you don’t want to keep the service you’ll need to cancel to you don’t pay the full £14.99 a month.
Earn cashback to check your score
Cashback sites TopCashback and Quidco will pay you to sign up to Experian’s free site.
Rates can change so it’s worth checking both, but at the time of writing the amounts are listed below.
Here’s how to watch football on TV without forking out the equivalent of a Premier League player’s daily hourly wage.
If you’re dusting off your football shirt ready for the new season, you may also be considering the cheapest ways to watch your team on TV.
This year, more than 260 Premier League games will be shown on TV, split between Sky TV, and TNT Sports (previously BT Sport).
Championship, League One and League Two fans will get most of their action on Sky Sports, with more games than ever broadcast. Plus there’s European football on TNT and Amazon Prime. And let’s not forget international matches too/
If you want to watch as many games as possible, it doesn’t come cheap. And if you don’t support one of the big teams, they’ll be featured less often, which can make it more expensive per match.
Here’s my guide to the cheapest ways to watch Premier League, EFL and other football.
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Cheapest ways to watch football on Sky Sports
Sky Sports is available on as an add on for Sky, EE TV and Virgin Media packages, or as a pay as you go pass via NOW.
If you already pay for Sky or Virgin, then it’s worth haggling to see if you can add on Sky Sports, or reduce your existing spend. However if you just want the sport channels you’ll be tied into an 18 or 24 month contract for all your other services you have with them such as broadband, as well as forced to also pay for entertainment options, really bringing the price up.
Sky Sports is currently £20 a month for 24-months direct from Sky with the standard Sky channels and Netflix adding on another £15 a month, at least.
Sadly it doesn’t look like Sky is still offering a cut price deal just for the football channels or just for the F1 channel – but keep an eye out for either’s return.
You can pay a £25 a month for a monthly rolling contract via Sky Stream as an introductory offer, but you’ll need to pay at least £18 a month on top for Sky Entertainment and Netflix. For most people you’re better off going with NOW.
With Virgin Media it’s also another £20 on top, at least for the sports channels. Again, not bad, but you’re likely over paying for the other channels.
Get day or month Sky Sports passes with NOW TV
NOW TV passes are particularly good if you don’t want to pay for other Sky or Virgin channels or Netflix (which is bundled with Sky), or if you won’t watch all year around.
Plus, combine a NOW TV pass with a cut-price broadband and phone line deal and it’ll often be much much cheaper than getting everything as part of the full Sky or Virgin packages.
If you only plan to watch a few games at home throughout the season you can buy a NOW day pass for £14.99. You get all the Sky Sports channels for 24 hours. This isn’t as good a deal as it used to be, but still a money saver if you just want to watch a single match.
A monthly pass is also available, meaning you can view more sport. But at £34.99 it’s not as cheap as adding to Sky if you pay it every month.
The good news is there are regular deals to reduce the price of a pass. These have dwindled a little over the last few years, and there are very few day pass deals.
But monthly ones do still pop up quite regularly, often dropped to between £21 and £26 a month either when you first sign up or as a retention offer if you go to cancel. Get it this low, if not lower, then it’s more comparable to what you’d pay adding it to Sky without the requirement for other channels.
More recently you might find these offers tie you in for a minimum period, perhaps as long as six months, which isn’t as flexible. But others still let you cancel when ever you want.
You can stream the NOW TV app on your TV, console or streaming stick; or on your computer or mobile device. Though you can’t record (it’s all on-demand and catch up), you can now pause and rewind live sport.
If you want HD or to share your pass you’ll need to pay more. It’s £6 a month for Boost (2x streams and 720p) and £9 a month for Boost Ultra (3x streams and 1080p). Again, there are often deals to bring the price down.
TNT Sports is available to add to TV packages from Sky, EE and Virgin, or stream direct from Discovery+. We’ve got a deals page which highlights some of the best TNT Sports deals available, but here are the cheapest options.
Free with some BT broadband packages
If you have been with BT for a while for broadband or mobile packages then it’s worth checking if you’ve got free access to the full Discovery+ package, which includes TNT Sports. If you’re not eligible you can add it for £10 a month with no long contract commitment.
Buy a month’s pass
If you don’t have or want expensive pay TV contracts, you can access TNT Sports with Discovery+ for £30.99 per month. You don’t need to commit to a contract, so you can get a month’s access whenever you need it, making it good for casual fans.
The cheapest way to watch football on Amazon Prime Video
There will be 17 Champions League games shown on Amazon Prime this season, spread across the year. It costs £95 for the full year, and obviously you get access to other Prime benefits. But there are ways to pay less if you’re only after the odd match.
Get a free Amazon Prime trial
If you’ve never had Prime, you can take out a 30-day trial for free. And if you have had a trial before, it’s still worth checking as you can normally get another one after a year, if not sooner.
Pay £5.99 a month
You can also sign up on a monthly basis, at just £5.99 a month. That’s much cheaper than the full monthly Prime price of £8.99 a month, and you’ve got the flexibility to cancel if there are no games on, and resign up when there are.
With Sky Sports and TNT Sports, rather than just add the channels to your existing service as a top-up, it’s often cheaper to switch your service to a new company.
There are always offers for current customers signing new contracts, but the best deals are usually for new customers or those who threaten to leave. You can generally save even more by going via cashback sites.
Haggle with your provider
You can add on the Sky Sports and TNT Sports channels to your existing Sky, Virgin, Talk Talk and BT TV packages, but this can get very expensive.
Look out for special offers at the start of the season, or get on the phone with your provider and haggle for a better deal.
Cancel it when you don’t need it
These big pay TV companies often let you take Sky Sports month by month, so if there aren’t any matches you want to see, or you know you won’t have time, just call up and cancel.
You can sign up again when you want to restart watching the channels. Check the terms and conditions before subscribing and see if there is a notice or minimum period.
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The cheapest way to watch every live TV game
Share it with a friend
Know someone who has TNT Sports, NOW TV or Sky? You can usually watch the channels on up to two devices (smart TV, computer, tablet, phone) simultaneously, so you could split the cost between you. Here’s myguide on sharing your subscriptions.
Watch it in the pub
Of course, you can save all that hassle and head to the pub.
Premier League fans will normally be able to find somewhere showing the games, though Championship and lower may struggle. A few pints would cost the same as a NOW TV day pass.
What matches are on which TV channel?
There’s no point signing up for all the channels showing football this year if the team you support isn’t going to be featured. Here’s a very detailed breakdown of which leagues will be show on each broadcaster this season.
Where to watch the Premier League 2025/2026 on TV?
Only selected games are broadcast on TV, though from this year all matches outside the Saturday 3pm kick off will be shown. These are picked a couple of months ahead and will be split between Sky Sports and TNT Sport. Free to air highlights will once again be on the BBC.
With no Amazon fixtures this year, and fewer on TNT Sports, Sky is going to be where you’ll catch most games.
Broadcaster
Number of games
Sky Sports
At least 215 – 32 on Saturday at 5.30pm – 32 on Sunday at 2pm – 32 on Sunday at 4.30pm – 32 on either Friday at 7.30pm or Monday at 8pm – All 30 matches on 1st, 2nd and 3rd midweek fixtures (Dec & Jan) – All 10 matches from last day of the season – Plus at least 57 rescheduled or additional matches
TNT Sports (previously BT Sport)
52 – 32 on Saturday at 12:30pm – All 20 matches from 4th and 5th midweek fixtures (Feb & Mar)
BBC
Highlights on Match of the Day
Until 2029
You can see selections on the Premier League website. Expect these to be announced on these dates (though in my experience they change a lot):
Match dates
Estimated announcement date
August/September
9 July
October
20 August
November
17 September
December/January
15 October
February
17 December
March
21 January
April
4 March
Match week 35
25 March
Match week 36
1 April
Match week 37
8 April
Match week 38
After match week 37
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Where to watch Champions League, Europa League and Europe Conference League on TV in 2025/26
Amazon Prime
17 Champions League games will be shown on Prime for the first time this season. They’ll be on Tuesday nights and Amazon have the first pick for these games.
You’ll get free to air highlights for the Champions League on the BBC until 2027.
Where to watch Football League (Championship, League One, League Two, League Cup) on TV in 2025/26
Sky Sports
Sky is the only place to watch EFL games. As with last season there are a huge number of games shown on Sky Sports. 1,059 out of 1,891 matches will be on TV. You can see what’s been picked on the EFL upcoming live games page.
It will be broadcasting the following:
328 EFL Championship games
248 League One games
248 League Two games
All play-off semi-finals and finals
All 93 EFL Carabao cup games
All 127 EFL Trophy games
Each week there will be:
Five matches in the Sky Bet Championship
Five from Sky Bet League One and League Two
This includes:
All opening and closing day fixtures
All mid week fixtures
All bank holiday fixtures
Shown across these time slots:
Saturday at 12.30pm
Friday night and Sunday 12.30pm
Some Thursday and Monday nights
ITV
You’ll be able to watch 10 live EFL matches and 10 EFL Cup matches (including the final) on ITV, along with EFL highlights.
Where to watch FA Cup on TV matches in 2025/26?
In 2025/26 the FA Cup will be completely free to watch.
Broadcaster
Games
BBC
18 fixtures including the final
ITV
20 games including the final
Where to watch Women’s Super League, Championship & FA Cup on TV in 2025/26?
Matches are split between Sky and the BBC, and some may be on YouTube too. All Women’s Championship are on YouTube.
Broadcaster
Games
Sky
Up to 44 live league games
BBC
21 live league games plus 7 FA Cup games and the League Cup final
YouTube
Some games not shown on the BBC or Sky, all Women’s Championship games
Where to watch international friendlies and qualifiers on TV?
The home nations’ men’s international qualifiers and friendly matches are split across different broadcasters, depending on which team you want to watch.
England’s women’s games are on ITV. BBC Wales has the women’s international games for Wales.
Broadcaster
Games shown
ITV
All England mens games, including World Cup qualifiers and Nations League
The average cost to watch each Premier League team
A couple of seasons ago, we looked at the potential savings you could make from mixing and matching providers rather than committing to a year of sports channels. We found that football fans could save themselves up to £850 on watching the Premier League this season.
If you pay for all the services all year you’re going to get better value if you support one of the big teams and very poor value if you support a smaller one. However, if you’re a fan of various different sports or like to watch multiple teams, it might be worthwhile.
(All this football talk reminds me of this classic Mitchell and Webb sketch…)
The highest paying easy-access and regular children’s savings accounts and Junior ISAs
Here’s our guide to the best children’s savings accounts. Check the date to see when this was last updated.
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Easy access accounts
These can be current accounts for kids or specific children’s savings accounts and are open to anyone under the age of 18. Rates are usually variable, which means they can change, and are often only on a limited amount of money.
With these accounts, your children will be able to manage the money themselves once they reach a certain age.
0.25% of the average balance of all Demelza accounts given to Demelza Children’s Hospice each year
Open it in branch or via post
Regular Savers
These children’s savings accounts pay higher rates but you’re limited on how much you can save each month. Usually, it’s a fixed rate for a year. When the time months is up, the account will close and the money will be transferred to a linked savings account.
You or your child can save £9,000 a year in a Junior ISA. These can be cash ones earning interest or stocks and shares ISAs which are invested (meaning the value can go up and down).
Though interest or gains earned in an ISA are tax-free, it’s unlikely it makes much difference as there are other allowances that will be more than enough for most kids.
Money in Junior ISAs is also locked away until the child turns 18. Then it’s their money to use as they want.
Parents or guardians have to open the account but anyone can add money – handy for grandparents and other family members who want to put money aside.
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Tax and children’s savings
Andy’s analysis
When choosing a children’s savings account, you probably won’t need to worry about tax on interest.
Children can earn a total of £18,500 from savings and other income each financial year. That’s the £12,500 personal tax allowance, the £5,000 starting savings allowance and the £1,000 personal savings allowance.
However, if parents (and parents only) are adding money to any of the non-tax free accounts then there’s a £100 interest limit each year per parent.
So say the child has £2,000 saved earning 3.75%, they’d make £75 in interest. That’s fine. If they amassed £3,000 in contributions from the same parent the amount earned would be £112.50.
That’s still ok if the money comes from both parents, as the allowances would be combined and the total interest that can be earned would be £200.
But if it’s from one parent, then the entire £112.50 would need to come out of that parent’s Personal Savings Allowance. That might not be a problem – but if it exceeds this, then the whole amount will be subject to tax at the rate the parent pays, which could be 20% or 40%.
To avoid this you might want to save into a Junior ISA.
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Other ways to save for kids
Premium Bonds
You can also buy Premium Bonds for children. These cost £1 each, but there’s a minimum purchase of £25. Grandparents are able to buy Premium Bonds, as well as parents and guardians.
The current prize fund is 3.6%, which isn’t the same as 3.6% interest. It’s very likely that with small amounts of cash in Premium Bonds you won’t win anything, but there’s the chance of getting up to £1 million every month.
Pensions
Yep, you can start putting money into a person pension for a child at any age. They won’t be able to access the cash until they reach 57 years old (though that will likely increase when they’re older). However, they can manage where the money is invested from the age of 18.
As with adults adding to pensions, they’ll get 20% tax relief from the government, meaning for every £80 that’s added, £100 will be invested.
There is an annual limit though of £2,880 where you’ll get this extra top-up.
Piggy banks
It can be good to get young kids familiar with coins and money by giving them a piggy bank to save with. Obviously they won’t earn any interest (unless you want to work that out yourself).
Once they get a little older to understand branch and online banking it might make sense to replace the piggy bank with the accounts above.
Apps
Starling offers a free app to help kids learn about money and spending while also giving the parents extra control over purchases called Starling Kite. You can also pay a monthly fee for apps like Go Henry and HyperJar. However, you’re unlikely to get any decent rate of interest from any of these.
If you have a Nectar card, are you making the most of your points?
If you shop at Sainsbury’s, you’ve probably got a Nectar card, and may even collect the points every time you visit without thinking much about it. And if you’ve been collecting points, you’ll need to spend them to get the most out of your rewards. But do you know how to use your Nectar points?
Unlike Clubcard and other loyalty schemes, you can rack up points at other retailers, including Argos. When it comes to redeeming points, you can spend them when shopping, exchange them at face value, or even swap them for Avios points. In this article, we’ve explained how Nectar works and how you can sign up. Plus, we share tips for both collecting and spending Nectar.
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More ways to make the most out of the Nectar loyalty scheme
Nectar is the loyalty scheme for Sainsbury’s and Argos, where you can earn points on your purchases. It’s actually owned by Sainsbury’s, though points can be collected and redeemed with other brands. As a member of Nectar, you can also access discounts on specific items when shopping, a bit like Tesco Clubcard Prices.
How Nectar points work
One Nectar point is worth 0.5p, meaning if you earn 1 point from a purchase it’s the equivalent of 0.5% cashback. 100 points are therefore 50p, 200 points equal £1 and so on.
The value of different loyalty card points varies quite a bit, with Nectar points equating to half the value of Tesco Clubcard points. However, when redeeming Nectar points at other participating retailers, you could get more value out of them – so it’s worth keeping an eye out for the latest deals.
Nectar points value conversion
1 Nectar point = 0.5p (or half a penny)
2 Nectar points = 1p
100 Nectar points = 50p
200 Nectar points = £1
500 Nectar points = £2.50
1,000 Nectar points = £5
2,500 Nectar points = £12.50
5,000 Nectar points = £25
How to collect Nectar points
You earn points when you shop at participating retailers and scan your Nectar card. Bonus points can be earned at specific retailers or through special deals and promotions.
To collect Nectar points when shopping in stores, you’ll need a Nectar card. Your card can be either a physical plastic one or a digital one stored on the Nectar app. When shopping online, you’ll need to either connect your Nectar card to the relevant account or shop via the Nectar website.
Your options for using Nectar points are more limited than other reward schemes. You can use them in-store and online, such as at Sainsbury’s, to donate to charity, or spend them with a handful of partners.
To redeem your points, you’ll need to swipe your card or scan the app in-store, while you can select to use them online. With some partners, you’ll need to convert your points into vouchers first. You can also swap them for Avios points.
How to sign up to the Nectar scheme
The Nectar loyalty scheme is free to join. You can get a Nectar card online, via the app, or by picking up a form in a Sainsbury’s store.
Once you’ve got set up, a physical card will be posted out, though you’ll have a digital card to use via the app straight away.
8 places to collect Nectar points
1. Sainsbury’s
Earn points as you spend
You’ll get one point for every £1 spent at Sainsbury’s. 500 points are worth £2.50, so this works out at 0.5% cashback.
Scan your Nectar card at the till to get your points, and keep an eye on the app or digital account for special offers which boost the number of points you’ll get.
You might also get vouchers for extra points at the till, sometimes doubling or tripling points on your next transaction, it’s just a matter of remembering to bring them to your next shop. If you wanted to, you could even buy a single, cheap item at the start of your shop to use any vouchers printed out on the rest of your shopping.
Get bonus points via weekly offers
As well as generic offers, you’ll also get ones tailored to your shopping habits. These change every Friday.
You have to save the offers to your account, though there’s a handy “save all offers” button. And of course you still have to scan your card at the till.
Nectar Prices
Nectar Prices are discounts for Nectar holders, similar to Tesco Clubcard prices. To get these, you just shop as normal, looking out for the Nectar price on the shelves. At checkout, you need to make sure you remember to scan your Nectar card, and the discount will be applied.
Your Nectar Prices
This sounds like it could be the same as Nectar Prices above, but Your Nectar Prices are specific to you. These come through weekly and will be based on your shopping history, potentially saving you money on things you’ll actually buy. There are only a few offers each week, but it’s worth having a peek when you get the notification.
2. Argos
You can also earn points at Argos. It’s one point per £1 spent, though it’s occasionally doubled. You’ll need to link your Nectar and Argos accounts before you can earn points.
3. ESSO
Esso replaced BP on Nectar back in 2019. You can earn 1 point per litre of fuel, or swipe in-store to get two points per £1 spent on other things, so roughly 1% back in points. When you get to 300 points it gets you 5p off every litre of fuel.
4. Avios
You can convert 400 Avios points to 400 Nectar points, which is handy if you’ve got a surplus of Avios points that you won’t use. You can also swap them back the other way (you’ll only get 250 points though). This is also a way to boost the value of Amex Reward points. Find out everything you need to know in our step-by-step guide to convert Avios to Nectar points and vice versa.
5. Via Nectar credit cards
If you shop at stores that are part of the Nectar scheme often, it might be worth getting a Nectar credit card.
The American Express Nectar credit card is your best bet and will earn you up to two points for every £1 spent, worth 1%. There’s also a bonus worth £100 when you first sign up and spend £2,000. If you’re thinking of getting a Nectar credit card, check out our best cashback and reward credit card promotions to see if there are better options for you.
6. Via Amex membership rewards
You can convert American Express Rewards points to Nectar points at a value of one to one, meaning one Amex point would be worth 0.5p. This could be a good use for large Amex welcome bonuses, which can be worth between £100 and £500, depending on the card.
7. Via utilities & insurance
You can earn bonus points for signing up for other Sainsbury’s Bank products such as home insurance, as well as Sainsbury’s Energy. Though they could be worth it, these offers shouldn’t be a reason to choose Sainsbury’s over other providers as they could work out more expensive than options you find via a full comparison.
8. At other retailers
You’ll see many other brands listed on the Nectar website, such as Expedia and Very. To earn points via these retailers you have to click through via the Nectar portal. Most of the time you’ll get two points per £1 spend, so the equivalent of 1% cashback, but they can be more or less. There are often points boosting offers to look out for.
Participating Nectar retailers include:
ASOS
Just Eat
Expedia
Groupon
Europcar
Very
Dominos
Wayfair
These extra places to earn points might sound appealing, but I would avoid using them since you can usually beat these rates by clicking through a cashback site instead for a better bonus.
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Where to spend Nectar points
Sainsbury’s shops
To use your points in Sainsbury’s stores you must have used your Nectar card in that specific store in the last year. You can also use them online on the Sainsbury’s website.
They can also be used on petrol but you have to pay in the kiosk, not at the pump.
Argos
You can use multiples of 500 points at Argos, each worth £2.50. To spend them in an Argos store, simply scan your card. To spend online, you must have connected your card to your Argos account.
Converting to Avios points
We think that most people are better off using cashback credit cards and air mile reward credit cards. You’ve got the flexibility to use your earnings how you want, and not be restricted to certain flights.
However, if you are an Avios fan, then you can boost your points by converting 400 Nectar points to 250 Avios.
Donate to charity
Nectar Donate allows you to give your points to charities using Crowdfunder. The points are worth the same as usual, so 1,000 points will be a £5 donation. There’s a minimum of 200 points, and it must be in multiples of 200.
Other ways to redeem Nectar points
Nectar offers just a fraction of the partners you get with Tesco Clubcard, and fewer opportunities to boost the value. Some retailers let you swipe your card or link your card to use points. Others require you to exchange the points for a voucher or code via the Nectar website.
Spending your points isn’t particularly flexible or as straightforward as you might think. To recap, 500 points are usually worth £2.50. You also have to spend Nectar points in chunks (usually 500 points or 1,000 points) rather than choose how many you’d like to use.
For example, you can exchange 2,000 points for £10 off purchases at Eurostar. Other poor options include swapping for movie rentals at Sky Store since you can get far cheaper rentals elsewhere. There are much cheaper ways to rent movies out there, so don’t rely on Nectar to save you lots of cash.
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Nectar points special offers
Occasionally, there are offers that increase your points at Sainsbury’s and other Nectar partners, both to earn extra points and sometimes (though more rarely) to use them.
You can usually find any points offers in the Nectar app and website, so it pays to check every now and again, before your weekly shop, or when you’re looking to save a little extra.
When we spot any really good Nectar points deals, we’ll share them on our loyalty scheme offers page.
How to check your Nectar points balance
Not sure how many Nectar points you have? The Nectar app and website both contain your current points total, as well as a record of where and when you earned your points.
How to lock your Nectar points
One downside of Nectar in the past was that anyone who found or stole your card could use your points. This was particularly bad news for those who had earned tens of thousands of points using credit card welcome offers. Earlier this year, Nectar introduced a feature that lets you lock your points to ensure they can’t be used without your authorisation.
To lock your Nectar points, you’ll need the latest version of the app.
Log in and you’ll see your points total near the top of the app screen, and below that a line telling you whether the points are locked or unlocked
Tap this to bring up a locked/unlocked switch
Toggle between these for when you want to use your points
It should unlock immediately, but it’s worth doing it a little before you want to spend the points to be safe, rather than wait until you’re at the checkout
This feature will only work for the main account holder, not additional cardholders.
Don’t pay full price when you can get free or discounted magazine copies and subscriptions.
For about 20 years I subscribed to the film magazine Empire, but I’ve not paid at all in the last decade – thanks to different deals and hacks to get it, and other titles, for free. And if they don’t work, there are ways to pay less too.
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Free magazines tricks
Free digital magazines and newspapers from your library
Libraries don’t just lend books and DVDs – you can also borrow digitally. As well as (non-Kindle) e-books, magazines and newspapers are available. The service will vary depending on your library, but for me I’ve got access to the Press Reader app.
You just need to join your local library, and many will let you do this from their website – even if you don’t have proof of residency. Others will require you to visit the library itself.
Once signed up you can access different magazines that can be downloaded to your tablet, phone or viewed on a computer. It doesn’t take much getting used to reading them on a tablet; an extra bonus is you can zoom in on any bits that are a little too small to read.
I’n the past I’ve regularly download Empire, Radio Times and Wallpaper for free, and my wife has chosen Vogue, Good Housekeeping and Newsweek – and there are dozens and dozens of other options.
Free magazine subscription via a Club Lloyds bank account
Every year with this bank account you have the choice of a free annual magazine subscription, six free cinema tickets or a year of Disney+ with Ads.
Though you’re limited to just one personal account, you can get another as a joint account. That means a couple could have three Club Lloyds accounts, and three freebies. So even if you prefer Disney+ as your first choice, you could easily add a magazine via one of your other accounts.
You do need to pay in £2,000 a month into the current account to avoid a £5 monthly fee, but you don’t have to keep the money in the account, nor does it need to be in one go. We’ve more details in our Club Lloyds review.
There’s also sometimes a switching bonus for Lloyds if you close an account at another bank and move everything over so it’s worth keeping an eye out for that.
Free magazines with the Club Lloyds bank account
The magazines available include (updated 29/7/25):
Best
Bike
Bird Watching
Car
Classic Cars
Cosmopolitan
Country Living
Country Walking
ELLE Decoration
ELLE
Empire
Esquire
Garden Answers
Good Housekeeping
Harper’s Bazaar
House Beautiful
Improve Your Coarse Fishing
Inside Soap
Landscape
Men’s Health
Modern Games
Mojo
Practical Classics
Prima
Red
Runner’s World
Spirit & Destiny
Steam Railway
Today’s Golfer
Trail
Women’s Health
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Free online magazines with Amazon Prime
A less well-known feature that Amazon introduced for Prime members called Prime Reading. Here you get free access to a number of books and magazines.
The selection rotates each month so you won’t see the same titles featured every month, but there’s a decent mix to choose from. At the time of writing you can pick up 59 different magazines including Top Gear, Elle and Today’s Golfer.
You don’t need a Kindle to read them, in fact they work better if you use the Kindle app on your tablet.
If you don’t have the RGB service at your library, you can try a couple of different Netlflix style services where you pay a monthly fee for unlimited access.
The two main ones are Readly and Magzter, and both have free or cheap trials to give them a go. Right now, Readly offers a two-month free trial, while it’s 7-days free at Magzter. Both have thousands of titles, many of them designed specifically for tablets making them a far more interactive read.
Once the trials end it’s a bit pricey at £12.99 and £14.99 a month respectively. However, it’s not bad value if you’d normally buy two or three magazines a month – and even better if you can split the subscription with friends or family. There are often more ways to save, so hunt for deals.
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Buy a cut-price subscription online
If print is more your thing, please don’t pay full price for a subscription. You’ll almost always be able to find a cheaper deal online.
If you have Tesco Clubcard vouchers, you can exchange 50p in points for £1 to spend on a variety of titles.
Sites such as Great Magazines and iSubscribe offer money off full price, though you’re unlikely to get more than 40% off. Occasionally you can also get a free voucher (eg Amazon or Ticketmaster) with a reduced subscription.
Check cashback sites too, as they may have bonuses for orders. And if you’re not already a TopCashback or Quidco member, make sure you sign up via our links for up to £20 extra back on top.
Check for deals
From time to time there are other special offers to help you save, and we’ll share significant ones in our magazines and newspaper deals page. Recent examples have included a huge stack of deals on Which? and £1 a month deals for The Athletic.
Haggle for trials and discounts
Finally, if you’re already paying for a magazine, don’t just auto-renew. As with many other bills, call up to cancel to see what they’ll offer. Turn down their initial deal, and see if they can get prices down even more.
And if you don’t have a current subscription, you can still haggle. In the past I was constantly called by the Empire sales team as a former subscriber. At one point I got 12 issues for less than £10!
Or you can contact the magazine publisher direct. Go to their website to find the number and see what you can get.
Just make sure you cancel before the full Direct Debit starts.
If we spot any standout John Lewis offers or discount codes we’ll share them on this page.
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Apps like Cheddar and Jam Doughnut allow you to buy gift cards to spend at John Lewis and earn cashback on that initial purchase. You can also buy Waitrose gift cards this way to spend at John Lewis. It can be worth as much as 6%.
Here’s how to get the most Euros, Dollars and more for your Pounds when you’re getting travel cash for your holiday
Looking for the best ways to get your currency? Well, coins and notes aren’t going to be the best way to pay, and I rarely use them. In fact, when I go overseas the bulk of my spending is with a debit or credit card (a fee-free one naturally).
But from giving a tip through to buying from street vendors, not everywhere takes cards – and ATMS can charge per withdrawal. So having some cash with you makes sense, and here’s how you can get the best exchange rates.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
Ignore “0% commission” signs
One of the most misleading signs on the high street is the one that says “0% commission”. It makes you think that you’re not getting charged anything to change your cash – but you will be.
Rather than add a commission on top of your swap, the bureau de change will simply set their own exchange rate! You can read more about this in my “Why 0% currency commission is a lie” article.
Don’t get travel money at the airport
Since bureaus and banks are allowed to set their own exchange rates, it makes sense that the worst rates around will be at the airport. Once you’re there, and particularly once you’re through security, there is nowhere else you could go to get travel money than the bureaus in the departure lounge.
The only workaround if you really have left it too late to go elsewhere is you can order in advance online to collect at the airport, and you’ll get a better rate than just walking up to the booth. You will often need three or four hours notice though.
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Compare for the best exchange rates
Instead of just popping to your bank or the Post Office as many do, it’s better to compare all the different rates available in your area. The tool I use for this is Money Saving Expert’s Travel Money Max. You can choose between collection, delivery and even airport collection, and you’ll be shown the best rates.
Your choice will increase massively if you live in London, but you’ll still get a decent range of options elsewhere. Do check whether you need to order in advance to get the rate you see – some will charge you a worse rate if you don’t.
Don’t use a credit card to swap your cash
Once you know where you’ll get your cash, you want to avoid any extra charges on your swap. This means paying with cash or a debit card. That’s because using a credit card is what’s known as a “cash advance“.
With this you’re effectively taking money off your card as cash and then using the cash to make the transaction – even if you don’t actually get your hands on any physical notes and coins to hand over.
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Get a specialist card for extra cash machine withdrawals overseas
Don’t take too much cash with you. Apart from the risks of losing it, if you don’t spend all of it you’ll get a poor rate when you try to swap it back to sterling. So instead I’d recommend you only take out enough to cover essentials for the first few days – depending on the infrastructure at your destination of course.
Then, if you need more cash, you can use an ATM. Though some of these will have local fees set by the bank you use, you won’t have any charges on the exchange rate at all if you use a specialist card such as Chase or Starling.
How to get two-for-one, Kids go free and other deals to save money and get you cheap theme park tickets.
I love a good theme park – but ticket prices for UK theme parks such as Alton Towers and Thorpe Park can be more terrifying than the fastest ride, especially for a family. But it’s actually really easy to pay less.
Here are some of the best deals right now to get cheap theme park tickets.
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Cheap theme park ticket rules
These are the basics that should help you avoid paying full price.
Use a promo code
Every single year there are discount codes, usually offering 50% off or two for the price of one tickets, to all the major theme parks. Smaller parks might have smaller discounts, but there are still savings to be found. We’ve listed below some of the best ones available right now from products you’re likely to buy.
Book in advance
Whether you’re using one of the codes below, or just paying full whack (why?), it makes sense to book in advance as prices are much cheaper. Often, the earlier you book, the better, with online prices on the day often more expensive (though still cheaper than buying on the door). You can sometimes stack a 2-4-1 code with these cheaper prices, meaning you’ll pay even less.
The annual pass trick
You can often pick up a season pass, giving unlimited access to one or multiple Merlin theme parks for the cost of a single ticket. Of course, if you’ve used the other promotions listed on this page you should only have paid 50% of the entry price. But if you are going to go at least twice in a year, then you may as well buy the season pass – even if you don’t go again.
Do check again for any restrictions, for example August weekends and special events are often excluded unless you buy a premium pass.
You can get season passes at locations including:
Alton Towers
Legoland
Thorpe Park
Chessington World of Adventures
Try for cashback
While you likely can’t get cashback with some of the offers below, as they’re often booked via promotional websites, if you’re going directly to get tickets, it could be worth trying Quidco or TopCashback for a little something extra — this is only 1.5%-2% at the time of writing, but that could stack up when you’re booking a whole family. Plus, if you don’t have either of these sites already, you can get a £20 welcome bonus when you sign up.
Latest theme park special offers
You can regularly get deals on promotional packs of anything from cereal to soaps. Many do have exclusions, including weekends in August and sometimes October half term. So do check. We’ve put in links with the exclusions and also the lists of participating theme parks, where possible.
National Rail Days Out: 2 for 1 or 1/3 off tickets
If you catch the train to a theme park, then you can get 2 for 1 or 1/3 off tickets on the National Rail website. You have to pre-book with a lot of the attractions, and it’s worth checking what else you’ll need. It’ll often specify that you’ll need a ticket to a nearby station on the day you’re booking. For example, to book Cadbury World, you’ll need a valid train ticket to Bournville station for each visitor and for the same day as your visit.
This is valid until 31 May 2026, although this is renewed every year.
Attractions include zoos, museums, theme parks, boat trips, galleries and activities.
Merlin is currently offering a slightly different kind of two-for-one ticket. Instead of getting two people in for the price of one, it’s offering tickets to two theme parks for the price of one. So you can get two days out for the family for the price of one.
Tickets cost from £34 if your first trip is to Alton Towers or Legoland, £33 if your first attraction is Thorpe Park or just £32 per person if your first visit is to Chessington. They can be bought on the website of your chosen attraction to go to first – look at the “offers” tab and select “twice the fun” to find them.
Then, once you’ve booked your first visit, you’ll have a barcode on your ticket which you can use to pre-book your second visit at Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland Windsor, Alton Towers or Thorpe Park. The first and second attractions don’t need to be the same.
If you pay for Sky TV, then take a look at the Sky VIP section in your account to get a unique code for £17.50 tickets to Legoland this summer.
Tickets are available throughout the remainder of the season, including Legoland at Christmas, but tickets are expected to sell out fairly quickly. You need to buy them before 31 August 2025. You can book up to six tickets each time.
Buy a promotional box of Kellogg’s cereal or a Snack Pack and get 25% off up to two online advance-priced tickets at 25 participating Merlin attractions, including Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures.
To get it, scan the QR code from a promotional Kellogg’s pack or go to their website. You’ll need to register or login with a Kellogg’s account and enter the 10 digit KPIN code from the promotional pack. You’ll then get a discount code emailed to you with a link to book.
With Snack Packs, you must bring the promotional pack with you, along with your pre-booked e-ticket and show it at the ticket desk.
Tickets are valid until 30 June 2026. Exclusion dates apply and do check the terms and conditions.
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Tesco Clubcard points
If you’re earning points, you can get double value at theme parks, including Alton Towers. Personally, I’d say you’re better off using your points elsewhere, particularly for the Merlin-owned attractions.
That’s because although this promo is in theory the same as the 2-4-1 style offers, the prevalence of the latter means you’re effectively only getting 25% off that lower price. More on Clubcard deals here.
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Expired deals
Adults go free with Kellogs (expired)
Though the wording is different, it’s essentially the same thing, it’s just the adult ticket is free when you buy another full price adult or kids ticket.
Once again it’s for Merlin attractions, so the main theme parks are Thorpe Park, Chessington and Alton Towers.
Any vouchers you collect will be valid until 30 June 2024. Details here. You’ll need to keep the promotional packaging to share at the venue entrance.
Merlin has launched another sale on its annual passes. These run for a full year from when you buy them, so you’ll be able to get until April 2025 if you get one while the deal is on. The sale is on until 7 April 2024.
This gets you into any Merlin attraction – this includes Thorpe Park, Alton Towers, LEGOLAND, Sealife Centre and the London Eye. The different stages of pass have different perks – for example, the Gold one includes parking (usually £5-£10 each time), and there are restricted days on the Silver and Discovery passes. Some of them also have a sign-up fee if you go for a monthly option.
Remember, you’re unlikely to need to pay full price for entrance thanks to other deals, so you’ll need to weigh up whether the pass will represent good value depending on how often you’ll visit the attractions.
