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A Government announcement has set tuition fees in England on a rising path once more. In October, the UK Government announced a range of changes for post-16 education. What grabbed headlines were details of the proposed new ‘V Levels’, which will be “new vocational qualifications tied to rigorous and real-world job standard”. V Levels will […]

PROPERTY OUTLOOK For anyone looking to enter the buy-to let market as a new landlord, the decision is currently far from straightforward. On the plus side: Average English rents increased by 7.1% over the year to May 2025, with the average monthly rental now standing at £1,394; Average UK house prices rose by 3.5% for […]

The former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s recent problems with stamp duty land tax (SDLT) offer a salutary lesson.    In early September, the Deputy Prime Minister (and Housing Secretary) resigned after discovering that she had underpaid SDLT by £40,000 on the purchase of a flat in Hove. That Rayner missed the additional tax liability […]

Are you considering drawing a lump sum from your pension before the Autumn Budget? One of the major tax benefits of saving through pensions is that, generally, 25% of the pension’s value can be drawn as a lump sum, free of income tax, up to a maximum of £268,275. From the point of view of […]

As the Autumn Budget approaches, Government bonds are coming back into the spotlight.  In what can seem like an effort to confuse, Government bonds are often referred to as gilts. There are two good reasons for the name:  In the distant era of paper certificates, Government bonds were on gilt-edged paper. There has never been […]

The ingredients to determine next April’s increase in the State pension are now clear and suggest a problem deferred until the 2026 Budget.          The basis for increases to the old and new State pension is the ‘triple lock’, which sets the change in April to be the greater of: Earnings growth […]