“Awful April”

The seven bills due to go up in April. Energy costs are one of a number of bill rises which will come into force at the start of what some commentators have described as “Awful April”. The exact amount you pay will depend on your individual circumstances and where you live. Although minimum wages will increase from April, and wages on average have been outpacing inflation, household finances could still come under extra pressure. Here are seven ways in which you could be affected.

1. Water Bills.
Water bills for households are due to go up in England and Wales by £10 more per month on average, but there’s a lot of variation depending on the company. For example, the annual Southern Water bill will jump 47% to £703, while Anglian Water customers will pay 19% more, or £626. Factors including whether households have a meter and how much water is used will also impact bills, which are being front-loaded for the next five years, meaning the big increase is coming in April.

Water companies in England and Wales have said the increases are needed to invest in creaking infrastructure, including sewage, and to build more reservoirs. In Scotland, water bills are set to rise by almost 10%. Scottish Water, which is a public body, said spending was needed to cope with periods of “drought and intense rainfall” brought on by climate change. Domestic customers in Northern Ireland are not billed for water, with the system funded by the devolved government.

2. Energy Bills.
The annual energy bill for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity will go up £111 a year to £1,849 from April. Regulator Ofgem increased the energy price cap because of higher wholesale costs and inflation. The cap is set every three months and limits the amount suppliers can charge for each unit of gas and electricity, but not the total bill, so if you use more, you will pay more. It affects 22 million homes in England, Wales and Scotland.

Standing charges - fixed fees to connect to a gas and electricity supply and varying by region - are rising again for gas but dropping for electricity, depending on where you live. Ofgem is suggesting households consider a fixed tariff for a bit of stability, even though there’s speculation of prices dropping in July.

3. Council Tax.
It is likely the tax you pay to your local authority will go up from April. In England, local authorities with responsibility for delivering social care can increase council tax every year by up to 4.99% without triggering a referendum or local vote. Smaller councils without social care duties can increase bills by up to 2.99%. For 2025-26, the government is allowing Bradford, Newham, Birmingham, Somerset, and Windsor and Maidenhead to bypass the 4.99% cap, meaning they could raise council tax by more.

Council tax rates in Scotland have been frozen or had limited increases since 2007, but they are expected to go up in April, in some cases by as much as 10%. The Scottish government says it is offering local authorities an extra £1bn in 2025-26 to help reduce the scale of any rise. In Wales, council tax rates could jump by as much as 15% in some areas. Local authorities were given £253m by the Welsh government in its draft budget, but council leaders say more money is needed. Northern Ireland uses a domestic rates system instead of council tax. All of Northern Ireland’s councils have reported district rate increases for the next year.

4. Car Tax.
From April, the standard rate of tax for cars registered after April 2017 rises £5 to £195 a year. According to the RAC, you may pay less or more if your car was first used before 2017. The exact amount for your road tax will depend on the year your car was registered and the type of fuel it uses.

One big change is that electric vehicles (EVs) will no longer be tax exempt. EVs registered from April 2025 will pay the lowest rate of £10 in the first year, then move to the standard rate. The standard rate will also apply to EVs first registered after April 2017.

5. Broadband, Phone And TV Licence.
Rule changes introduced by the telecoms regulator this year mean that mobile and broadband providers must now tell customers “in pounds and pence” about any price rises, as well as when they occur. The new rules typically only apply to new customers, so any price rise will depend on when you took your contract out.

For instance, under the new rules, someone with a mobile SIM-only contract with EE will see their bill go up by £1.50 a month, or £18 a year. But for the majority of customers who took their contract out before 10 April 2024, they will face an increase of 6.4%, based on the inflation rate last December, plus an additional charge. Similarly, most Virgin Media broadband customers will face a 7.5% rise in bills, but for anyone who took out a contract after 9 January this year, their monthly bill will go up by £3.50.

The cost of a TV licence will also go up by £5 to £174.50, and for a black and white TV, it will go up by £1.50 to £58.50.

6. Stamp Duty.
House buyers in England and Northern Ireland will start paying stamp duty on properties over £125,000 in April, instead of over £250,000 at the moment. First-time buyers currently pay no stamp duty on homes up to £425,000, but this will drop to £300,000. Anyone starting a search for a property now would likely struggle to move before the stamp duty changes.

7. Hidden Tax Rises.
The government has kept in place the freeze on tax thresholds on income tax and National Insurance until 2028, a policy brought in by the previous government. This is often dubbed a stealth tax - as governments don’t explicitly label it as a tax. But the policy amounts to a tax rise because of a process called “fiscal drag”, which sees more people “dragged” into paying higher rates of tax as wages rise.

According to figures from the government’s financial watchdog, by 2028-29, nearly four million additional people will be expected to pay income tax - and three million more will have moved to the higher rate - due to the threshold being frozen.

Source: BBC Website.

Reporting by Tom Espiner, Vishala Sri-Pathma, Faarea Masud, Shanaz Musafer, Mitch Labiak, Tommy Lumby and Kevin Peachey

Mobile Phone Theft - Be Prepared

Many of us have a story about phone theft, whether that’s because your device was snatched or it happened to someone you know.

Some 78,000 people reported having their phones or bags grabbed in the year to March 2024, according to government figures. Hotspot areas are often train and bus stations.

Here’s what to do if your phone is stolen and how you can reduce the risk.

The Best Insurance Is Preparation And Prevention.

The Metropolitan Police advise using your phone for the shortest possible time on the street and avoid texting while walking.

Criminals often use bikes or mopeds when snatching devices, so watch out for any nearby when using your phone and stand away from the roadside.

Use Robust Phone Security And Know Your IMEI Number.

It’s best practice to use a keypad lock or biometrics like fingerprint or facial recognition so thieves cannot immediately access your phone. You can set up a PIN for your SIM card too. This stops criminals from using the SIM in another phone.

Make sure you know your International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number - the 15-digital number used to identify your phone. This is much easier to get if you still have your phone. Type *#06# into your keypad or go into the settings app.

If Your Device Is Stolen, Try To Access Your Phone Remotely.

You can try to access, lock and even shut down your device remotely on a laptop, tablet or using another phone. Different manufacturers use different systems, but they all operate in a similar way.

1. iPhone - visit iCloud.com/find or open the Find My app on another one of your Apple devices.

2. Android - visit android.com/find or open the Find My Device app on another one of your devices.

3. Samsung - visit findmymobile.samsung.com and sign in with your Samsung account.

You can also use these services to track your device remotely. Its location can then be shared with the police to help them recover the phone.

Alert Your Network Provider So They Can Block The Phone.

These are the people who you pay your phone bills to. Tell them your phone was stolen and, ideally, give them the IMEI number. If you don’t already know this, you can sometimes find the number on the box the phone came in, or by using online services like Find My Device. UK network operators can stop a stolen phone from working across their networks with its IMEI.

Remember, if your phone is stolen you may have to pay the cost of any unauthorised calls or text. Some providers cap these costs at £100 outside of your phone allowance - but only if you report your phone as missing within 24 hours, according to advice from Ofcom.

Let Your Bank Know.

They can disable payment methods like Apple Pay or Google Wallet and suspend banking apps.

In some cases, victims who went to the police but didn’t alert their bank have lost thousands of pounds after their phone was stolen. For example, Niall McNamee, a musician and actor living in London, had his phone stolen on the London Underground and two days later discovered about £21,000 was taken from his accounts.

Report The Incident To Police.

You can do this by calling 101 or going in person to a local station. You can also report the crime anonymously via Crimestoppers.

Give the police your IMEI number as it can help them track down the device.

It’s worth reporting the incident even if you think it’s unlikely the phone will be recovered, as you’ll need a crime reference number if you want to claim insurance and it helps build a picture of where crime hotspots are located.

Change The Passwords To Your Accounts And Apps.

This is particularly important when it comes to online banking and accounts containing sensitive information, like your emails.

It’s also worth changing the passwords for your social media, shopping apps and subscription services like Netflix or Spotify.

Contact Your Insurance Company.

If you have mobile phone insurance, call their claims line when you have your crime reference number.

If you don’t have separate mobile phone insurance, Money Saving Expert recommends you check whether the phone is covered under any home insurance policy.

BBC Website: Written by Rosemary McCabe

Is it just Me?

Sometimes I really do wonder whether it’s just me that gets affected by things like this. No matter what I order, almost invariably something seems to go wrong even if things are apparently extremely straightforward.

I recently placed an order for an item, a not inexpensive item, and there was a choice of models which I believe was very straightforward, in essence the item was available in either green or blue. I placed my order, I spoke to the company on the telephone, I even e-mailed them and throughout these communications the fact that I wanted the item in green was made plain.

I waited about 8 days for the item to eventually be delivered in two large packages. I’m sure you can imagine that I was a touch disappointed to read, emblazoned across the outside of the box, the word NAVY. Trying to be charitable I opened the box to make sure that the contents matched the box and was met with a large blue bag, still hopeful I opened the bag and the contents were, blue.

I really do despair that something which is apparently this simple can still go wrong and I fear for the future for us all.