October 2023

Interest rates held as inflation falls

The UK's base rate of interest was held at 5.25% in September as the rate of inflation fell to 6.7% in the year to August 2023.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell from 6.8% in July to 6.7% in August.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that slowing food price increases helped drive the fall, particularly the prices for eggs, milk and cheese.

National Living Wage to rise from April 2024

The National Living Wage (NLW) will rise to at least £11 an hour from April 2024, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed.

The Chancellor confirmed the increase in a speech to the Conservative Party conference and said the rise will benefit two million low paid workers. People aged 23 and over are eligible for the NLW.

HMRC urges nearly 430,000 young people to claim Child Trust Fund cash

HMRC has urged almost 430,000 young people with an unclaimed Child Trust Fund (CTF) to claim their cash.

CTFs are tax-free savings accounts that were created for every child born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. The government contributed an initial deposit of at least £250. Family and friends can contribute up to a maximum of £9,000 in any one year into an existing CTF account.

CTF accounts began to mature in September 2020 when the first children turned 18.

HMRC revealed that there are currently 5.3 million open CTF accounts, and that more than 500,000 matured CTF accounts have been claimed or transferred into an ISA since September 2020.

Number of cash transactions rises for first time in a decade

The number of payments made with cash rose for the first time in a decade in 2022, according to data published by UK Finance.

According to UK Finance, the total number of payments made last year increased to 45.7 billion from 40.4 billion in 2021. 50% of all payments in the UK were made using debit cards, and the number of cash payments rose to 6.4 billion.

The data also showed that almost a third of all adults in the UK are registered for at least one mobile payment service and 86% of individuals use remote banking.

Businesses' payments accounted for 13% of all payments made in the UK during 2022, and consumers made 87% of all payments.