Money blog: £842m wiped off JD Sports value in a few hours (2024)

Today has seen a new round of criticism over Rachel Reeves's Budget.

John Lewis's chief executive accused the chancellor of launching a "two-handed" tax grab.

Nish Kankiwalasaid John Lewis was facing increased employment costs and ahigher business rates bill following the budget, which he said risked hitting the retailer's revenue.

"That seems to be sort of [a] two-handed grab, and that's unhelpful," he told the Financial Times.

The budget stated employers' national insurance would rise in April from 13.8% to 15%, while the threshold at which contributions are paid was also reduced.

Meanwhile, Royal Mail says it will have to put up prices after taking a £120m hit from the budget.

It said the chancellor's NI decision would have a disproportionate impact on the company because it has 130,000 workers.

The lingerie chain says it has made "a small number" of redundancies after being hit by rising costs.

It has around 1,000 employees but has let around 30 members of staff go, according to This Is Money.

Maria Hollins, chief executive, said: "All retailers are under significant pressure with continuing high tax and rising costs.

"We have ambitious plans for growth and are always looking at options to bolster the brand, but we also need to ensure our cost base reflects the challenges of today's high street.

"As a result, we have taken action to reduce costs, which unfortunately included making a small number of colleagues redundant.

"This was not a decision we took lightly."

By Megan Harwood-Baynes, cost of living specialist

In her early 20s, with £40,000 worth of debt, it was when a bailiff came knocking that Maddy Alexander-Grout realised she could no longer ignore her financial problems.

Aged just 23 she had racked up the debt while a student, putting money on credit cards and taking out loans, the debt continuing to spiral.

"He had his foot in the door as I was trying to close it. I packed up my stuff in the middle of the night and moved cities because I was so scared of them coming back," she told Money.

She was given two options by Citizen's Advice: declare bankruptcy, or slowly pay back all the debt.

"I cut my spending down to about £15 a week for shopping, and I prioritised my debts," the 41-year-old from Southampton said. "I rang all the people I owed money to and had some really difficult conversations and set up repayment plans."

She swapped her love of designer clothes for charity shopping and got a new job that offered commission alongside a salary. After overhauling her life, she was debt-free in under six years.

But now Maddy is on a mission to give other families the start she never had, publishing her children's book That's My Money.

"My parents had no idea [about my debt]," she said. "They would have intervened before it got that bad and they tried to teach me about money, but it was boring and my brain just did not want to know about it.

"I didn't care about budget spreadsheets or anything like that."

Using colourful monsters, Maddy's book educates children about everything she feels she missed out on - from how credit and debit cards work to what a mortgage is, how to save money, and even cryptocurrency and fundraising.

Her two children, Harriet, five, and Ben, nine, helped design the characters.

"If I had something fun and colourful to teach me when I was younger, it might have made a difference," she said.

"It wasn't my parents' fault, they tried, but I needed something to help me learn."

The £1,600 'ADHD tax'

After being diagnosed with ADHD, Maddy said a lot of her approach to money suddenly made more sense.

A survey by Monzo and YouGov found 60% of people living with ADHD said it directly impacted their lives - costing them an average of £1,600 a year (this can be on a myriad of things such as losing items, forgetting to cancel subscriptions, and missing debt repayments). Many ADHD'ers also have dyscalculia, a condition that makes it difficult to process numbers-based information.

"There is so much guilt that goes along with it," Maddy said, explaining why she set up her Mad About Money app and TikTok account offering financial tips and advice.

"I wanted to help people who are neurodivergent feel less alone because you can feel completely broken. You question why you are so rubbish at managing this everyday task.

"It can feel really lonely, especially if you are in debt or prone to a spending addiction."

KFC has admitted it won't meet its target to achieve better chicken welfare standards by 2026.

The fast food chain signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment in 2019, which sets out a series of requirements including purchasing slower-growing breeds, giving birds more space in barns and stricter auditing processes.

However,The Grocer reports that the company has now rowed back on its pledge, with KFC UK&I head of sustainability Ruth Edge telling a conference last week that the timescale was "unachievable".

"We're not saying we're never going to, but we're saying for 2026 and the way the market has developed, or lack of, we're not going to be able to do it," she said.

KFC Europe chief supply chain officer Rudi Van Schoor told The Grocer: "The reality is, at the moment, the UK poultry industry is not yet in an operational or commercial position to deliver the Better Chicken Commitment by 2026."

He added that the company remained committed to the pledge which it signed up to "in good faith and with the best intentions".

Animal protection charity The Humane League UK has called for a protest at KFC's headquarters in Woking and for the chain to publish a new timeline for its pledge.

Rachel Reeves may need to raise taxes even more if she wants to increase public spending, a number of economists have said.

According to researchers from Capital Economics, the chancellor has "little wiggle room" for spending after public sector borrowing came in about £4bn above analyst expectations last month.

Alex Kerr, from the company, said: "October's disappointing public finances figures underline the fiscal challenge that the chancellor still faces, despite the big increases in spending and taxes announced in the budget.

"And while the chancellor has downplayed the chances of further tax-raising measures, if she wants to increase day-to-day spending in future years, she may need to raise taxes to pay for it."

Elliott Jordan-Doak, senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said surging debt interest costs had raised borrowing, "leaving the chancellor with little headroom".

And Alison Ring, of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), said: "With the government's growth agenda including planning reform and a fresh industrial strategy yet to be rolled out, let alone bear fruit, the chancellor is almost entirely relying on her autumn budget tax rises to stabilise the fiscal situation from April 2025 onwards.

"This is likely to stiffen her resolve against calls for her to reverse course on some of her tax decisions."

As the festive season approaches, we've been sent the results of a survey that offers a series of insights into the financial situation people in the UK are facing.

According to the research on behalf of financial wellbeing app RiseUp, almost half of Britons (47%) run out of money before their December payday, rising to 65% among millennials and 62% of Gen Z.

It also suggests that, on average, Britons spend £310 on presents, with millennials splashing the most cash (£335.32) and Gen Z being the most frugal (£225.45).

And, the survey found, the costs of Christmas hit women harder than men - with 61% of women planning to cut back on spending this holiday season, compared with 49% of men.

Mental health concerns were also highlighted by the study, which found 16% of respondents said they were constantly financially stressed during the holiday season.

More than one-third (35%) said they believed that spending during the festive season harmed their mental health.

Tamara Harel-Cohen, co-founder of RiseUp, said: "It's shocking that nearly half of the UK runs out of money before their December payday, leaving millions of people financially stressed.

"In challenging economic times, this issue feels normalised and accepted. However, that combined with poor relationships with money means that it can significantly affect our wellbeing.

"While Christmas may seem just around the corner, it's never too late to start taking steps to help prevent your bank balance from falling below £0 this Christmas.

"Planning ahead and having an honest and open conversation with your friends, family and loved ones about spending limits can help take the stress out of your money so you can enjoy the holidays without the financial hangover."

With people across the UK finding it harder and harder to get a foot on the property ladder, many will be instinctively drawn to a property going to auction tonight with a guide price of just £1.

Throw in the fact it's just a stone's throw from a major city centre, and it might seem too good to be true.

Perhaps, that is, until the details of the property become clearer.

The flat inIslington Row Middleway sits above a retail unit in Birmingham's Five Ways.

It has one bedroom, a lounge, kitchen and bathroom - and is "requiring modernisation".

According to the posting on the website for auctioneers Loveitts, it "must sell" when it goes under the hammer this evening in Coventry.

"Hence a guide price of £1," the advertisement adds.

However, the eagle-eyed will notice the flat has just five years remaining on its lease.

And significantly, the eventual buyer will incur a series of other costs after securing the purchase: a service charge of £1,374 per year (to be reviewed next March), a buyer's premium of £1,200 and an administration fee of £1,200.

The post also indicates ground rent is payable on the property, but fails to reveal exactly what that figure is, along with further costs "which are no more than £500".

Each week we ask top chefs to pick their favourite budget eats where they are and at home. Today we speak to Dan McGeorge, recent Great British Menu contestant and co-owner of Vetchin Liverpool.

Hi Dan, what are your go-to places to eat out in Liverpool?

We like to keep it simple and one of the places we like to go is Renshaw Street Market. We like to graze and share, so this is perfect as it's a food market where you can go to multiple stalls and enjoy something different at each one.

We usually start with some har gow with a good amount of crispy chilli oil then some takoyaki and finish with a big bowl of ramen.

Another place we go to is Pizzoteca, it's kind of a pop-up in Botanical Garden in Liverpool. It does some awesome pizza and other delicious treats. We recommend the cacio e pepe pizza and the margheritas.

Their fried cheese, which is made with taleggio cheese, is amazing and then to finish: some soft serve gelato if it's a hot day.

What's your go-to cheap meal at home?

Slow-cooked pork belly on the BBQ, seasoned with Old Bay Spice Mix, with BBQ new potatoes, BBQ corn and salad.

Pork belly is relatively inexpensive compared with a lot of meats, which makes it a winner.

Score the skin and make deep cuts in the pork, making a criss-cross pattern.

Place seasonal vegetables on a tray to make a trivet, and place the pork over the vegetables and then add a little water to the tray to get the cooking process started.

This also prevents the pork from burning on the BBQ and speeds up the cooking process, as do the scores in the meat, which make it easier for the heat to penetrate.

How did you get into cheffing?

It wasn't really planned. I actually studied law and at the end of my first year I just knew it wasn't for me, so I took the gamble and changed completely and moved away from an academic career to something more hands-on, which I am glad I did.

Money was the only driving factor for studying law and that's no way to live, but if you're passionate and driven you can be successful in anything and there are many examples of that - not just in my industry but others too.

We've spoken to lots of top chefs - check out their Cheap Eats from around the country...

If you're a Mastercard holder you could nab a London theatre ticket for as little as £10 - but you'll need to act quickly.

Official London Theatre has launched its See It Live promotion offering tickets for between £10 and £60 for shows in 2025.

The Mastercard priority window opened today, which will be followed by a general sale from 26 November to 31 January.

Money Saving Expert said the company has not divulged how many tickets are available - but it's thought to be in the thousands.

"It's best to go quick, as in previous years seats for popular shows have sold out fast," the consumer advice site said.

Mamma Mia, Les Miserables, Wicked and Macbeth are among a host of shows included in the promotion.

Savings vary per show and per seat, with the lower amount typically reserved for the cheapest normal-priced seats, while £60 tickets will be for top-priced non-premium seats. Not all shows will offer £10 tickets.

Payments app PayPal crashed this morning, with thousands of users reporting outages.

Tracking service Down Detector first received outage reports around 11am, with nearly 9,000 people noting an issue since.

Reports suggest that both personal and business services went down.

Users were met with this message: "Some of your info isn't correct. Please try again."

PayPal told Money: "We experienced a brief technical issue, which has been resolved."